f13.net forums - That lovely dilemma

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July 22, 2025, 11:30:38 AM

we're back, baby

So the holidays are over and I'm back at work. /sadf

Just thought I'd post a recap of my current gaming dliemna. I got much good schwag for Christmas. In fact, I have more games to play now than I've had in quite a long time, on three different systems.

X-Box
Links 2004 - I like playing golf, can't stand watching it. This game draws me to it like free sex. Golf should not be this fun.
ESPN MLB 2k4 - Better than last year's, though First Person mode just doesn't work like it does in football. True Aim batting beats cursor mode hands down, but I'm still getting the hang of pitching. Cubs bullpen still sucks.
Soul Caliber 2 - Holy shit, a fighting game with a treadmill that's worth exploring. Is it possible for them to jam anymore options into this game? Why would you ever need another fighting game (other than one with an online component)? It's got the jiggly of DOA, the fun of Virtua Fighter, and assloads of weapons.
Star Wars KotOR - Bioware does it again. I've only made if off of Taris, but this is a solid game. I'm sure it'll get better once I master my Jedi love. I'm already leaning towards the dark side, just because I want to kick ass. I plan to betray Bastila at the first opportunity; she really is a bitch.
Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow - Unfortunately, this is the X-Box game that got the least attention. I figure once I finish KOTOR, I can plow into this and learn the multiplayer.

PC
Vampire: Bloodlines - I barely loaded this on the computer, got through the first cinematics and into the tutorial, and then immersed myself in the X-Box games. It ran surprisingly well on my old PC, at least initially. I want to save it for when I have less games going on and can really bite into it. I also want to play it badly.

N-Gage
Tiger Woods 2004
NCAA Football 2004

I'll talk more about the N-Gage games in an upcoming review of the N-Gage QD. Quick note - Tiger Woods is almost as good as the Links 2004 on the X-Box. On a handheld. Yes, it really is that good. And yes, I realize most of those games are "older" games. Hey, they're new to me.

So what did you get for Christmas? How innudated with games are you?

Vampires, of course. I bought the hubby KOTOR 2, Pirates and some others but I forget what they are. Sorry. I also got him a lovely lambskin jacket and gloves and some other bits and baubles. I got a Victorian glass front cabinet, some books and a lovely dark red sweater. I picked them all out myself! Most of the other games you mentioned, I got him before Xmas. He's been playing WoW pretty regular though and hasn't bothered with them yet. I don't understand the love for the golfing games around here... but then, it's never occured to me to actually play one.

Edit: Changed the word 'jumper' to 'sweater'.

I bought my wife DDR 2 and Karaoke Revolutions, so if you see my game tag online playing those, it isn't me. I swear.

Karaoke is actually kind of fun...

Chopped the last 2 spots in a poker tournament Thursday night, so I bought myself this. Also picked up WoW just before Christmas.

Quote

Edit: Changed the word 'jumper' to 'sweater'.

Whenever I see a hot girl in a sweater, 'jumper' is my first thought.

Quote from: HaemishM

...and can really bite into it.

Nice work there. ;)

KotoR2 for Xbox. I also got a few books I've been meaning to read: Hitchhiker's Guide, Jennifer Government, Rich Dad Poor Dad, Dune, Neuromancer, and Cryptnomicron.

Add the regular WoW (L49.5!), Vampire, and The Wire on netflix, and I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed. To the point where I finish my work, get ready to do something fun and entertaining, then get frustrated w/ the options and just watch fucking CNN or some shit.

Same deal Haem, too many games, not enough time to play em all.

My stocking was stuffed with Halo2, Kotor2, Pop2, EPSN NCAA football 2k5 plus a new 80GB harddrive, and assorted gift certificates for electronic stores. I've got one earmarked for Guild Wars, but the flush of gaming funds almost made me pick up WoW...almost. I successfully made my saving throw thank god. Plus I have to "help" the kiddies with some of their games like Sly Cooper2 and others (gameboy advance link thing to play those game on the cube).

I had to put replaying Vampire and CoH on hold till I catch up on some newer shineys.

It really is the most wonderful time of the gaming year.

Xilren

Back to playing WoW after my mountain break. The grind is settling in at 35+, but I find that I still love accomplishing quests, so I move forward. When boredom with that sets in I have Rome:TW to goof around with. Also, Amazon delivered Pirates! yesterday, so that's still in the box. The question is, if I crack it out, will WoW completely go in the toilet for me. If that's the case I'll hold off.

