"Square, who used to make great gameplay-driven RPGs "
What's wrong with FMV-filled and extremely repetitive combat sequences RPGs ? They've been doing the exact same thing since they came to the PlayStation with FF 6. Time to wake up, isn't it ? Why cry about it now ?
Go play FF 5/chrono trigger or any Falcom (Ys, eiyuu densetsu series, etc..) or Far east of eden, if you want japanese RPG with more substance.
All TV sets for sale where Broadcast TV is in SECAM format (France, Rusia, Middle-East, etc..) are able to display PAL signals. Not to mention that SCART input (means pure RVB signal, interlaced) has been mandatory feature in europe since 1984.
It was SUBLOGIC's Flight Simulator II that was the well-know and ubiquitous metric. And it was also perfectly ported to other architectures like the Apple II or the ATARI 800 XL.
"Our inspiration continues to be the Korean market, where 'free to play, pay for item' is the ubiquitous business model for online games"
A few major examples :
Lineage : pay per month Lineage II : pay per month RF Online : pay per month/30days of play
So, describing the 'free to play' as ubiquitous is either misleading or wishful thinking. A valid business model ? In asia, surely. Ubiquitous ? hardly... even and especially in Korea.
Oh, and Korean pay twice as much per month than their US/Europe peers for the same game.
>> Sony ARE No.1, and unless the others actually get off their fat arses and do something about it, Sony will remain No.1
Nintendo DS Lite :
light and backlit. Tons of good games. As a PC engine LT owner, I feel nintendo reached a good level of features (backlit screen). +1
Nintendo Wii :
I disagree with the forfeiting of any kind of High-Def resolution, but I concur with everything else they do for becoming a family choice console that will sell well. +1
Xbox360 :
Pretty good product and launch. Delivers. More good games coming soon (gear of wars,...). +1
So, to answer you, competion to Sony IS hard at work.
>>just remember it's all in the games, NOT necessarily the hardware and the company. The PSOne, and the PS2, both had some amazing games. And most of them, were exclusive.
Exactly. GTA is no more PS3 exclusive. And the 360 has some incoming must-haves too (Halo 3, Ninja Gaiden 2,.. ) Enough to put a fair fight with the PS3 on equal footing. Except the PS has a higher pricetag, which undermines the sony brand advantage.
>>I have PS2 games that are in 1080i over component, and you are telling me that no XBox360 game will ever support 1080p? That would be a sad fact for the 360 if true.
No, you are absolutely mistaken. The real sad fact is that 99.99% of PS2 games are 480i, while 95% of DREAMCAST games were in 480p (official VGA cable).
Maybe then you will understand why some people never bought a PoS2. When you have tasted 480p on your 19" monitor or DLP projector, you don't go back to crappy PS2-like 480i.
To make an analogy, would you still have bought your PS2 if it did output graphics in black & white instead of color ? Why not ? The graphic details would have been the same, as for all the 3D effects, etc.. It would simply have lacked a certain property that was brought by technical progress, and without you can't really appreciate the games ?
Well, maybe now you understand why I never considered the PS2. I simply haven't been playing on a TV (=interlaced and blurry) for 5 years. DreamCast's VGA was the key and the new metric. PS2 was, simply speaking, a step backwards.
>> But it does change how the games look on a nice 1080i or 1080p TV with DVI/HDMI.
I am perfectly satisfied with wiewing 1080p with analog VGA. Maybe I am blessed for not craving for DVI/HDMI.
What I find funny is.. if VGA is so inferior, how comes we didn't hear people crying their heart out about the picture quality of their monitors when graphics cards started to hit resolutions upwards of 1600*1200 ? If VGA was good then, why is it so bad for 1080p ?
Would be nice to have some numbers for RF Online too. I know that it topped Lineage in Korea last year for a while. Even if it has then probably subsided, it is has now servers in :
There are already several books on the Halo universe (check 'halo' at your fav online book retailer), including prequel to the game's storyline. Masterchief's name is John117 and you can learn about him and other members of the Spartan project, and see that he and cortana have been a long way together (remember the 'so you did miss me' line ?). You'll also see Captain Keyes' prowess as a ship commander against unfavourable odds. "no back story, no motivation, no personality, no vulnerability" ? There is a limit on what you can cram into the cutscenes between the game stages before it begins to dumb down the pace of action. And all your critics can also be applied to half-life's gordon freeman, except we know his name. Gordon's back story.. uh ? Motivation... survive ? personality... ha ha ha.. Vulnerability... likes crowbars ? Don't be mistaken, I loved the first Half-life and still do. I'm just trying to point out how your criticism seems silly to me. (And I'd be thrilled if it would become a movie too)
>the potion thing, really pissed me off, because I always play healers, and they didn't balance for the healer playstyle at all.
