racketboy.com

^^

to be fair the best examples of the genre don't do that. I don't remember feeling cheated while playing the Streets of Rage.

lisalover1 wrote:Unlike other Beat-Em'-Ups, Scott Pilgrim actually gives you a chance to beat the game. You don't have to grind a bit if you don't want to...

How in the hell can anyone beat that game without doing any grinding? It isn't designed to allow you to beat it in one sitting - it is designed to force you to replay stages until you level up enough or buy enough stuff to get through it. It is more of a beat-em-up/RPG hybrid. By contrast, stuff like Streets of Rage, Double Dragon, River City ransom, Final Fight, or the classic Capcom arcade games can be beaten in one sitting with enough practice, or at least you can credit feed through to the end. No option to do either with SP, so it doesn't feel like the games it draws inspiration from at all.

dsheinem wrote:

lisalover1 wrote:Unlike other Beat-Em'-Ups, Scott Pilgrim actually gives you a chance to beat the game. You don't have to grind a bit if you don't want to...

How in the hell can anyone beat that game without doing any grinding? It isn't designed to allow you to beat it in one sitting - it is designed to force you to replay stages until you level up enough or buy enough stuff to get through it. It is more of a beat-em-up/RPG hybrid. By contrast, stuff like Streets of Rage, Double Dragon, River City ransom, Final Fight, or the classic Capcom arcade games can be beaten in one sitting with enough practice, or at least you can credit feed through to the end. No option to do either with SP, so it doesn't feel like the games it draws inspiration from at all.

River City Ransom is difficult to beat in one sitting, too, and it encourages you to revisit areas. Also, if you haven't noticed, over the years, games overall have gotten longer. If a developer has more storage space, they will be inclined to use it. This is honestly the first time I have heard someone complain about a game not giving you more for your money! You are also confusing "grinding" with buying items from the game's stores. I beat the game without re-playing through a level once [I re-entered a level once or twice to buy something, but that's hardly "re-playing"], and I finished it in about 2 hours, including breaks. It was noticeably tough, but certainly not insurmountable. I will agree that the game is more geared towards grinding, but the point is that it is not your only option.

I didnt mind the long levels, I did mind the grinding, but it wasn't a deal breaker for me. The main reason I didn't enjoy it was because the moment you got in between 2 or 3 enemies, you got juggled and clusterfucked and lost ridiculous amounts of health. This is annoying, but not as annoying as standing up straight into another attack - my favourite beat-em-up is streets of rage, and when you fall in that, the enemies back off and give you some space. I often felt in Scott Pilgrim that being knocked over meant that I was basically going to die. It felt forced to level up in defence because being hit once seemed to mean being hit an awful lot. I never felt that compulsion in Castle Crashers though - I actually finished that with a pretty low defence score.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed Scott Pilgrim well enough, but I did feel that it was a pretty average beat em up. Its not the worst game of 2010, just the worst one I played.

Best Platformer game of the Year: Enslaved or Castlevania if those count, didnt play any new 2d platformers this year besides SMB but I consider that a quick fix type of game
Best Action Adventure game of the Year: God of War III
Best Fighting game of the Year: Blazblue Continuum Shift, by a small margin over SS4
Best Shmp game of the Year: Deathsmiles
Best RPG game of the Year: ...shuffling around a ton, maybe YS
Best FPS game of the Year: n/a, didnt buy any besides killzone 2 on the cheap for black friday
Best Racing game of the Year: GT5, I have not picked it up yet, but I loved the originals
Best Puzzle game of the Year: puzzle quest 2
Best Sports game of the Year: n/a, but if I had to pick maybe Fifa 11

Worst game of the Year: Quantum Theory, definitely gave me false hope
Underrated game of the Year: 3D Dot Game Heroes
Overrated game of the Year: Call of Duty, sorry but 4 was the best imo

XB Live game of the Year: Guwange, over 10 years old and still addicting
PS Network game of the Year: Castle Crashers, nice for them to finally get the chance
WiiWare game of the Year: Cave Story, but I still need to buy it

PS3 Game of the Year: God of War III
XBOX 360 game of the Year: Deathsmiles
Wii Game of the Year: Tatsunoko vs Capcom
PS2: Game of the Year: Sakura Wars
NDS Game of the Year: SMT: Strange Journey, on my list of games to purchase
PSP Game of the Year: YS 7 and oath in felghana, I liked both for different reasons
PC Game of the Year: Starcraft II

Best Home Console of 2010: ps3
Best Handheld Console of 2010: Iphone, I like the growing potential there like Infinity Blade
Best Retro Console of 2010: Turbografx maybe, it is definitely on the rise in popularity

PS3 Game of the Year: GT5
XBOX 360 game of the Year: Espgaluda II or Deathsmiles II
Wii Game of the Year: Galaxy 2

hashiriya1 wrote:PS3 Game of the Year: GT5

Wow that is quite a surprise coming from you!

