Christ Centered Gamer

Drizzoo wrote:

Drewsov wrote:Dead Space 2

I'm back on the Ishimura. And it's scaring the living crud fumes out of me. o________o

Like, seriously? Game is way more unsettling than the original was.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution

Love it. So much.

I have been playing and blogging about Deus Ex: Human Revolution.

I would be interested to hear what you love about it. I mostly really like it, but I have also found much to complain about. Namely the boss battles. I got into an interesting discussion with some folks about it here: http://www.christandpopculture.com/asid ... evolution/

I think I noticed you talking about Alpha Protocol in this thread earlier. I wonder if you could comment on how DX:HR compares to that game. I actually heard some guys I respect saying that AP is actually a better game in many respects--I think they meant particularly with regard to choices/options in the way you play that game.

Anyway, I would be curious to hear your thoughts!

Well, I've been working a ton and had a crazy couple nights, so I haven't been able to play as much as I would have liked, BUT... my initial thoughts are that Deus Ex feels much more free form than Alpha Protocol ever did. The best thing I can compare it to is a first person Metal Gear Solid. I'm literally playing the game the exact same way as MGS2, and that's a huge plus for me.

Alpha Protocol is a strange beast. Much of it has interesting ideas, interesting execution, but it's marred by obvious flaws in gameplay, design and the like. I actually got all the way to the end, and the game decided to glitch out on me during the final boss, when my entire run had been mostly bug-free. I got pretty angry about that, and could never finish it... so I watched the ending on Youtube and sold it.

I'm also a huge fan of the visuals of Deus Ex. I'm a massive fan of Blade Runner - both aesthetically and from a filmmaking standpoint (plus I just love the movie in general), and it feels like Deus Ex brings an anime aesthetic to that world, to some degree. The idea of augmentations is presented here very rigidly, but it also provides an almost Final Fantasy-esque leveling path to work through, much like FFX and FFXIII; these systems worked, and Deus Ex utilizes them to great effect.

That said, I'm only on the first boss battle, and it's kind of aggravating me. It seems like it's falling into the same trap that MGS2 did: present a game with interesting ideas, a progressive story (much like MGS2, I'd classify Deus Ex as postmodern in the best sense of the word, in that it deals with advances in technology and memetics on a grand scale as well as a personal one), yet the boss battles are fairly rigid lessons in classic game design; that is, very pattern based and unforgiving. Which isn't a problem, but it's disappointing when a game proves itself willing to play with established mechanics and lines of thought, much like Deus Ex has.

And all of that said, I'm looking forward to slowly working my way through the rest of the game world, and finding out what happens. The story has me hooked even if the voice acting isn't always up to par, and I'm finding more and more to love each time I boot the game. I'll probably have more complaints by the next time I play, but at this point I'm at that falling in love stage, and I can only rave about it.

Drewsov wrote:

Drizzoo wrote:

Drewsov wrote:Dead Space 2

I'm back on the Ishimura. And it's scaring the living crud fumes out of me. o________o

Like, seriously? Game is way more unsettling than the original was.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution

Love it. So much.

I have been playing and blogging about Deus Ex: Human Revolution.

I would be interested to hear what you love about it. I mostly really like it, but I have also found much to complain about. Namely the boss battles. I got into an interesting discussion with some folks about it here: http://www.christandpopculture.com/asid ... evolution/

I think I noticed you talking about Alpha Protocol in this thread earlier. I wonder if you could comment on how DX:HR compares to that game. I actually heard some guys I respect saying that AP is actually a better game in many respects--I think they meant particularly with regard to choices/options in the way you play that game.

Anyway, I would be curious to hear your thoughts!

Well, I've been working a ton and had a crazy couple nights, so I haven't been able to play as much as I would have liked, BUT... my initial thoughts are that Deus Ex feels much more free form than Alpha Protocol ever did. The best thing I can compare it to is a first person Metal Gear Solid. I'm literally playing the game the exact same way as MGS2, and that's a huge plus for me.

Alpha Protocol is a strange beast. Much of it has interesting ideas, interesting execution, but it's marred by obvious flaws in gameplay, design and the like. I actually got all the way to the end, and the game decided to glitch out on me during the final boss, when my entire run had been mostly bug-free. I got pretty angry about that, and could never finish it... so I watched the ending on Youtube and sold it.

