All Things Videogame Related: EXTREME VS!!

[mikeszekely]

The funny thing is most other people are complaining that it isn't a SOTN clone.

I'm one of them.

See, I liked Lords of Shadow for what it was... but it wasn't really Castlevania. And even though it didn't bear much resemblance to Castlevania, even though it retconned the story or spun off an AU Castlevania, I liked it enough for a sequel on home consoles, which we're apparently getting.

But I still like the Japanese-made Metroidvanias. SotN was excellent, and the GBA and DS Castlevanias are some of my favorite games on those platforms. I want more of them.

[renegadeleader1]

About the Hitman trailer; I'm just a sucker for the franchise. Violence is nothing new to Hitman, and 47's never been known to be chivalrous about the subject of killing women. But gangsta nuns in latex?

On another subject, too bad Tomb Raider's been delayed to next year. At least there's still RE 6 and the ZOE HD collection to look forward to.

Because of this I actually went back to play Tomb Raider Legend. The Anniversary, Legend, and Underworld trilogy are some of the best adventure games I have ever played. Right up there with the only good Indiana Jones game that's not a point and click adventure The Emperor's Tomb. Underworld was a true unappreciated classic.

Crystal Dynamics can take their time and finishing polishing the game off I have nothing but faith in them after picking up where Core Designs failed. The only thing that bothers me is its a prequel/new origin story instead of a sequel tying up the loose end of Amanda and her "pet" not to mention the doppleganger.

Edited June 8, 2012 by renegadeleader1

[Black Valkyrie]

I really wished Konami made an update version of the NES Castlevanias for GBA or DS, especially Simon's Quest and Dracula's Curse.

[Vic Mancini]

Call of Duty Black Ops 2 Live Gameplay demo

Looks like the Black Ops team is treading on Modern Warfare territory by bringing the franchise into the future like that. I wasn't really a fan of Black Ops, but I do enjoy COD games for what they are and this does look more interesting to me than I thought it would.

[Mommar]

I'm one of them.

See, I liked Lords of Shadow for what it was... but it wasn't really Castlevania. And even though it didn't bear much resemblance to Castlevania, even though it retconned the story or spun off an AU Castlevania, I liked it enough for a sequel on home consoles, which we're apparently getting.

Everybody keeps telling me LoS wasn't really Castlevania but I can't figure out why. It was a dude with a whip kicking mythological European monster ass. It felt like the very original Castlevania as I always understood it as a kid. And they were inspired by Castlevania 4 when making it which was just an SNES update of the original and I feel it felt like it.

Edited June 8, 2012 by Mommar

[Black Valkyrie]

Castlevania - IV, best Cv of all time, even if its an update from the original. a while ago I told my friend that Alucard will be in Cv-LOS2 and Cv-MOF, he`ll quickly purchase them once they are released but the jap version, just because he's an Alucard fan.

I`m not sure that many SOTN fans are aware that the inspiration was from Cv2 - Simon's Quest.

[Keith]

My copy of GSBD probably won't ship until next week ::sob::

[mikeszekely]

Everybody keeps telling me LoS wasn't really Castlevania but I can't figure out why. It was a dude with a whip kicking mythological European monster ass. It felt like the very original Castlevania as I always understood it as a kid. And they were inspired by Castlevania 4 when making it which was just an SNES update of the original and I feel it felt like it.

Because it had bland, generic enemies, was lacking in Dracula, was lacking in Dracula's castle, etc. Actually, with the main weapon being a sort of cross, and the devil being the final boss, I felt it had more in common with Dante's Inferno than previous Castlevania games. Actually, the original Devil May Cry, which mostly took place in one castle, felt more like Castlevania to me than LoS.

I don't know how well the retconned origins of a certain character were taken by the fandom, either. I know I found it to be wholly unnecessary and didn't care for it.

Anyway, I'm not saying it was a bad game. I really enjoyed it for what it was... it just wasn't Castlevania to me.

[Keith]

I'd like to take a minute and remind everyone that MGO is going down this Monday at 23:59 JST (I think 11am Eastern, 8am Pacific) forever. RIP greatest of all online tactical espianage action games!

