So, what have I been playing this last week or so? In fact, the same as before, so without further ado, here are my updated opinions.
Halo Reach:
I completed this today, all in all I really enjoyed it, which was a big surprise for me. I found the previous games fairly underwhelming, so I was surprised by how much I got into this one. The pacing is much better than previous games, and the story vastly superior. Knowing your ultimate fate gives you a real feeling of attachment to your character, especially as you design them yourself. Previous games have always just been you, master chief, gunning down hordes of covenant, and lacked the same intensity and attachment. I found the ending a little disappointing, *spoiler* the mac cannon scene was a little bleh, and the epilogue, whilst kinda cool, was over pretty quickly. For myself, I only managed to kill about three elites, and maybe half a dozen grunts before triggering the video sequence, not the most epic of conclusions. I would have preferred it if you had been given a bit more health and allowed to make a pile of corpses. I can kinda understand the low key death, as the last spartan on Reach, a huge death would perhaps be a bit cliche.
Fallout New Vegas:
I have reached level 26, about 30 hours in, and pretty much had enough now. I haven't quite finished, but the final quests wont unlock. Some sort of glitch is preventing me from receiving the final quest to side with the NCR and finish the game. It is a great game, a big improvement over 3, and 30 hours is undoubtedly a great run for any game. But after 30 hours, I cannot be bothered looking round to see if there is a way to sort it.
Front Mission Evolved:
I am really enjoying this by and large, except for one minor gribble. I am stuck in a fight with four named characters, all four I have beaten before, but no more than two at a time. In typical cartoon fashion, after defeating each battle, your character allows them to escape. If each one had been killed when I first beat them, then I wouldn't be facing this impossible mission now.
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow
Still really enjoying this, it is an excellent game, and very beautiful. The combat is brilliant and the puzzles very clever. The various chapters are diverse and intriguing, from frozen mountains to clockwork towers and foetid swamps. I recommend people pick this up and give it a go, if you like God of War and its' ilk, you will probably like this a lot.
There is one thing that all these games have thrown up, one issue which continues to annoy me, and that is background chatter from NPC's. It can add a lot of detail to the game, giving it life and character. However, if it is badly done, it can really ruin the immersion. As a case in point, Halo Reach has, as I have said before, some really awful AI. Bad allied AI makes your squad-mates utterly useless. I can understand the developers wanting the player to do most of the work , but if you are going to be one member of a squad of genetically modified super warriors, then having the five other members basically doing nothing, really ruins the immersion. As a case in point *Spoiler Warning* whilst on my way to the pillar of autumn to deliver cortana, Emile keeps saying, 'we must hurry to the autumn, we cannot wait' 'hurry up' and things of that nature, yet the whole time he is repeating this, he doesn't fire a single shot himself, and I cannot help but think that we would get there a whole lot faster if he actually contributed in some fashion. Likewise at one point there is a mission where you are defending a base entrance, and one of the Noble team shouting 'I am pinned down!' well, yeah, we are defending a static location from hordes of enemies, obviously you are pinned by fire...
Both Castlevania and Front Mission suffer from bosses who shout the usual 'you cannot defeat me' 'I shall destroy you' 'you are worthless' stuff, but they say it over and over again, throughout the entire encounter. What annoys me about this, is that these comments really do not reflect the battle. Whether it be a huge vampire daemon, or a well armed mech. You could be absolutely destroying them, with full health yourself, and them nearly dead, yet they continue to tell you how useless you are, and how they are going to win easily. Excuse me, but what battle are you watching? What I think games really need, are more contextual comments, they could be related to the level of health for example. E.g. if the boss has over half health, they are confident and aggressive, under half, a little more healthy, under a quarter, they ought to be desperate and worried. If they wanted to be even more complex, the speech could also be tied to your health, so their comments are based upon both their own health, and yours, for example if you are both nearly dead, then the boss goes for 'I'm taking you with me' type comments. I remember NPC speech and background speech being brought into gaming, and what a difference it makes, but I think they are treated as being rather too throw away and not given enough time.