Go play Lineage 2 then. No healers mean Everyone can fight in PvP, Everyone can solo, Anytime. There are no healer classes per se in RF. As a Bellato mage (the only race to have a mage that can heal), you have access to ALL offensive spells like a damage specialized mage would.
>It's entirely a solo game
you don't need to party at the first levels. It is much needed later, and a must for PvP anyway.
>Since it was the final hit that mattered for quests, everyone wanted to wait until it was almost dead and then time their attacks. Kill stealing was everywhere.
And why did you insist on doing the quest if it was that overcrowded ? Go level elsewhere !! You can play the whole game without ever doing any quest. You can do them at any level thereafter.
>You actually start the game, and go out and grind
Yes. Except you get levels FAST, and so much gear drops that you sell 99% of it to the NPC for money and keep the enhanced gear to level even faster.
>I couldn't get a quest from an NPC
True. You automatically get quests when you reach a new level, and once done their rewards are given instantly. The first one should be given around level 7 (you get there fast) and yields like 20% experience. Subsequents usually yield 12% of a level + money + fame + gear (sometimes).
>and the combat was painful
Describe painful ? Did you at least buy HP and mana potions ?
>It was worse than Lineage 2
Lineage 2 is the biggest pile of crap of a MMORPG I ever played, game design/play mechanics wise, so I strongly react to such a statement.
>And the elves aren't as wicked hot either
RF Elves are light elves in appearance, so compare them to the light elves of Lineage 2 who have asian size breasts.
"Surround sound" is bollocks. You have only two ears. There is always an ambiguity when locating the source of a sound
I'm sorry to tell you that, but it is you who are actually bollocks.
Have you ever wondered how we were able to discern incoming sounds form the front and the rear, with only our two ears ?
The difference in geometry of your head between your face and the back of your head alterates slightly the propagation of the sound waves to your ear.
The brain decodes this difference as spatial information so we do know if it's coming from the front or the rear.
The makers of surround sound headphones have researched this and used such property to 'fool' the brain in asserting a spatial position to the incoming soundwaves.
Atari 2600 games from Activision, featuring classics such as River Raid or SeaQuest, did include the aspect of game achievement and even reward. If you would succeed in the task described in the manual, as for example getting a score of 10,000, you were invited to take a photo of your TV screen and mail it to Activision. They would send you back a badge (IIRC) acknowledging your achievement in that particular game.
Dizzy overpowered ? Well.. The CPU has no problem with doing the complex moves needed to lash out the specials, even on the move. I am not that proficient he he. Moreover, if you observe Dizzy's power up bar when fighting her (as the CPU), you eyes will pop out looking at how blazing fast it fills up ! That explains how she can blast you so often, but of course it doesn't fill as quickly when you are playing her.
Wow.. you cosplayed GG with friends ? Aww.. Pics Puhleaaaaaase !! ^_^
I recommend Isuka to any GG-loving player. You HAVE to try it out. Order it online if you have to. My copy of GGXX #Reload is gathering dust because of it.
Your arcade sold GGXX ? o.O aww that sucks... Sorry to hear =.=
And at the time, as a Sega Saturn owner, I remember being jealous of the Playstation version because of the new character it introduced to the series : Ayane. (Kasumi's lavender haired step sister)
Ky and Sol ? You are cheap, milady he he ^^ Baiken on the DC ? mmmh.. that surely would be very interesting to watch.
As for myself, well, looks always prevails on power concerning my choices so I usually play with Jam. I like her fast moves and the way she feels. Even if her attacks get preempted a lot by the big guns of the game (yeah Sol, I'm looking at you..) I like to take Dizzy for a walk also. She is a slow char and makes a good change from Jam.
Have you tried GG Isuka ? Simultaneous 3 and 4 char fights are insane, very cool. Takes a bit to get used to the ground planes, but really worth it.(think Fatal Fury Special)
Uh-uh... Call me wise or anything, but I wouldn't underestimate any girl playing GGXX, whatever her age. If she plays a GG game, she most probably knows what she's doing:P
Am I the only one to note that the legal fees in this affair amount to $22 million ? o.O
Twenty-two million dollars ???
Ugh..
We should all turn to becoming lawyers..