And wow, just looked up my total play time, "968:10:34 "

Edited June 10, 2012 by Keith

[dizman]

Bye MGO thanks for the memories, maybe when MGS5 gets made they will learn from the mistakes of MGO2 and make a game that actually will last 10 years.

[Old_Nash]

You served us well MGO.

You will be missed. And Will live in our Memories.

[anime52k8]

I just got Lollipop Chainsaw...

that is all.

[Keith]

I just got Lollipop Chainsaw...

that is all.

The trailers remind me of Evil Dead Regeneration + a hot cheerleader. I want it, but will have to wait a while.

[badboy00z]

Anyone excited about Resident Evil 6? It looks to be the most epic in the series from the trailers/ demo. I wonder how the controls will be different.

[BeyondTheGrave]

So why is everyone screaming bloody murder about dlc?

[azrael]

So why is everyone screaming bloody murder about dlc?

Yet another topic you can easily find on video game forums and drags on forever.....(really, this topic really goes on forever)

There are lots of reasons to love or hate DLCs. Everyone has their own reasons and we have lots of ideas on why companies do it as well as the companies' excuses.

Me? It depends on what's in the DLC and money. If it's a feature I think should have been in the game in the first place (like a multiplayer game type), I would hate it. If it adds some new features or new maps, I might look at it. But I think it comes down to "How much is it and is it worth it?". If I'm getting more custom skins, a extra map or 2, or just another character, then, IMO, it won't be worth it. These games cost us $50-70 USD for the original game. Then we have to pay anywhere from $5-50 for DLC. Good thing they don't charge for patches. At the same time, the company may release a super-duper all-in-one collector's game-of-the-year edition which has everything in it for the same price as the original game a year later. Is grabbing the DLC 6-8 months before some collector's edition comes out worth it? That's up to you to decide.

[Chronocidal]

In certain cases, it's people raging over the fact that features that were included as standard features in previous titles in a series are suddenly costing extra money.

Ace Combat is the only one I can really speak to specifically, because Bamco has been progressively removing more and more features from that series as it goes on, and adding them back in for more and more money as dlc.

You used to be able to unlock dozens of aircraft and paintschemes from the old PS2 games... then it went to the Xbox, and you had to fork over DLC for any legacy schemes from previous games, or any of the highest difficulty missions, all of which used to be unlockables (through stupid amounts of difficulty, but you could do it in time).

Then it went to AssHorizon, and now you have to pay for individual aircraft (by way of pre-order reservation bonuses) and more stuff about paintschemes you have to pay to unlock, and harder difficulty missions you have to buy.

[Keith]

Speaking of unlockables, I've been playing Gundam SEED Battle Destiny (Vita) Pretty hardcore the last couple days. Haven't quite unlocked everything yet, but here's the quick & dirty:

The Good

-Graphics are pretty, still think the mobile suits look like Gunpla

-The control scheme is awesome, once you get used to using the right stick for the camera, you won't miss the removal of horizontal up/down boosting.

-Weapon switching is a dream, no cycling of the past necessary. You can either touch screen switch, or flick the left stick (or corss pad depending on your chosen scheme) to switch.

-Anytime switchable weapons packs! (for applicable mobile suits)

-Ejectable armor/Meteor packs (for applicable mobile suits).

The Bad:

-No more underwater parts to stages, you'll automatically hover over any body of water.

-All of the new engine changes made to Assault Survive are gone. No more flight mode (unless it's a MA or transformable mobile suit). And I kinda liked the custom parts equiping in Assault Survive. Hell, I even liked the multi-gate stage system.

-Back to the old one save/one faction system.

-Low cielings (though the stages are wide).

In fact, this game pretty much builds on the Battle Universe engine, mixing in some newer Macross game elements.

-Multi-lock weapons

-A combo between AS & Macross styled pilot skills

-MA/flight controls are greatly improved over the older gundam titles.

All in all I'm pretty happy.

[mikeszekely]

The thing with DLC is that there's good DLC and there's bad DLC. Good DLC would be like Rock Band. When Rock Band was released, the game had 58 songs. Today, I have nearly 500 in my collection. Harmonix continues to support the Rock Band series with weekly releases of new songs almost two years after the release of the last game in the series. The songs are reasonably priced, and provide players with incentive to keep playing the game for a long time.

