What is the last video game you played?

[Red 75]

Currently playing through the Bioshock games. Great stuff.

[King Mark 3,631]

I'd have to get back to that one. I remember stopping because when you died you just re-spawned with the same health and enemies and it was stupid

One of the rare games I started and quit

I just finished Valkeria Chronicles. It was very good

[Koray Savas 2,251]

You can turn off the Vita Chambers, KM.

[Quintus 5,399]

I've already vowed never to play a Call of Duty game

How's that?

Because online shooters suck. You do the same thing over and over with different "maps" and your in a bad mood after playing 15 minutes because pretty much everyone is better than you since they play 24hours/7days a week or cheat

Short version = You suck so they're shit.

CoD is to videogames what Transformers is to summer blockbusters

This has become the accepted view, yes. One doesn't have to be an rpg addict to come to that conclusion, it's not exactly insightful.

Btw, we here are under the impression that you play your generic rpgs "24/7" - a widely used though implausible figure of speech, but we/you get the idea.

So what's the difference?

[King Mark 3,631]

I play mostly RPG's and action games including the most obscure titles but most RPG's aren't generic by their nature . I'm actually quite proud of my taste because they still represent a good variety of games with different game play mechanics and a lot of them are real masterpieces in game play or storywise (like the last one I played that was a type of WW2 Shooter). It's like being a film score fan for music.

I do like Shooters but the single player type with a long fantasy story such as Mass Effect, Fallout3,Half Life 2 and borderlands

By the way I have the same view of MMORPG's than online shooters. I just hate the principle of online gaming period where the difficulty is set by some random game addict playing against you. You never have the felling of having accomplished anything. Games need to end into an "End Credit" sequence and then you move on to something else

[Quintus 5,399]

Hmm, you seem to be making the sweeping (and incorrect) assumption that all CoD players don't play other games in other genres. I have come to hate the CoD behemoth as much as the next guy, but that doesn't mean I'm going to write-off an entire genre just because of it. Lol, that would be massively ignorant of me. Tell me KM, is your beef really with online FPS in general, or is it more an annoyance at the CoD domination of our beloved hobby on the whole? You seem to resent it for that, as do I.

Incidentally: notice how my sucking at Demon's Souls didn't translate into "I think the game's shit."

You pride yourself on your taste in games; whereas I pride myself on having a balanced objective opinion.

EDIT: You edited and re-wrote! Oh well, just see my post as a response to your pre-edit.

[King Mark 3,631]

I resent it because of what it means to gaming period. For example the next gen considering " online gaming only" DRM option to play is because they figure they could live on CoD players and FPS shooters alone and fuck what everyone else thinks. It also mean a lot of game developers think they can get away with shit 15 hour games with an "online" feature to pad the rest.

But the most important is that I did play an online shooter for a month a few years ago (Half Life 2 Death Matches) . I got "ok" at it in that I didn't suck after playing a month. But I HATED what it did to me. It only brought out negative emotions and a huge feeling of weariness, anxiety and general emptiness as thought I was repeating the same action over and over with no personal reward whatsoever (except the very short thrill on when you killed someone). Spawn>>>Shoot>>>Kill>>>Die>>Respawn>>>Repeat infinitely

[Quintus 5,399]

You clearly play games too intensely, a common problem. How is that a fault of the game? Jesus Christ KM I consider you to be an intelligent guy, but this thinking is spoilt school boy stuff.

I chill out with my brother and a couple of friends on Halo over Live for a couple of hours here and there. It's immensely enjoyable and nearly always very, very funny. The banter, the camaraderie, the winning, the losing. Good fun.

And are you referring to always-online DRM? That's got nothing to do with monetization; it's to combat rampant pc piracy. Geez, you sound like Mel Gibson! Seriously.

Fifteen hours for an fps campaign? You'd be lucky! Nowadays it's more like 6-10 hours. 8-10 hours being my action game sweet-spot. I HATE drawn out bloat. Max Payne 3 took the fucking piss in that regard. Just END already!!!

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Wrong thread!