The beauty of Pirates! is that (just like the original) it can be picked up for a quick hour of gaming, or played all day. It is fun as hell, but I don't feel the overwhelming need to play it over and over again. It is there when I want a change of pace, which is perfect.

I bought myself Bad Mojo, which is as great as I remembered. Wish they upped the textures and resolution though. Well, I really just wish they redid the graphics completely. It's a letdown in the same way that HL: Source was a letdown. But worth the $20.

Just recently dominated Katamari Damacy. About halfway through Alien Hominid. Viewtiful Joe 2 is as tough as anything in recent history (besides Nightshade). Speaking of Nightshade, I challenge anyone to beat it on the normal or harder difficulty levels. Twitchier than Ninja Gaiden and faster than just about anything out there.

Got through most of Castle Shikigami 2. I've been enjoying Animal Crossing and Tiger Woods for the DS. Finished XY/XX and the Metroid Prime Hunters demo. I'm pretty much done with Pirates! for a while.

The Sims 2 beat me. I got bored. Damn shame really.

I plan on playin ut2k4 a lot more since well, you all will find out why soon enough. I'm trying to get through Silent Hill 4, but it gives me the heebie jeebies.

I've been playing ICO and Champions of Norrath. Both are enjoyable, the former being the much better of the two. Norrath turned out to be a Diablo clone. Which is nice, but a true Diablo it ain't.

I still putz around with the Nippon Ichi Games. Baten Kaitos has bored me, though I may play through it so I can say I've actually finished a game on the Gamecube besides Megaman Network Transmission (still the best game on the GC, imho).

Resident Evil 4 comes out in 10 days. I'd like to have at least 3 more games finished by then.

That is all.

Quote from: WayAbvPar

I bought my wife DDR 2 and Karaoke Revolutions, so if you see my game tag online playing those, it isn't me. I swear.

I did, but I don't believe it wasn't you. I just know that you were there, dancing the night away after a drunken losing binge at poker.

Pirates! is awesome and I do think that it had alot to do with me not renewing my WoW account. There are too many good games offline to warrant hooking up the virtual heroin IV drip. KOTOR 2 is really good, barring a few graphics and save game glitches. And I managed to find a copy of Steel Batallions with the big ass(tm) controller for only 25 dollars.

I may have to look into that human cloning thing in order to finish these before E3 and the next round of game whoring begins. Oh, and remind me I need to cancel EQ2.

I just ordered Suikoden IV for myself. I don't know why I like these games so much... it's sort of like hide and seek. I get happy when another one is released! :)

Quote from: Signe

I just ordered Suikoden IV for myself. I don't know why I like these games so much... it's sort of like hide and seek. I get happy when another one is released! :)

Suikoden IV is at the top of my list for excitement. Right below it is Resident Evil IV though. I don't know why I play scary games. I'm a pussycat and get scared VERY easily. Hell, I played through Ravenholm in Half Life 2 with the lights on. I allow myself to get super immersed and then I just wait for something to scare the shit out of me, and then I turn off the game. That's good gaming. The game is doing what it's supposed to do.

What the fuck are we talking about now? Hide and Seek?

Yes, hide and seek! You have to wander about and find all the little hidden men. Sometimes you have to do stuff to get them to like you. It's very much like life. Hidden men. Stuff. Then the little men like you.

Quote from: Signe

Righ must have ulcers.

Quote from: Rasix

Quote from: Signe

Righ must have ulcers.

Or bats in the belfry.

I was going to do a frontpage article but with this thread already going full steam, I don't see a reason to. Here's a 50% finished piece on upcoming games, un-proofread and uncut. Or something. Now with more nudity.

>
omfg. Could 2005 be better than 2004?

This past year may not have had the “Best Games Ever,” but it did have a slew of exceptionally good games. In fact, there’s a chance the number of good games outweighed the number of mediocre and bad games. 2005 looks to be a year of sequels and an unlimited amount of unoriginal content as well, but will the games be better on the whole? Maybe.

Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory March – all platforms

Pandora Tomorrow, the second game in the series was essentially more of what the first had to offer, but with a promising multiplayer segment. Unfortunately it was buggier than Bloodlines and the splinter cells couldn’t kill. They could only use non-lethal force and I’m sorry, but that’s about as carebear as a death match can get. Assuming Electronic Arts doesn’t outfag the French government, Chaos Theory should be just as good, if not better than the preceding two titles. Unfortunately, luck isn’t on their side and here’s why:

1.   We had one new engine this year that was remotely decent: Source. All the others sucked copious amounts of ass. Doom 3’s engine was absolutely abysmal in performance. Troika proved that even the Source engine can be fucked up. The engine used for Deus Ex 2 and Thief 3 was just terrible. Hitman: Contracts was…well, was it even a new engine or was it a rehash of the last one with a bunch of shaders turned on that destroyed performance? Needless to say, I don’t trust new engines.