Bad DLC is usually material released around the launch of the game or content that is actually on the game disc that can't be accessed without paying extra for. Whether true or not, many gamers believe this sort of DLC is stuff cut from the game or stuff that would have been part of the main game a few years ago that is being used as a blatant attempt to wring more money out of the players.

Other bad DLC are preorder bonuses that differ depending on the store.

I generally don't consider paints and skins to be bad DLC, no matter how ridiculous the price. If DLC doesn't actually change anything in the game and is purely cosmetic, let them charge whatever people are willing to pay for it.

[David Hingtgen]

I generally don't consider paints and skins to be bad DLC, no matter how ridiculous the price. If DLC doesn't actually change anything in the game and is purely cosmetic, let them charge whatever people are willing to pay for it.

Unless such "purely cosmetic" things would have been included free in previous versions---probably unlockable by beating the game twice, or on hard, or something like that.

[Einherjar]

Speaking of DLC, I've been trying to get 100% completion on White Knight Chronicles II for the past few months. There's been cosmetic stuff and city building add ons availiable through PSN, stuff that anyone who didn't invest a lot of time on the first game would want to catch up quickly. I was annoyed at certain things, like tokens that increased the amount of currency or the random chance of loot per kill that last about a month. I can say that the game was specifically designed to entice you to get them for all the money and rare drops you need to get more powerful unless you're planning to play a long time.

Also, the publisher gave everyone additional online missions and gear that had been offered to Japanese gamers ever since their release. Unfortunately, that came to an end about 2 months ago, leaving players in the West and Europe missing out on whole chunk of missions, and probably additional story elements. Unlike Capcom, I don't think there's much incentive for them to even make this content, which I heard may be on the disc already, availiable for a price.

[GU-11]

Because of this I actually went back to play Tomb Raider Legend. The Anniversary, Legend, and Underworld trilogy are some of the best adventure games I have ever played. Right up there with the only good Indiana Jones game that's not a point and click adventure The Emperor's Tomb. Underworld was a true unappreciated classic.

Crystal Dynamics can take their time and finishing polishing the game off I have nothing but faith in them after picking up where Core Designs failed. The only thing that bothers me is its a prequel/new origin story instead of a sequel tying up the loose end of Amanda and her "pet" not to mention the doppleganger.

Sadly, my old PS2 can no longer handle the incessant disc-reading those Crystal Dynamics TR games require during gameplay. I can still use my relatively newer PS2 Slim version to play them, but I generally try not to tax it too much.

As for the prequel, yeah, I agree. There wasn't really a proper resolution for the main antagonists.

Still, the prequel doesn't look too shabby. It's nice to see a more realistic side of Lara, to be honest.

[mikeszekely]

I've been playing a lot of Civilization V lately. Anyone get the Gods and Kings expansion? Or, for that matter, anyone else even playing Civ V?

[BeyondTheGrave]

I'm okay with dlc as long as its not an unlock key for critical story related game play. But if it for an item i don't feel like unlocking through hours of grinding of in game credits (mass effect multilayer and racing games) i can just buy a key i'm okay with. Except for capcoms street fighter x tekken debacle .

I find it funny that people will rage over paying an additional 5-10 usd for more content. but are okay with paying 60 for a shameless sequel.

or raging about it should be on the disc when the size is over 1.5 gb.

Edited June 22, 2012 by BeyondTheGrave

[GU-11]

Costumes and non-essential fancy weapons as DLC's, I can live with, but the way Capcom makes you PAY to unlock the characters that are already in the game is daylight robbery.

I remember reading something about Capcom's chairman (or or some other Japanese game company) laughing at a rival company that provided a complete game when they could have gotten away with slicing chunks of extras off and selling them as DLC's. Douchebag.

[David Hingtgen]

Few people played 2D Capcom fighters more than I did in the previous era----tons of JP-only Saturn and Dreamcast imports (SEGA was king for 2D sprites), etc. Now--I didn't even buy *Super* SF4, sold MVC3, and haven't bought anything since.