[King Mark 3,631]

Well, that's just it. When I play a game I fell like I want to embark into some sort of "journey" . 60 hours for a RPG is a minimum for me. Even games like Mass Effect and Assassin's Creed take about that time to fully complete

But when I'm done with a game I'm done. I never return to it

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

But when I'm done with a game I'm done. I never return to it

Like with women?

[Quintus 5,399]

I love a good hearty adventure as well, every now and then. But my brain starts feeling claustrophobic if it's stuck in the same game universe for too long, I have to take a break from it with a bunch of games I get to shoot people in the face in and cars to race.

Skyrim is still on hold at about seventy hours in. I'm planning on getting it finished soon.

[Wojo 2,453]

But when I'm done with a game I'm done. I never return to it

You do have that right as a consumer, and since you're a console gamer, your games retain most of their value when you trade or sell them back. Well, you don't see that in terms of the pittance you're paid, but the resellers do all right by you. Let's examine it in terms of other expensive purchases.

When I'm done with a book I'm done. I never re-read it

When I'm done with a movie I'm done. I never watch it again

When I'm done with a CD I'm done. I never listen to it again

When I'm done with a soundtrack I'm done. I never listen to it again

When I'm done with a shirt I'm done. I never wear it again

You don't strike me as the kind of guy who reads, so the first one is right out, but as for the others...gosh. What a dull decision that would be for the others. I would have a hard time justifying spending so much to buy books, music, and movies to enjoy once and never again. As someone whose video game system of choices forces me to buy them instead of rent or buy/sell/trade, I would not be able to live with myself and a shelf of boxes and binders full of discs to say "yup, played through only once, if at all yet, and never a second look."

Hell, GOG released two PC games free of charge yesterday. RPG-lite, you could call them, because they're Ultima games, but more action-oriented than true RPG. I mean, the main character never really levels up in terms of stats and abilities, it's just a top-down adventure game on a modified Ultima VI engine. But The Savage Empire is one of my absolute most favorite games of all time, even though it was released in 1990 -- 22 years ago!!! -- and I would be heartbroken if an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and said, "Lo Wojo...that rhymes...anyways, you are forbidden from playing this game a fifteenth time, because once is enough and twice is too many. To Hell with you should you disobey this holy writ!" To willingly consign yourself to it....eh, to each their own.

PC games have practically no resale value since they're so easy to copy and hack; all you buy with a Steam game is a key, which is difficult to trade. Their ability to mod or get to work on newer hardware keeps them relevant years or even decades later. I find myself often drawn to replay old classics just as often as I might want to play a recent expensive game. I have no agenda to keep or axe to grind as to how good I feel about myself for beating a game within a few months of its release.

You hate online-always gaming? It might be to combat hardware hacks of console systems, which is the only way that I know to pirate games on console systems. The PC game Diablo III is largely a single player game, and it requires online-only to work. And even then, it's only by the grace of whenever Blizzard's servers aren't down for maintenance or haven't crashed due to hacking or being swamped. The online element is less for combating piracy -- Steam has proven that you can provide offline mode with only a periodic requirement to log on and acquire updates and reconfirm authenticity -- than it is for ensuring the game is not hacked in any way, since the goodies discovered in the game can be sold for real cash. Hacks would be tantamount to printing counterfeit money.

I've greatly increased my Skyrim play lately, I'm somewhere around level 25 with about 56 hours invested. I'm looking to tear through the Mages Guild storyline and trade in Lydia for a better follower, after I stop playing Turok: Dragon Hunter.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

KM's just weird and paranoid.

I've played through each Uncharted 3-5 times.

Since you love Mass Effect, do you have no interest in exploring the other outcomes and relationships you can develop in the game? For something like Infamous, two playthroughs is pretty much a given.

I got all 7 endings for Catherine and Heavy Rain.

[King Mark 3,631]

What I mean when I'm done with a RPG/action game/shooter:

I completed the main quest

I did all the sidequests and missions

I crafted the best gear and made my character as powerful as possible.

I usually play until there's nothing left in the game to do, so that's why when I stop I don't return to it and start something new. I played 150 hours of Skyrim and Kingdoms of Amalur. I buy a bunch of used games so I always have something new to start. The only game I played a "New Game+" is Dark Souls.