2.   I don’t think they have the balls to make the deathmatch mode all that it can be. Put a goddamned silenced pistol in the hands of the splinter cells. Give them lethal ways to kill in melee. Make the multiplayer maps as good as the single player maps. At the end of the day, the entire mode just needs an overhaul. Most importantly, it needs to work correctly out of the box.

3.   I said it above, but it bears repeating, UBI can’t allow themselves to get fucked by EA. Electronic Arts has a lot of stock in sneaking platformers, and I’m quite confident they’d take any chance they could to dip their hands in the Splinter Cell bowl of money.

Guild Wars ? – PC

I skipped the last beta weekend because I don’t want to burn out before the actual release. Unfortunately, at the current rate of delays, we’ll be lucky to even see the game before 2006. On a gameplay level, I can’t bring myself to really complain. The PvP and PvE gameplay is quite engaging and there’s far too long before the actual release to judge the game. Too much can change, and that pisses me off to no end (read: Shadowbane). Which leads us into…

…Tabula Rasa ? – PC

NCSoft is a monster. Make no mistake of it, there’s no doubt that they scare SOE more than Blizzard ever could. Not because they have a single EQ killer on their hands, but because they’d rather have five different games with 100,000+ people than one game with 400,000+ people. As a gamer this makes me happy. As a human with only a limited time to game each day, it makes me very, very sad. But none of this is about Tabula Rasa, is it?

I want this game to prove that Lord British’s relationship with Ultima Online wasn’t a fluke.

I want this game to have more reasons to play than not play.

I want this game to not suck.

But we’re talking about MMORPGs here and I just can’t bring myself to give it the benefit of the doubt until I see and hopefully play a working game.

Resident Evil 4 January/? – Gamecube/PS2

I’ve played the demo and it scared the hell out of me. Not because it’s anything exciting and new, but because I’m absolutely terrified of long empty hallways (as well as small confined spaces like in Silent Hill 4). Basically, I’m a pussy. I love scary movies but there’s something about being in control that really gets the adrenaline pumping. I’ve got my pre-order in on this one, and can’t wait to play through it with the lights on…and a friend in the room...and another TV on…etc. What can I say, I’m a masochist and if any genre has better sequels than new and original games, it’s survival horror.

Virtua Quest 1/11 or so – PS2

I’m a huge fan of Virtua Fighter and if this is how their going to give me my fix, so be it. All I ask is that it not be anything like Ehrgeiz. You remember, that fighter from Square on the Playstation. It was crap.

The total slew of Role-Playing Games being released in 2005

Suikoden IV
Y’s: Ark of Nephtilim
Digital Devil Saga
Final Fantasy VII: Something-a-rather
The Witcher

Katamari Damacy 2: Everybody’s Favorite Katamari Damacy! ? – PS2

Through some sort of bizarre, unholy marriage between Sony and Japan, a number of good games came to America this year. Taiko Drum Master, Rabbit King, Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne, Technic Beat, Castle Shikigami II, and of course, Katamari Damacy. The latter of which turned out to be absolutely fantastic fun. It was 100% gameplay in a form that no other game this year delivered, included the awesome Ninja Gaiden released earlier this year. I don’t really know what to say about the game that hasn’t already been said. I just want more.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. : Shadow of Cherynobl May – PC

Here’s to hoping it’s not some sort of commando Half-Life clone. All videos point to it being one hell of a game. But then, the videos for Farcry did the same. Only time will tell on this one.

F.E.A.R. June – PC

I’m looking forward to this one a little more than STALKER, though not by much. I can easily attribute that to the evil little child who is obviously inspired by Sadako from Ringu. I’m a big fan of that flavor of insane violence.

City of Heroes: City of Villains Not Soon Enough™ - PC

We want to play bad guys.

We want meaningful PvP.

We want some depth to the goddamned original game!

…and…

I want cigarettes as a clothing option. And the ability to align with a faction, like…….The 5th Column.

Is that too much to ask? Oh, and we want sharks with freakin’ laser beams attached to their head. Most of all, we want it now.