You have to compare apples to apples.
The improvements made by the Xbox 360 on running Halo 1 and 2 are to be compared to what enhancements did the PS2 when running PS games.
Bungie is busy working on Halo 3 to counter the Ps3 launch. Microsoft is busy launching the 360 worldwide. I am personaly very happy they took the time to enhance the halo games to 720p, as it is what I hoped for since the time when I heard they were doing a new xbox.
Though I am sure you wrote that as a pure joke, this has already been done long ago.
During the fierce competion on the demo scene between the ATARI ST and the Amiga, crews were exploiting every speck of power they could from their machine.
The ATARI ST being a general purpose machine compared to the Amiga (which had very advanced sound and graphical custom processors), the programmers who wanted to pull off the same graphical effects went as far as using the processor managing the keyboard (a 68xx 8bit motorola chip) for added computational power.
>Massive sieges are still the holy grail of online gaming. I don't think it'll happen anytime soon.
I take it you haven't played Lineage 2, have you ? It was designed with massive confrontation in mind, and the number of people fighting you describe fits it well.
There is some lag, yes, but nothing unplayable unless you are on 56k. No player ever said in Lineage 2 that the game can't take massive battles and should stay away from it.
As for choking video cards, that is what the minimum frame option is for, and it works.
PSO for XBOX (LIVE game)fits your requirement perfectly. It is the only online action/RPG, mainly a co-operative game, and liked by a lot of women. The action part provides immediate fun for a team of up to 4 at a time.(you don't run for 3 km to find baddies to whack, you instantly go back to town for quick restore and then immediately back to where you left the field)
The RPG part lets you evolve your char and customize it following your likes.
Or you can just wander in the lobbies for a good chat.
PSO is where I met a lot of girls, women, wives, mothers at home. Though it takes a while to discover who is who, as guys tend to be jerks especially online girls don't say anything about their gender before a rather lengthy time has passed playing with you.
Slashdot Mirror
"Square, who used to make great gameplay-driven RPGs "
..) or Far east of eden, if you want japanese RPG with more substance.
What's wrong with FMV-filled and extremely repetitive combat sequences RPGs ?
They've been doing the exact same thing since they came to the PlayStation with FF 6.
Time to wake up, isn't it ?
Why cry about it now ?
Go play FF 5/chrono trigger or any Falcom (Ys, eiyuu densetsu series, etc
All TV sets for sale where Broadcast TV is in SECAM format (France, Rusia, Middle-East, etc ..) are able to display PAL signals.
Not to mention that SCART input (means pure RVB signal, interlaced) has been mandatory feature in europe since 1984.
>
.. No.
Umh
It was SUBLOGIC's Flight Simulator II that was the well-know and ubiquitous metric.
And it was also perfectly ported to other architectures like the Apple II or the ATARI 800 XL.
"Our inspiration continues to be the Korean market, where 'free to play, pay for item' is the ubiquitous business model for online games"
... even and especially in Korea.
A few major examples :
Lineage : pay per month
Lineage II : pay per month
RF Online : pay per month/30days of play
So, describing the 'free to play' as ubiquitous is either misleading or wishful thinking.
A valid business model ? In asia, surely.
Ubiquitous ? hardly
Oh, and Korean pay twice as much per month than their US/Europe peers for the same game.
>> Sony ARE No.1, and unless the others actually get off their fat arses and do something about it, Sony will remain No.1
...). +1
.. )
Nintendo DS Lite :
light and backlit. Tons of good games.
As a PC engine LT owner, I feel nintendo reached a good level of features (backlit screen). +1
Nintendo Wii :
I disagree with the forfeiting of any kind of High-Def resolution, but I concur with everything else they do for becoming a family choice console that will sell well. +1
Xbox360 :
Pretty good product and launch. Delivers. More good games coming soon (gear of wars,
So, to answer you, competion to Sony IS hard at work.
>>just remember it's all in the games, NOT necessarily the hardware and the company. The PSOne, and the PS2, both had some amazing games. And most of them, were exclusive.
Exactly.
GTA is no more PS3 exclusive. And the 360 has some incoming must-haves too (Halo 3, Ninja Gaiden 2,
Enough to put a fair fight with the PS3 on equal footing. Except the PS has a higher pricetag, which undermines the sony brand advantage.
The fight will be hot.
>>I have PS2 games that are in 1080i over component, and you are telling me that no XBox360 game will ever support 1080p? That would be a sad fact for the 360 if true.