And yes Wojo I do read sometimes (read Hunger Games trilogy 2 months ago), and I never re-read a novel either. But the rest of your comments about not listening to music, movies or wearing the same clothes twice are stupid

And Ultima VII and Savage Empires is also some of my favorite games of all time

[Wojo 2,453]

And Ultima VII and Savage Empires is also some of my favorite games of all time

Really??

Newfound respect. I bought Ultima VII for $3 from GOG about three weeks ago having never played it. The "free" version I downloaded doesn't seem to work too well, so I figured GOG's deal was too good to pass up. And I'm getting goosebumps thinking about jumping back into the Valley of Eodon.

[King Mark 3,631]

Ultima III Exodus is what got me into RPG's and the actual game where I first named myself King Mark (hence the origin of my screen name)

Probably my favorite of all time is Ultima Underworld 2

There wasn't even conversation trees with the NPC's in those Ultima, you had to GUESS the right questions to ask them!

Here's the games I've completed on this generation consoles:

Half Life 2

Fable 2

Fable 3

Kameo Elements of Power

Lost Odyssey

Mass Effect

Mass Effect 2

Infinite Undiscovery

Overlord

Gears of War

Gears of War 2

Magna carta 2

Tales of Vesperia

Dragon Age Origins

Dragon Age 2

Two Worlds

Two Worlds 2

Enchanted Arms

Blue Dragon

Final Fantasy 13

Star Ocean the Last Hope

Vikings

Eternal Sonata

Fallout 3

Fallout New Vegas

Darksiders

Resonance of Fate

Risen

Divinity 2

Nier

Demon Souls

Dark Souls

White Knight Chronicles

Arcania Gothic 4

Borderlands

Assassin's Creed 2

The Last Remnant

Phantasy Star Universe

God of War 3

Record of Agarest War

Bayonetta

Dark Kingdoms

Spectral Force 3

Venetica

Majin and the forsaken kingdom

Ninety Nine Knights

Hunted the Demon's Forge

Heavenly Sword

Skyrim

Cross Edge

Trinity Soul O'Zill

Dungeon Siege 3

Kingdoms of Amalur

Valkeria Chronicles

So you be the judge if I only play RPG's

[Quintus 5,399]

Hey KM, I don't suppose you like rpgs, do you? Let me know and I'll recommend some good ones to you.

[King Mark 3,631]

I'm going to start Tales of Graces F now

[Koray Savas 2,251]

What I mean when I'm done with a RPG/action game/shooter:

I completed the main quest

I did all the sidequests and missions

I crafted the best gear and made my character as powerful as possible.

Same here. But with genres besides RPGs, that doesn't take 100+ hours.

COD online even has RPG-like elements. Ranking up guns, your player rank, Prestige, challenges, all that stuff. If you were good at it I could imagine you being one of those crazy people that play it 24/7.

[King Mark 3,631]

Another problem I have with FPS shooters it I hate manual aiming with a console joystick. That's why I haven't played many of them. and when I played Fallout 3 I mainly used VATS

[Quintus 5,399]

What I mean when I'm done with a RPG/action game/shooter:

I completed the main quest

I did all the sidequests and missions

I crafted the best gear and made my character as powerful as possible.

Same here. But with genres besides RPGs, that doesn't take 100+ hours.

COD online even has RPG-like elements. Ranking up guns, your player rank, Prestige, challenges, all that stuff. If you were good at it I could imagine you being one of those crazy people that play it 24/7.

That's stretching it. Those things aren't rpg elements, they don't grow or change your character. The bar filling exercise is merely a carrot-dangling meta game which, I might add, is everything wrong with all modern games.

People are all about the reward now, the reward for playing. I remember when people used to play games just because they were rewarding and fun in themselves. Now you see little shits complaining on forums that they've reached top rank and unlocked everything so, "what's the point of playing anymore?" Spoilt little fuckers.

[BloodBoal 7,538]

People are all about the reward now, the reward for playing. I remember when people used to play games just because they were rewarding and fun in themselves. Now you see little shits complaining on forums that they've reached top rank and unlocked everything so, "what's the point of playing anymore?" Spoilt little fuckers.

