dsheinem wrote:
Play Dragon Age instead, though. It's better than either.
This.
Luke wrote:
With time management in mind, 30-40n hours is like two months worth of gaming. When I pick up games like this, and only play for an hour at a time (this even applies to Arkham City) when I pick them back up where I left off, sometimes I have no clue where I am, what my current objective is, and sometime what buttons do what.
I had that problem with Phantasy Star Online just recently. Took about 10 days off and when I resumed gameplay I was terrible. Had something like 3 game overs within the span of 15 minutes.
I have gotten better at "juggling" multiple games though, which is something I used to never do. I think what works for me is to always have some sort of (somewhat) lengthy RPG going and if/when I feel burned out I can take a break by playing some platformers or arcade-y games for a couple of days instead.
1. Kirby's Epic Yarn Wii
2. To The Moon Christmas Special PC *NEW*
3. Super Mario 3D World Wii U *NEW*
It's been a slow start to the year for me, mostly because I've started but not finished a fair few games between Christmas and now. Phantasy Star Online sapped a lot of my time before the server went down, meaning I was unable to beat it, I'm 10 hours into Mario & Luigi on 3DS and I'm in the final parts of Wind Waker HD too. Hopefully the pace should pick up in Feb - I have 55 games I want to beat this year, not including anything else I pay pick up.
To The Moon Christmas Special is just a 20 minute thing, but it offers a nice bit of insight into the world of the game, and a little tease for future games in the series. It leaned a bit heavily on references to the main game, but considering it was just a free Christmas game, I can't really hold that against it. Worth playing if you enjoyed To The Moon.
Super Mario 3D World is just incredibly fun, through and through. It's not revolutionary, it's not pushign the boundaries of the medium and it's not really anything we've not seen before in a Mario game, but it's all so perfectly designed, beautifully realised and polished to such a fine sheen that I would be happy to say it's one of, if not the absolute best Mario game of all time. The multiple characters who all play differently, the co-op, which unlike the clusterfuck of the NSMB co-op is actually really fun and works perfectly, the difficulty, which starts very easy but definitely picks up, the awesome power ups (Double Cherry is the greatest thing ever), the creativity of the levels - very few rely on the same design mechanics as others - everything just works so well in this game it's truly impressive. And, without spoiling anything, the final boss battle is the most awesome boss in any Mario game ever. The game is a bit short, and until later on, a bit easy too, but it's so fun I really didn't care. A most own for the Wii U, and for any platformer fan imo.
Next games to beat: As I said, I'm just about wrapping up Wind Waker HD, although as I'm going for 100% completion it's still going to be a while yet. Other games on my radar soon include Mario & Luigi and Professor Layton & The Azran Legacies on 3DS, the 2D Metal Gear games for February's Together Retro and something on my newly acquired PSVita.
BurningDoom wrote:I'm definitely of the opposite opinion. Dragon Age bored me. Soooo much talking. Yet I've put hours upon entertaining hours into Skyrim.
Play Dragon Age if you prefer lots of talking, linear play areas, and more focus on astheics and story than the gameplay.
If you prefer to have more game, than story, though, play Skyrim. Huge open-world with an endless amount of exploration, quests, and things to do.
I find Bethesda games too indulgent. Yeah, there's tons to do if you want to waste hours upon hours on useless, pointless crap. Bioware games are more focused, and while there's not as much to do as a Bethesda game, what's there is fun and worthwhile and actually tied to the story in meaningful ways. Less is more with Bioware games. And their stories grab your attention quickly, while twice I tried to play an Elder Scrolls game and both times found myself just not caring enough about what the story was presenting me to keep me going.
Me - "Your story is boring"
Game - "Yeah, but look at the fifty billion side quests! And our overly complicated levelling system! We're so awesome because our games are so non linear and have so much time wasting stuff to do!"
Me - "Why should I care about the fifty billion things there are to do in a world that I already know I don't care at all about because you've completely failed to invest me into it at the start of this adventure?"
Game - "...You know this is an Elder Scrolls game right? You're supposed to love it because of all the hype and game of the year awards"
Me - *turns off game*
RyaNtheSlayA wrote:
Seriously. Screw you Shao Kahn I'm gonna play Animal Crossing.
I'd also argue that the "gameplay" (manipulating systems, engaging in combat, planning tactics, managing resources and parties, etc.) are far superior in DA than Skyrim. Across the TES series, combat has always been atrocious.
Gamerforlife wrote:
I find Bethesda games too indulgent. Yeah, there's tons to do if you want to waste hours upon hours on useless, pointless crap.
This is pretty much how I feel about the ES games. They aren't bad, but are incredibly dull if you decide to stray from the main quest. I don't find a huge cut-paste "open world" to be impressive in the least; it's unnecessary padding.
That isn't to say all games should be linear. Non-linearity is an essential component of WRPG design - but to achieve balance a game needs a captivating main quests with sidequests that are actually interesting and impact the game's storyline/gameplay. I think the 90s D&D games and Arcanum did this best.
Games Beaten 2014
Primal Rage - 32X
Golden Axe - Genesis
To the Moon: Holiday Special - PC
Need for Speed: Rivals - PS4
Halo: Spartan Assault - Xbox One
Kolibri - 32X Motocross Championship - 32X *new*
I've always felt like this one is a bit of a hidden gem on the system. It doesn't make a great first impression (reviews are horrid), but once you get the timing of the speed/control mechanic down and come to understand the AI tendencies, there's a lot of fun to be had here in season mode (12 courses X 3 classes of bikes). I spent the afternoon with this one. Time well spent.
Gamerforlife wrote:Why should I care about the fifty billion things there are to do in a world that I already know I don't care at all about because you've completely failed to invest me into it at the start of this adventure?"
Granted, I don't know how long you played, but is it possible that you might become more invested after playing for a little while? Sounds like you played through the intro and then just said fuck it.
Kung Fu NES
Altered Beast Genesis
Golden Axe Genesis
Golden Axe GBA
Golden Axe Dreamcast
Golden Axe PS2
Golden Axe Sega CD
Golden Axe 360
Ninja Gaiden xbox
Ninja Gaiden NES
Cool Spot Genesis
The Duel Genesis*
Pit Fighter Genesis
Hard Drvin' Genesis
Death Duel Genesis