Freedom Force vs. the Third Reich Q1? PC

Freedom Force won’t run correctly on my machine with SP2 installed. That’s reason enough for the sequel to come out. Right. Fucking. Now.

The Sony PSP Earlier than we think? Please now?

The Nintendo DS was a huge letdown. Not a single notable launch title (other than XY/XX which was really just a stylized Wario Ware Inc.). Not a single notable title coming in the future (though I did rush out and get one, sort of). Hell, There’s just no fantastic reason to actually own one of them. I’m hoping it’s the last nail in the Nintendo coffin and they turn into a Sega and just make games. Let’s face it; Nintendo only has six properties and no third-party developers worth mentioning. Mario, Zelda, Metroid, Pokémon, Mario variations, and uhm… Make that five. They have five titles worth mentioning. I’m quite confident they could pull a lot more money in developing their titles for the Xbox, PS2, PC, and PSP. But this isn’t supposed to be a rant about Nintendo, is it?

Yes, yes it is. They have dominated the portable market since many gamers were children and it’s about time they were dethroned. When the PSP launches with Metal Gear Solid: Acid, a new Final Fantasy title, Ridge Racer, and a handful of other games – on a widescreen LCD with a much higher resolution, it should make the people at Nintendo collectively shart themselves and make them rethink their entire gameplan. You can be goddamn sure I’ll be lined up for a PSP and you should be as well.

Edit: Thread frontpaged.

Good right up Schild.

"I want this game to have more reasons to play than not play. " - That's pure gold.

Oh, and you forgot Jade Empire, which I'm looking forward too.

Jade Empire was on the list of "Games to get to." I was far too lazy to finish the article what with the two threads approaching everything.

Quote

I want cigarettes as a clothing option.

Should I know what this means? My brain is coming up empty.

Gamestop just updated their web page preorder stuff for the Sony PSP. Third party AC Adapters and the like.

Date: 2/15/05

I've seen games listed early before. But never third party hardware. Could this be truth? ONLY TIME WILL TELL.

I'm not too familiar with dedicated handheld gaming gadgets, depsite otherwise being a gadget freak. The PSP looks decent technically, but did they forget to put a cellphone in?

Oh, and read the first review, its fun:

No PSP for the holidays.

Quote from: Guinevere Cuthbert (Hicksville, D.P.C.)

All my children have been asking Santa for is the true story of "No PSP for the Holidays", so I decided that Christmas should come early this year. The $750 price tag was a bit more than my gift budget, but giving up on buying any other presents, a Christmas tree, decorations, Christmas dinner, and any new clothes the kids may need in the next two years was worth it. My feeble-minded, and blind from birth, son, Hortimer, was entralled with this heart warming tale of the Sony Delay of the PSP launch in North America from the first word - of course a gum wrapper can keep him busy for weeks, so maybe this isn't saying much. By the end of the full page of story his IQ had dropped from 56 points down to 12, reducing him to a drooling invalid, but we think he can finally see! Thank you for making "No PSP for the Holidays" available at such a difficult time in our lives, and for giving my sweet Hortimer the precious gift of sigh

I think I may cry.

Quote from: HaemishM

So what did you get for Christmas? How innudated with games are you?

Not much, but I've already elaborated at length about my woeful tales of unemployment.

For X-mas (which doubles as my birthday, yet) I ended up with two games: Katamari Damacy and Kingdom Hearts: Chain Of Memories. Both games with strange themes and unusual gameplay.

Katamari Damacy's been covered before. Now that I played (mostly beat) the game I've a valid opinion about it. I'm not going to tell you that the game itself is totally awesome - it's not a sophisticated kind of game so much as a simple game that builds up an interesting new experience. Put another way, its a pretty damn original game that plays well, which (given the massive amounts of clones out there) makes it worth much more than the $20 you can easily pick it up for. Looking forward to the sequel.

Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories is a Gameboy Advance "optional sequel" to Kingdom Hearts. If you've been hiding under a rock to avoid hearing about the oddness that is Kingdom Heart's background, I'll inform you of it now: It's a mixture of Disney and Squaresoft characters. Donald Duck and Goofy are your right hand men, and you're as likely to run into Aerith, Cloud, Cid, or another Final Fantasy character as you are Aladdin, Hercules, Ariel, Pinnocio, or some other Disney version of a popular lore character. This plot of this particular installment takes place in "The Castle of Oblivion", which is apparently leeching the memories of Sora's previous adventure in Kingdom Hearts straight out of his head in order to uncover more important memories we haven't heard from the first game. It's a completely optional sequel - I wager the next Kingdom Hearts PS2 game will be perfectly playable without ever spending the $35 this higher priced GBA would run you.