+1

[Koray Savas 2,251]

What I mean when I'm done with a RPG/action game/shooter:

I completed the main quest

I did all the sidequests and missions

I crafted the best gear and made my character as powerful as possible.

Same here. But with genres besides RPGs, that doesn't take 100+ hours.

COD online even has RPG-like elements. Ranking up guns, your player rank, Prestige, challenges, all that stuff. If you were good at it I could imagine you being one of those crazy people that play it 24/7.

That's stretching it. Those things aren't rpg elements, they don't grow or change your character. The bar filling exercise is merely a carrot-dangling meta game which, I might add, is everything wrong with all modern games.

People are all about the reward now, the reward for playing. I remember when people used to play games just because they were rewarding and fun in themselves. Now you see little shits complaining on forums that they've reached top rank and unlocked everything so, "what's the point of playing anymore?" Spoilt little fuckers.

That's why I said RPG-like.

Like you said, it's what gives the game longevity. I personally like doing all the challenges. I don't care about prestige at all, and I love it when someone calls me a "scared little bitch" because I haven't. Yep, I'm totally afraid.

[Wojo 2,453]

Another problem I have with FPS shooters it I hate manual aiming with a console joystick. That's why I haven't played many of them. and when I played Fallout 3 I mainly used VATS

You just nailed the reason I don't play first-person shooters (FPS shooters is redundant) with a console gamepad. The joystick aim is too damn tedious, but auto-aim is for pansies. Gimme a mouse for FPS any day. I use my gamepad for emulating the 8 or 16-bit systems, playing modern side-scrollers, and playing space or flight sims.

VATS in Fallout 3 was a way to apply the RPG-qualities of your character to his/her ability to effectively use ranged weapons. Early on, it's a lot better to use VATS to aim a pistol than it is to just come in guns blazing, and watch your bullets hit everywhere but the target. From an FPS standpoint, it's morally "cheating," but is permitted in the rules of the game because it conveys the RPG nature.

It also was required to be in Fallout 3 because it was used in Fallout 1 and 2, when it would not be possible to surgically aim for specific parts of the body to cripple opponents in a top-down isometric game in real-time. It's much easier to aim for parts of the body in a FPS, but factor in lousy aim, and your head shot went wide right or nailed him in the leg. By the end game, you don't "need" VATS unless you are really persnickety about wasting ammo. I like how the game basically laughs at you if you try to use VATS with melee and you're standing several feet apart.

Trust me, in the original Deus Ex, the classic FPS-RPG hybrid, they simulate lousy shooting ability early in the game by adding significant motion to your gun when you try to take a shot, especially when trying to snipe. The scope is all over the place until you invest enough points to simulate the control over your weapon that you earn, so that shots can be surgically accurate.

[Quintus 5,399]

I played my fair share of mouse controlled pc shooters. Doom, Doom 3, the Half-Lifes, Medal of Honor, Painkiller, Call of Duty 1& 2 blah blah blah.

I prefer the feedback and traction of a controller (preferably Xbox) and the comfort of playing on the couch instead of being hunched over a pc monitor.

[King Mark 3,631]

Manually aiming a console joystick physically tires me where I don't feel like playing after 1 hour. It requires too much a fine movement and control of my thumb. Maybe some people have it more naturally than others but it never becomes a reflex for me

I play games that require pressing a sequence of buttons but no manual aiming, though I HATE QTE events and "guitar Hero " style puzzles

RPG's can still be difficult even if the spells auto-aim (Dark Souls). I don't see it as a cheap way out to simplify things in most cases

[Quintus 5,399]

My uncle's the same as you - his brain simply cannot comprehend accurate thumbstick control under stressful conditions. It's clearly an issue for some people.

Maybe my vast amount of time wasted down the arcade in my teens playing Street Fighter II made stick control second nature.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

A DualShock is all I'll ever need to enjoy my video games. I can't imagine myself using a keyboard and mouse to ever play. My brain is wired to a PS controller layout.