Halo Reach:
I completed this today, all in all I really enjoyed it, which was a big surprise for me. I found the previous games fairly underwhelming, so I was surprised by how much I got into this one. The pacing is much better than previous games, and the story vastly superior. Knowing your ultimate fate gives you a real feeling of attachment to your character, especially as you design them yourself. Previous games have always just been you, master chief, gunning down hordes of covenant, and lacked the same intensity and attachment. I found the ending a little disappointing, *spoiler* the mac cannon scene was a little bleh, and the epilogue, whilst kinda cool, was over pretty quickly. For myself, I only managed to kill about three elites, and maybe half a dozen grunts before triggering the video sequence, not the most epic of conclusions. I would have preferred it if you had been given a bit more health and allowed to make a pile of corpses. I can kinda understand the low key death, as the last spartan on Reach, a huge death would perhaps be a bit cliche.
Fallout New Vegas:
I have reached level 26, about 30 hours in, and pretty much had enough now. I haven't quite finished, but the final quests wont unlock. Some sort of glitch is preventing me from receiving the final quest to side with the NCR and finish the game. It is a great game, a big improvement over 3, and 30 hours is undoubtedly a great run for any game. But after 30 hours, I cannot be bothered looking round to see if there is a way to sort it.
Front Mission Evolved:
I am really enjoying this by and large, except for one minor gribble. I am stuck in a fight with four named characters, all four I have beaten before, but no more than two at a time. In typical cartoon fashion, after defeating each battle, your character allows them to escape. If each one had been killed when I first beat them, then I wouldn't be facing this impossible mission now.
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow
Still really enjoying this, it is an excellent game, and very beautiful. The combat is brilliant and the puzzles very clever. The various chapters are diverse and intriguing, from frozen mountains to clockwork towers and foetid swamps. I recommend people pick this up and give it a go, if you like God of War and its' ilk, you will probably like this a lot.
There is one thing that all these games have thrown up, one issue which continues to annoy me, and that is background chatter from NPC's. It can add a lot of detail to the game, giving it life and character. However, if it is badly done, it can really ruin the immersion. As a case in point, Halo Reach has, as I have said before, some really awful AI. Bad allied AI makes your squad-mates utterly useless. I can understand the developers wanting the player to do most of the work , but if you are going to be one member of a squad of genetically modified super warriors, then having the five other members basically doing nothing, really ruins the immersion. As a case in point *Spoiler Warning* whilst on my way to the pillar of autumn to deliver cortana, Emile keeps saying, 'we must hurry to the autumn, we cannot wait' 'hurry up' and things of that nature, yet the whole time he is repeating this, he doesn't fire a single shot himself, and I cannot help but think that we would get there a whole lot faster if he actually contributed in some fashion. Likewise at one point there is a mission where you are defending a base entrance, and one of the Noble team shouting 'I am pinned down!' well, yeah, we are defending a static location from hordes of enemies, obviously you are pinned by fire...
Both Castlevania and Front Mission suffer from bosses who shout the usual 'you cannot defeat me' 'I shall destroy you' 'you are worthless' stuff, but they say it over and over again, throughout the entire encounter. What annoys me about this, is that these comments really do not reflect the battle. Whether it be a huge vampire daemon, or a well armed mech. You could be absolutely destroying them, with full health yourself, and them nearly dead, yet they continue to tell you how useless you are, and how they are going to win easily. Excuse me, but what battle are you watching? What I think games really need, are more contextual comments, they could be related to the level of health for example. E.g. if the boss has over half health, they are confident and aggressive, under half, a little more healthy, under a quarter, they ought to be desperate and worried. If they wanted to be even more complex, the speech could also be tied to your health, so their comments are based upon both their own health, and yours, for example if you are both nearly dead, then the boss goes for 'I'm taking you with me' type comments. I remember NPC speech and background speech being brought into gaming, and what a difference it makes, but I think they are treated as being rather too throw away and not given enough time.
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