Bradtemple87 wrote:Best Platformer game of the Year: Enslaved or Castlevania if those count, didnt play any new 2d platformers this year besides SMB but I consider that a quick fix type of game
Best Action Adventure game of the Year: God of War III
Best Fighting game of the Year: Blazblue Continuum Shift, by a small margin over SS4
Best Shmp game of the Year: Deathsmiles
Best RPG game of the Year: ...shuffling around a ton, maybe YS
Best FPS game of the Year: n/a, didnt buy any besides killzone 2 on the cheap for black friday
Best Racing game of the Year: GT5, I have not picked it up yet, but I loved the originals
Best Puzzle game of the Year: puzzle quest 2
Best Sports game of the Year: n/a, but if I had to pick maybe Fifa 11

Worst game of the Year: Quantum Theory, definitely gave me false hope
Underrated game of the Year: 3D Dot Game Heroes
Overrated game of the Year: Call of Duty, sorry but 4 was the best imo

XB Live game of the Year: Guwange, over 10 years old and still addicting
PS Network game of the Year: Castle Crashers, nice for them to finally get the chance
WiiWare game of the Year: Cave Story, but I still need to buy it

PS3 Game of the Year: God of War III
XBOX 360 game of the Year: Deathsmiles
Wii Game of the Year: Tatsunoko vs Capcom
PS2: Game of the Year: Sakura Wars
NDS Game of the Year: SMT: Strange Journey, on my list of games to purchase
PSP Game of the Year: YS 7 and oath in felghana, I liked both for different reasons
PC Game of the Year: Starcraft II

Best Home Console of 2010: ps3
Best Handheld Console of 2010: Iphone, I like the growing potential there like Infinity Blade
Best Retro Console of 2010: Turbografx maybe, it is definitely on the rise in popularity

Good call on Castle Crashers. I sort of forgot that it's NEW for PS3 owners.

As for Scott Pilgrim, I get that lisalover loves the game, and that's cool. However, as we've pointed out in this thread, it comes down to how a person feels about grinding. Now, I am an rpg fan and I am used to grinding. However, I always feel like grinding should be required for "optional" stuff. If I'm going after a hidden boss in a Final Fantasy game, I'm not gonna hold it against the game for making me have to grind since I EXPECT optional bosses to be unreasonably tough. That's why they are optional. You go after some ancient, centuries old dragon that has slaughtered many a noble hero, you damn well better be prepared. However, I feel like the main game should be completely doable with just pure skill and strategy. I feel like the way Scott Pilgrim is designed, there's really no place for skill and strategy. The game is cheap, and you have to be cheaper, which you can only do by boosting your stats to give yourself an edge. To me, when a game just tosses out skill or strategy, that game has failed as a video game. You might as well just put in a cheat code if a game is going to be designed that way, and who wants to play through a game using a cheat code. What's the point?

That's my main gripe. We sugarcoat it by saying that the game requires grinding, but the bottom line is that it requires grinding because it's cheap, and I have never been a fan of cheap games(see my rants about Alien Hominid). That said, I'm not looking to piss off the game's fans. I don't think less of anyone for loving the game. Different strokes for different folks, but I'm going to be honest about how I feel about it

Bradtemple87 wrote:Best Racing game of the Year: GT5, I have not picked it up yet, but I loved the originals

Buh?! How can you rate it the best racing game of the year when you haven't even played it? That's like saying "Castlevania LOS is best adventure game of the year, I haven't played it, but I loved the originals" or "Black OPS is the best FPS of the year, I haven't played it but I loved Modern Warfare".

I give Black OPS 10/10, I didn't play it but the boxart looked nice...
Avatar is my favourite film of all time, I didn't watch it but it's in 3D WOWZORS!!

Niode wrote:

Bradtemple87 wrote:Best Racing game of the Year: GT5, I have not picked it up yet, but I loved the originals

Buh?! How can you rate it the best racing game of the year when you haven't even played it? That's like saying "Castlevania LOS is best adventure game of the year, I haven't played it, but I loved the originals" or "Black OPS is the best FPS of the year, I haven't played it but I loved Modern Warfare".

I give Black OPS 10/10, I didn't play it but the boxart looked nice...
Avatar is my favourite film of all time, I didn't watch it but it's in 3D WOWZORS!!

Well the racing series I like, Ridge Racer, had no new releases this year, and I cant put nothing. I HAVE played the game and appreciate the depth and customization the series offers.