Chain of Memories is interesting for GBA title because it includes some minor world building capabilities as well as a card-action based fighting system. By world building capability, apparently the environments are defined by which card you prefer to use when unlocking them. If you decide you'd like the next room to be a save point or a treasure chest (for example) you can make it happen if you've collected the appropriate card. When you're in the combat mode (which occurs when you attack an enemy or it collides with you) every time you slam that A button you're firing off a card from the desk you've assembled from cards you collect. You can flip through your deck with the left and right triggers and thus access one of a plethora of moves. It's actually a fairly interesting interface, if awkward at times. It's a welcome change from the somewhat mundane combat in the PS2 title.

A kids game? Maybe, but the plot is something an adult can enjoy (provided you aren't offended by unfettered fantasy and psuedo-philosophic theatrics). CoM backs that up with some pretty high production values and reasonably good gameplay (not Mario And Luigi Superstars good, but reasonably good nonetheless). Chain of Memories isn't a game I regret having in my GBA collection.

Wait, the new Pirates is out?!

*spooges on his monitor*

The original Pirates alone kept my dusty old NES in (occasional) service even after my PS1 had been more or less retired. Must have.

Meanwhile I've been playing Star Trek: Birth of the Federation, which came out around 1999 if I recall correctly. It has very solid Civ-in-space gameplay, and even a nifty pseudo-realtime 3D combat interface. Very underrated, and one of those games I've come back to again and again over the years.

Quote from: WindupAtheist

Wait, the new Pirates is out?!

You, sir, live under a fucking boulder.

Here's some hardcore console RPGs that will probably come out in 2005 (North America):

(Warning to Haemish: most of these are Japanese in origin, so you may want to avert your eyes.)

PS2 Namco Xenosaga: Episode 2 - The Xeno* series is still on par with FF
PS2 Square Enix Final Fantasy XII - The next FF game. 'Nuff said.
PS2 Square Enix Dragon Quest VIII - After seven years, we finally get a sequel
PS2 Atlus Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga - A Shin Megami Tensei side-story
PS2 Atlus Digital Devil Saga: Avatar Tuner 2 - Sequel to the above
PS2 Atlus Stella Deus: The Gate of Eternity - a new strategy RPG
PS2 Gust Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana - The sixth in the formerly JP-only series. A crafting RPG
PS2 Sony Wild Arms: Alter Code F - A remake of the original PS1 game
PS2 SEGA Shining Tears - Side-story to the Shining Force series, this one is an action RPG instead of a strategy rpg?

Xbox Microsoft Jade Empire - like KOTOR, but now in China!

Quote from: Aenovae

Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana - The sixth in the formerly JP-only series. A crafting RPG

Shit, I forgot about that one, thanks.

Jade Empire sounds like it will be more-actiony than KOTOR, more like Fable than KOTOR. Either one is much very good for me.

I can't believe I forgot

PS2 Konami Suikoden IV - The next installment in the flawless Suikoden series

Dear Suikoden

I am so sorry I forgot to include you in my list of anticipated console RPGs.
Please know that I still want you and that flowers are on their way.

Love,
Aenovae

P.S. I still have my save file X O X O X

The new Suikoden sucks pretty bad actually.

Quote from: schild

The new Suikoden sucks pretty bad actually.

I just got it the other day. I haven't opened it, yet.

Why does it suck and how can you know that? Did you play it before it was released?

Quote from: Signe

Quote from: schild

The new Suikoden sucks pretty bad actually.

I just got it the other day. I haven't opened it, yet.

Why does it suck and how can you know that? Did you play it before it was released?

Yes, I played it before it was released. It sucks pretty badly. In other news, Shadow Hearts II: Covenant is fun thus far and there's no question that Resident Evil 4 rocks my socks off.

"Too many games, not enough time" has basically been my mantra since my first child was born.

Anyway, WoW has been my one-game solution and I haven't really touched anything since. Though Resident Evil 4 is really, really tempting me to buy a Gamecube, I just don't know how I can justify getting a console for one game .... er, the kids can play Mario! Yeah, that's it!

Cheers, schild and thanks. I'll probably be bothering you before I spend money on anything else I probably won't like. Be alert!

I'm making a list for your perusal.