[renegadeleader1]

Few people played 2D Capcom fighters more than I did in the previous era----tons of JP-only Saturn and Dreamcast imports (SEGA was king for 2D sprites), etc. Now--I didn't even buy *Super* SF4, sold MVC3, and haven't bought anything since.

I picked up SF IV the premium collectors edition when it was on clearence for 25(haven't opened it) and Super SF IV for 20. That's the last capcom game I bought.

[Warmaker]

Few people played 2D Capcom fighters more than I did in the previous era----tons of JP-only Saturn and Dreamcast imports (SEGA was king for 2D sprites), etc. Now--I didn't even buy *Super* SF4, sold MVC3, and haven't bought anything since.

The last fighting game I was really into was SF3 on my old Dreamcast. I really loved the art and feel of how action went with SF3. Capcom hasn't been the same with its fightin games since then, IMO.

[Lobizon]

" IT’S OFFICIAL: We have signed with DreamWorks to create a Need for Speed movie!

What cars would you like to see? You ask, we’ll deliver! "

http://www.facebook....151872413125298

[renegadeleader1]

" IT’S OFFICIAL: We have signed with DreamWorks to create a Need for Speed movie!

What cars would you like to see? You ask, we’ll deliver! "

http://www.facebook....151872413125298

I was originally going to say "And on this day not a damn was given...", but you know what? If we ask and they deliver I want the Oscar Mayer Weinermobile, the TMNT Party Wagon, Truckasaurus, and the Warthog from Halo.

[Chronocidal]

What about the DeLorean, the Mystery Machine, and the A-Team Van?

Oh, and a scientist in a labcoat in a bathtub mounted on 4 skateboards powered by a rocket engine, with the license plate "SCIENCE!" Oh, no even better... A hippie biker guy with a tie-dyed shirt, John Lennon sunglasses, and a vintage pilot helmet with viking horns, riding in a shopping cart, and holding a leaf blower. Dangit, I want to see that now.

For those interested in Phantasy Star Online 2, the Japanese open beta has begun, and appears to not be region locked. You have to do a bit of reading Japanese to sign up for an account (not to mention play the game ), but apparently there's a growing English speaking community on the game already. It went from a p2p structure to f2p (possibly buy 2 win), so there's no entry fee to try it out.

[frothymug]

I've been playing a lot of Civilization V lately. Anyone get the Gods and Kings expansion? Or, for that matter, anyone else even playing Civ V?

I have been a Civ fan for many years, but I still haven't picked up Civ 5. I saw some user reviews that were less-than-flattering and kind of shied away from it. Is it worth the 25 bucks or so it costs on Steam?

I bought Diablo 3 at release and now Minecraft has finally been allowed to enter my system. I found a demo version of it, but I'm fighting with myself on whether or not I want to spend 27 bucks on the retail version.

[Keith]

Few people played 2D Capcom fighters more than I did in the previous era----tons of JP-only Saturn and Dreamcast imports (SEGA was king for 2D sprites), etc. Now--I didn't even buy *Super* SF4, sold MVC3, and haven't bought anything since.

To be fair, the charactters were fat & ugly, and the animations were slow & designed for lag. This became incredibly apparent once SFIII Online Edition came out.

[mikeszekely]

I have been a Civ fan for many years, but I still haven't picked up Civ 5. I saw some user reviews that were less-than-flattering and kind of shied away from it. Is it worth the 25 bucks or so it costs on Steam?

I bought Diablo 3 at release and now Minecraft has finally been allowed to enter my system. I found a demo version of it, but I'm fighting with myself on whether or not I want to spend 27 bucks on the retail version.

It's really hard for me to say... I've never played any of the previous Civ games, so I can't really comment on the complaints people seem to be having. I think the consensus is that people are glad Civ V uses hexes instead of squares, and glad that you can't stack units any more, but felt that it lacked diplomatic options, especially with city states, and that the AI was a little dumb (and these issues are all supposedly address with the new expansion). All I can tell you is that I find the game to hopelessly addicting. I actually started one game just to kill a little time in the afternoon and wound up playing for six hours. I'd really like to get the expansion, but I'm saving to replace my laptop.

[renegadeleader1]

The last civilisation game I played was II for the PSX. I attempted to play the others, but I felt in over my head. My dad thought I had issues when I nuked Ghandi.