[King Mark 3,631]

I prefer the Xbox360 controller. The triggers and RL bumpers are better That's why given the choice I usually pick the xbox version of a game

[Wojo 2,453]

I bought an X360 controller only because the 3dfx HammerheadFX won't work on a 64-bit operating system. The company stopped supporting it over a decade ago, and clever programmers extended its life into Windows XP by making their own drivers, but they haven't been updated for 64-bit, and flat-out say they refuse to work. Every single Windows upgrade does this to specific hardware and software to make you upgrade -- consoles do it too, though not as much if XBox games work on 360 and PS1 or PS2 games work on PS3. I personally don't know.

I don't mind the 360 gamepad, but it sucked to have to shelve a perfectly good piece of hardware. The force feedback via USB cable is nice, as opposed to using batteries or my GameBoy power pack.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

360 is backwards compatible. The initial run of PS3s were, but they took out that feature with subsequent models because some games didn't run properly or at all. Plus they tapped into a whole new mine of cash - rerelease them as HD collections or Classics in the store. People with a nostalgia itch have no problem paying for the same game again as long as it's years later.

[Maglorfin 196]

Online shooters are amazing, if done properly. If you suck at MP, that's just you. I enjoy it and do well often. The key to success in COD is to have fun with it. Should be a given, right? Well if you think about gaming, it's all about exploiting its mechanics. COD takes a certain amount of familiarity with FPSs and good reflexes, but after that it's about exploiting the game. Crap like quick scoping, drop shots, etc. "Hardcore" gamers do this, and yes they get very very mad when they lose, or even get killed against their will. This is where my fun comes in. I piss them off, and it's hilarious.

You can also have fun by simply playing, but there are so few gamers like this. I think I've encountered maybe 3 or 4, that just don't care. Everyone else comes up with an excuse. Oh you were camping, using that gun, that attachment, that perk, that killstreak. It's never their fault that they died. If you can accept when someone is just better than you and you played terribly for a match, then COD is some of the best online gaming there is.

Its problem, in my opinion, is the yearly release. All gaming franchises have essentially the same gameplay, but with new characters, locales, weapons, etc. It's a given. You want more of the same, but different. If the game is being released year after year, it gets tiresome. Players find it redundant and lazy, but I'm fairly certain this wouldn't be an issue if the development process took 2 years. Not only do you give yourself more time to fine-tune the technical aspect, it gives you more time to expand the creative aspect.

What I find fascinating about what Activision has under its belt, is the ever rising mountain peak of cash. COD gets bigger each year, with no signs of slowing down. Yet people complain more and more with each passing year. It makes no sense, unless they're all hypocrites, which is very likely. Since it's so successful, other developers closely follow that style of gameplay and therefore the FPS genre is reduced to COD clones. But there are still games here and there that break from the mold, typically AAA titles that already have a predefined gameplay style, i.e. Battlefield and Killzone.

Thank you for this great post, Koray, I second pretty much all of it! I've only played CoD4 MP for a few days so far, so yeah, I suck at it, but I'll get better! In fact, I've even managed to beat some of my co-players a few times (i.e. accummulated more kills than they had, and I'm certain they weren't firstcomers like me). I only take it as a lot of fun, like you said, and I think everybody should. If somebody is better than you, you just gotta accept it, live with in, move on and keep learning so maybe you can be better someday!

Well, I gotta admit there is this one thing that pisses me off sometimes - when you respawn directly in front of somebody else and just get killed before you ever know who/what/where hit you!

[Quintus 5,399]

What Koray fails to realise is that the CoD games DO take two years to develop. But it's still not enough. Three years minimum is what keeps a franchise fresh.

The people who complain about the CoD vacuum and its annual domination aren't hypocrites at all. They're defenders of taste, fresh ideas and originality; tired of having the artistically bereft Michael Bay of gaming juggernaut rammed down their throat every year by chav gamers and 'journalists' alike.

Thankfully, the CoD phenomenon appears to have peaked. That's something worth getting excited about.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

What Koray fails to realise is that the CoD games DO take two years to develop. But it's still not enough. Three years minimum is what keeps a franchise fresh.