.. It would simply have lacked a certain property that was brought by technical progress, and without you can't really appreciate the games ?
No, you are absolutely mistaken.
The real sad fact is that 99.99% of PS2 games are 480i,
while 95% of DREAMCAST games were in 480p (official VGA cable).
Maybe then you will understand why some people never bought a PoS2.
When you have tasted 480p on your 19" monitor or DLP projector, you don't go back to crappy PS2-like 480i.
To make an analogy, would you still have bought your PS2 if it did output graphics in black & white instead of color ?
Why not ? The graphic details would have been the same, as for all the 3D effects, etc
Well, maybe now you understand why I never considered the PS2. I simply haven't been playing on a TV (=interlaced and blurry) for 5 years. DreamCast's VGA was the key and the new metric. PS2 was, simply speaking, a step backwards.
>> But it does change how the games look on a nice 1080i or 1080p TV with DVI/HDMI.
.. if VGA is so inferior, how comes we didn't hear people crying their heart out about the picture quality of their monitors when graphics cards started to hit resolutions upwards of 1600*1200 ?
I am perfectly satisfied with wiewing 1080p with analog VGA.
Maybe I am blessed for not craving for DVI/HDMI.
What I find funny is
If VGA was good then, why is it so bad for 1080p ?
Would be nice to have some numbers for RF Online too.
I know that it topped Lineage in Korea last year for a while. Even if it has then probably subsided, it is has now servers in :
_Korea
_Taiwan
_Japan
_Philippines
_China
_US/Europe
There are already several books on the Halo universe (check 'halo' at your fav online book retailer), including prequel to the game's storyline. .. uh ? Motivation ... survive ? personality ... ha ha ha .. Vulnerability ... likes crowbars ?
Masterchief's name is John117 and you can learn about him and other members of the Spartan project, and see that he and cortana have been a long way together (remember the 'so you did miss me' line ?).
You'll also see Captain Keyes' prowess as a ship commander against unfavourable odds.
"no back story, no motivation, no personality, no vulnerability" ?
There is a limit on what you can cram into the cutscenes between the game stages before it begins to dumb down the pace of action.
And all your critics can also be applied to half-life's gordon freeman, except we know his name.
Gordon's back story
Don't be mistaken, I loved the first Half-life and still do. I'm just trying to point out how your criticism seems silly to me. (And I'd be thrilled if it would become a movie too)
> Wow! The low-paid workers in my country are stuck flipping hamburgers or stocking walmart shelves. In South Korea, they get to play MMOs all day!
.. no..
Er
The low paid workers in CHINA are stuck working 12 hours shifts farming gold in lineage in dubious rooms WITHOUT any heating.
>the potion thing, really pissed me off, because I always play healers, and they didn't balance for the healer playstyle at all.
Go play Lineage 2 then.
No healers mean Everyone can fight in PvP, Everyone can solo, Anytime.
There are no healer classes per se in RF. As a Bellato mage (the only race to have a mage that can heal), you have access to ALL offensive spells like a damage specialized mage would.
>It's entirely a solo game
you don't need to party at the first levels. It is much needed later, and a must for PvP anyway.
>Since it was the final hit that mattered for quests, everyone wanted to wait until it was almost dead and then time their attacks. Kill stealing was everywhere.
And why did you insist on doing the quest if it was that overcrowded ? Go level elsewhere !!
You can play the whole game without ever doing any quest. You can do them at any level thereafter.
>You actually start the game, and go out and grind
Yes. Except you get levels FAST, and so much gear drops that you sell 99% of it to the NPC for money and keep the enhanced gear to level even faster.
>I couldn't get a quest from an NPC
True.
You automatically get quests when you reach a new level, and once done their rewards are given instantly.
The first one should be given around level 7 (you get there fast) and yields like 20% experience.
Subsequents usually yield 12% of a level + money + fame + gear (sometimes).
>and the combat was painful
Describe painful ? Did you at least buy HP and mana potions ?
>It was worse than Lineage 2
Lineage 2 is the biggest pile of crap of a MMORPG I ever played, game design/play mechanics wise, so I strongly react to such a statement.
>And the elves aren't as wicked hot either
RF Elves are light elves in appearance, so compare them to the light elves of Lineage 2 who have asian size breasts.
The difference in geometry of your head between your face and the back of your head alterates slightly the propagation of the sound waves to your ear. The brain decodes this difference as spatial information so we do know if it's coming from the front or the rear.
The makers of surround sound headphones have researched this and used such property to 'fool' the brain in asserting a spatial position to the incoming soundwaves.