I'm also a huge fan of the visuals of Deus Ex. I'm a massive fan of Blade Runner - both aesthetically and from a filmmaking standpoint (plus I just love the movie in general), and it feels like Deus Ex brings an anime aesthetic to that world, to some degree. The idea of augmentations is presented here very rigidly, but it also provides an almost Final Fantasy-esque leveling path to work through, much like FFX and FFXIII; these systems worked, and Deus Ex utilizes them to great effect.

That said, I'm only on the first boss battle, and it's kind of aggravating me. It seems like it's falling into the same trap that MGS2 did: present a game with interesting ideas, a progressive story (much like MGS2, I'd classify Deus Ex as postmodern in the best sense of the word, in that it deals with advances in technology and memetics on a grand scale as well as a personal one), yet the boss battles are fairly rigid lessons in classic game design; that is, very pattern based and unforgiving. Which isn't a problem, but it's disappointing when a game proves itself willing to play with established mechanics and lines of thought, much like Deus Ex has.

And all of that said, I'm looking forward to slowly working my way through the rest of the game world, and finding out what happens. The story has me hooked even if the voice acting isn't always up to par, and I'm finding more and more to love each time I boot the game. I'll probably have more complaints by the next time I play, but at this point I'm at that falling in love stage, and I can only rave about it.

I agree with you on your assessment of the first boss battle--I was disappointed with the design of it--sadly I have heard that the other boss battles don't get much better. BUT in the first battle, my friend went to one of the side rooms found a gas tank, threw it at the boss guy and shot it, the gas tank blew up immediately killing the boss. THAT seems more in line with the design philosophy the game had been going for all along. So maybe there are more creative ways to approach these battles--I just wasn't looking hard enough for them.

Thanks for sharing about Alpha Protocol, I will surely play it one of these days since its super cheap now but I despite all my little complaints with DX:HR its a largely fantastic game and I confident I will play it exclusively until I finish it. I agree with you that the story is great as is the setting--I think they really nailed the feel of a world crumbling in uncertainty.

Anyway--perhaps we can chat again once we have both experienced boss battle #2!

Rockband 3.

Been working on getting better on Guitar and Vox.

Monster Hunter Tri.

Now that I know what I'm doing, and also hunting the monsters instead of throwing myself at them and violently violenting all over them, it's not so hard. I'm at the level 5 quests...man are these hard. XD I dread fighting the Barioth.

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona.

It's an archetypical old school JRPG, complete with random encounters and slow-paced, semi-generic story. But I loves it. So much. First-person dungeon crawling with a very tactical and addictive battle system? I'll take it. Even though the encounter rate is absurdly high in some areas. 5 steps and BAM. 8 more and BAM. 2 more and BAM. It's kinda ridiculous sometimes.

Minecraft! And Crysis was really fun, open world ability to use strategy.

Sonic Adventure

An old one, but I really enjoy it. I've really been enjoying playing through it again. XD

Halo: Reach

still playing this quite a bit(and quite a bit for me right now is a few hours a week)

MH:Tri.

Bifffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff. Level five quests are hard. It's the Barioth, Rathalos, and Diabolos that get you. Rathalos' have either an incredibly high defense, or insanely large health limit, not to mention incredibly powerful strikes that can drain half to a third of your health tank. And I have fairly high weaponry and armor.

Barioth are just wickedly fast. Think genetic cross between a dragon, a bat, and a sabertooth.

Diabolos...I don't want to talk about the Diabolos. O_o

Mass Effect

I think my computer likes this game again, fingers crossed! Suffice it to say, I love this game. So much.

MH: Tri.

Managed to slay the Barioth and the Diablos. Diablos...I found a rather blaring weakness in it's attack, and so it's not particularly hard to kill anymore. XD You take one of the more useless items of the game (sonic bombs) and toss it at the Diablos when it's under the sand. It stuns it for a good 30 seconds.

Crazy. Not I've just got to drop the Rathalos...not a particularly easy task, but the bigger the monster, the more gratifying it's death or capture.

Well I'd been stuck near the end of DeadSpace 2 and just went back and finished it...

...Amazing what a difference heavy weaponry makes...

I'd been trying to do the whole game with just one weapon and try to get the achievement... but what I realized there toward the end was... it ain't worth it...

I kinda want a bumper sticker that says "Amazing what a difference heavy weaponry makes" now. XD

LOL I needed that laugh...

Actually I'm glad I did it that way... because I had been hoarding ammo for the bigger guns all through the game, that allowed me to just go berserk at the end!

Gears of War 3

This game is a downright masterpiece. Everything wrong with Gears 2 has been fixed and perfected and the new weapons are awesomesauceriffic. People, GO BUY DIS