The people who complain about the CoD vacuum and its annual domination aren't hypocrites at all. They're defenders of taste, fresh ideas and originality; tired of having the artistically bereft Michael Bay of gaming juggernaut rammed down their throat every year by chav gamers and 'journalists' alike.

Thankfully, the CoD phenomenon appears to have peaked. That's something worth getting excited about.

I'm fairly certain Treyarch waits for Infinity Ward to do theirs to see what they added, and they go on from there, and vice versa. That's why you see some things continued from each game. If those games truly took 2 full years of development, which is not even possible since it's 2 years from release date and not completion date, it's pretty sad how little things evolve.

Plus it hasn't peaked. Black Ops II already crushed all of MW3's pre-order records. It's going to be bigger. I'm sure there are plenty of people who complain and trash it (which are legitimate claims, the franchise has severe problems) but still cough up $60 to Activion cause "all my friends are playing it."

You don't know how many times I hear "This game is shit. Fuck this, fuck that shit." I simply respond, "Then why are you playing it?" No one gives a legit response, they are hypocrites.

[King Mark 3,631]

Well, I say it's shit and I don't play it

[Koray Savas 2,251]

That's fine, but your reason why it was shit wasn't really legitimate. What you said could be applied to all FPSs. All you have to say is, "I don't like FPSs."

[Quintus 5,399]

Koray's views on the health and state of not only the fps genre, but video games in general should be neither trusted nor taken seriously - since he's already shown himself to be compromised:

I think I'm losing interest in games in general. This past holiday season, I bought so many I just kinda gave up trying to play them all equally. Wasted money on Twisted Metal and SSX and barely played those. Problem is I keep buying them but never play them. Max Payne 3 and Game Of Thrones are coming out soon, I normally would want to check those out. Then there's Sorcery at the end of the month, which looks like a worthy PS Move game.

I honestly might turn into a Call Of Duty gamer. Just buy that crap every year.

Couple that damning post with his frequent proclamations that's he's "done" ( - a direct quote, need I link?) with the Call of Duty franchise and suddenly the accusations of hypocrisy he's bandying around of late become very curious indeed.

[King Mark 3,631]

I'm about 15 hours into Tales of Graces F (JRPG)

My god the combat is complicated with a gadzillion of gauges and point meters to keep a track of . I'm just getting into the complexities of it. And don't get me started on the items creation, I still barely understand the basics of it

Still, that's what I love about these games, all the layers of complexity. That you have to read hours online on various gaming message boards to grasp it

No quest markers or dungeon maps, you just have to guess what to do next or actually get lost. Still, better than most games that spoon feed you everything to make sure you don't get lost (like a glowing trail to the next person you should talk to)

Plus the rewards increase (like rare item drops from the monsters) if you keep the difficulty setting high. A real incentive not to play on a too easy setting

My only complaint is that the environments have a fixed camera view (which i sort of hate in this day and age)

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

I don't know about that kind of shit, KM. I sure do like scrolling left to right and jumping across platforms.

[King Mark 3,631]

2D platformers are kids games

[Wojo 2,453]

No, I don't think so. They're just not your kind of game. Which is fine.

Watch this and tell me if you think it's a kid's game:

[media=]

[Brónach 1,302]

[Wojo 2,453]

I have that game and it's awesome. It's a veritable murder simulator. I am stuck on one boss level that is brutally unfair, so I put it down for a while.

[Jay 37,369]

2D platform games are my favorite types of games (well probably tied with RPGs). And I am not a kid!

Everyone has different tastes!

[BloodBoal 7,538]

And I am not a kid!

Perhaps, but you sure sound like one!

[Jay 37,369]

My favorite game series are Mario, Metroid, Zelda, and Final Fantasy

[Quintus 5,399]

Metroid Prime on the GC is one of the greatest game's ever made.

[Jay 37,369]

Oh! I forgot Adventure games (Sierra/Lucasarts stuff). THAT is my favorite video game genre. But those are all computer games, platforms and RPGs are what I play on consoles.

My favorite (console) games of all time are all on the SNES: Super Metroid, Zelda: Link to the Past, Final Fantasy IV, Final Fantasy VI, and Mario All-Stars (remakes of Mario1-3)

[BloodBoal 7,538]