Atari 2600 games from Activision, featuring classics such as River Raid or SeaQuest, did include the aspect of game achievement and even reward.
If you would succeed in the task described in the manual, as for example getting a score of 10,000, you were invited to take a photo of your TV screen and mail it to Activision.
They would send you back a badge (IIRC) acknowledging your achievement in that particular game.
Dizzy overpowered ? Well .. The CPU has no problem with doing the complex moves needed to lash out the specials, even on the move. I am not that proficient he he.
.. you cosplayed GG with friends ? Aww .. Pics Puhleaaaaaase !! ^_^
... Sorry to hear =.=
Moreover, if you observe Dizzy's power up bar when fighting her (as the CPU), you eyes will pop out looking at how blazing fast it fills up ! That explains how she can blast you so often, but of course it doesn't fill as quickly when you are playing her.
Wow
I recommend Isuka to any GG-loving player. You HAVE to try it out.
Order it online if you have to.
My copy of GGXX #Reload is gathering dust because of it.
Your arcade sold GGXX ? o.O aww that sucks
-- Okawari wa Ikaga ? -- Jam Kuradoberi
Absolutely.
And at the time, as a Sega Saturn owner, I remember being jealous of the Playstation version because of the new character it introduced to the series : Ayane.
(Kasumi's lavender haired step sister)
In your current state, I can only think of two solutions :
_Buy new glasses.
Or
_Euthanasia.
^^
Ky and Sol ? You are cheap, milady he he ^^ .. that surely would be very interesting to watch.
..)
Baiken on the DC ? mmmh
As for myself, well, looks always prevails on power concerning my choices so I usually play with Jam.
I like her fast moves and the way she feels. Even if her attacks get preempted a lot by the big guns of the game (yeah Sol, I'm looking at you
I like to take Dizzy for a walk also. She is a slow char and makes a good change from Jam.
Have you tried GG Isuka ? Simultaneous 3 and 4 char fights are insane, very cool.
Takes a bit to get used to the ground planes, but really worth it.(think Fatal Fury Special)
Uh-uh ... Call me wise or anything, but I wouldn't underestimate any girl playing GGXX, whatever her age. :P
If she plays a GG game, she most probably knows what she's doing
What's your most proficient character in GGXX ?
There is no core system in Japan.
All Xbox360 sold there are what you consider premium elsewhere, ie. they all have a hard disk.
Am I the only one to note that the legal fees in this affair amount to $22 million ? o.O Twenty-two million dollars ??? Ugh ..
We should all turn to becoming lawyers ..
You have to compare apples to apples. The improvements made by the Xbox 360 on running Halo 1 and 2 are to be compared to what enhancements did the PS2 when running PS games. Bungie is busy working on Halo 3 to counter the Ps3 launch. Microsoft is busy launching the 360 worldwide. I am personaly very happy they took the time to enhance the halo games to 720p, as it is what I hoped for since the time when I heard they were doing a new xbox.
Though I am sure you wrote that as a pure joke, this has already been done long ago. During the fierce competion on the demo scene between the ATARI ST and the Amiga, crews were exploiting every speck of power they could from their machine. The ATARI ST being a general purpose machine compared to the Amiga (which had very advanced sound and graphical custom processors), the programmers who wanted to pull off the same graphical effects went as far as using the processor managing the keyboard (a 68xx 8bit motorola chip) for added computational power.
>Massive sieges are still the holy grail of online gaming. I don't think it'll happen anytime soon.
I take it you haven't played Lineage 2, have you ?
It was designed with massive confrontation in mind, and the number of people fighting you describe fits it well.
There is some lag, yes, but nothing unplayable unless you are on 56k. No player ever said in Lineage 2 that the game can't take massive battles and should stay away from it.
As for choking video cards, that is what the minimum frame option is for, and it works.
PSO for XBOX (LIVE game)fits your requirement perfectly. It is the only online action/RPG, mainly a co-operative game, and liked by a lot of women.
The action part provides immediate fun for a team of up to 4 at a time.(you don't run for 3 km to find baddies to whack, you instantly go back to town for quick restore and then immediately back to where you left the field)
The RPG part lets you evolve your char and customize it following your likes.
Or you can just wander in the lobbies for a good chat.
PSO is where I met a lot of girls, women, wives, mothers at home. Though it takes a while to discover who is who, as guys tend to be jerks especially online girls don't say anything about their gender before a rather lengthy time has passed playing with you.