Rate the video games you're currently playing

[Schalldämpfer]

Whew... I'm not playing anything right now. At least actively. Passively I'm stuck on the first few scenes of original Valkyrie Profile, and I'm trudging my way through the second route of Fate/Stay Night so that I can finish the third route and move on to FHA. But whether FSN can be counted as a game is debatable.

[jilgiljongiljing]

Half life 2 Episode Two was pretty much flawless. Its one thing to have ultra high expectations, but when the game lives up to that, its in a totally different league.

Again, it does feel a bit short, and leaves u wanting more, but while it lasts, its hard to quit at any point in the game, you just wanna keep going all the way till the end.

11/10

[mwallace573]

Thread revival time!

Shadow Man - Dreamcast

I'm currently in my 11th hour on this game and it looks like it's coming to a close. For the time the game came out the graphics are pretty decent. Everything's nice and sharp on the DC version; much better than I remember the N64 version being. The story ain't half bad neither. In a nutshell, you're a voodoo warrior of sorts that can travel between the land of the living and dead, and you do so many times through the game. The overall goal is to collect what are known as "Dark Souls" and stop the coming of Apocalypse. It gets deeper than that obviously, but I don't wanna spoil anything. This requires the traversing of many, many massive levels, most of which are very easy to get lost in without the aid of an ingame map system, which would have helped things tremendously. There's also lots of shooting and platforming to be done, most of which happens at the same time. In a time where VO work in games wasn't a high priority, they did a pretty good job with this game, especially with the lead character. The music in this game is exceptional. It ranges from dark and moody to just downright disturbing. This is a long game providing you have the willpower to play through it; roughly 15 hours if you have an idea what you're doing, and closer to 20 if you don't. This is my 4th attempt to get through this game, and it looks like I'm finally gonna do it. 8.5/10

Rogue Galaxy - Playstation 2

Yet another RPG from Level 5, the guys who brought you the Dark Cloud series and the tech that powered Dragon Quest 8, both of which I never could bring myself to finish. This game suffers most of the problems that caused me to not finish the RPGs mentioned already. The story is nothing special so far. A young man wishing to go to space manages to be in the right place at the right time and gets his wish, meeting up with a ragtag group of pirates and a potential/obvious love interest. Visually this game is exceptional, especially for a PS2 game. Colors are sharp and vibrant, and it's one of the better examples of cel shading I've seen in a video game. VO work is also very well done, notably with the main party members. Too bad they are all very generic character designs. In the 20 or so hours I've put in so far I don't really give a crap about any of them.

The battle system is a blast to play, which is a good thing seeing how many fights you're going to see yourself getting into. It's comparable to the Kingdom Hearts system, only not as fast and frenetic. Commands are given in realtime, and most all spells and items are within two button presses from the main screen. The NPC AI is also pretty competent. There's been several occasions where my character has died and the other two people have managed to finish the battle without my assistance. Also, from time they offer to use a healing item or attack technique when the situation calls for it. All you have to do is hit one of the shoulder buttons to activate said action.

This games offers not one but two simple but deep item creation systems; one for weapons and one for usable items. The weapon system requires that a weapon be used in roughly 15 battles before it can be combined with another weapon to make a new weapon. I haven't read any FAQs on the subject, but I'm guessing there's at least 70 different combinations for each of the characters of which there are 8. That's one hell of a lot of combinations! The item creation process is something I'm not gonna get into here as my fingers are starting to get a bit tired.

If you've got OCD of some sort, then this is your dream RPG. I could see a good 80-100 hours to get all the weapon/item synthesis combinations not to mention the monster fighting mini-games and all the hunting goals finished. Personally I just don't have the drive to accomplish such a task and since the story isn't sucking me in whatsoever I'll probably be taking this one back to GS shortly. Besides, I'm gonna need all the spare time I can get for my 360 which should be here in a few days. *fingers crossed*

8/10 It's a good game, but not my kind of game, if that makes any sense.

[Joeywhat]

I'm playing a lot of Rock Band right now...and it pwns. GREAT for parties. Songs are a lot better then GH3 as well. I'll also download some new stuff in a little while. Seems like you can almost double your playlist via xbox live, although it does cost a lot of money...

Halo 3 is moderately lame. Same old ******** as the last one. It's OK, I play it when I'm really board.

Bioshock is a good game, but fails to keep my attention. I have fun for about 10 minutes, then I start wondering why the wall next to me has a couple bumps on it.

GTA Vice City is a classic...when I bought my 360 I made sure to pick this up as well. Not as good as I remember, but still fun. I'm playing through it right now just so I can unlock the whole city. I could play for hours just driving around, running people over, blowing up police cars...

[HiGHFLYiN9]

Yay, thread resurrection! I remember Shadow man, although I don't remember what I played it on, it might have been N64. I'm sure the DC experience is superior.

I'm still trudging through Blue Dragon, I play it like a couple of hours a week, so chances are I'll never finish it. It's a very generic RPG. The graphics and enemies are very similar to the latest Dragon Quest, but you have to replace the interesting crew and quiet protagonist with annoying and loud children, and replace the entertaining humor with poo-snakes. Finally, add a system where every object in every room has a potential to give you an item (guess what you're doing 25% of the game) and you have Blue Dragon. Probably the worst thing about the game is the main character, it is impossible to relate to him. He's a brash, loud, obnoxious child that makes you want to face-palm during every cut-scene. Other than the negatives listed above, the rest of the game is fairly solid. The graphics are good, the bosses and enemies are unique, and the characters have a very tweakable class system and accessory slots. So, if you weigh the good and the bad, you get average. This is a very average next-gen RPG, that's probably worth the price of admission if you are looking for one. 6/10


I'd say RPG fans are still better off playing PS2 at the moment.

[TheAnomaly]

Warcraft III: Frozen throne

what can really be said about this game? i've been playing it on and off for 6 years now, semi "competitively", you could say. i've played it for thousands of hours, and there's always something new to learn. there is no other RTS for me.

8.5/10

Deus Ex

Tied for my favorite FPS RPG of all time, along with System Shock 2. both excellent games, though Deus Ex is a bit better in some ways because you can actively pursue a stealth and non-confrontational play style, while SS2 doesn't have that.

9/10

Orange Box

this is a strong contender for GOTY 2007 as far as i'm concerned. it's got HL2, which is probably the best sequel FPS i can think of, as well as its 2 mini-expansions, both of which are great. Episode 2 is better, but also has a cliff hanger ending. the graphics and sound are both great in these games, and the game play is classic PC FPS. anybody familiar with the original HL or just FPS games in general needs this collection.

and that's not even mentioning Portal or Team Fortress 2. Portal is among the most engaging games i've ever played. it's fun, a bit tricky at times, and has tons of replay value in the extra features after you've beaten the admittedly short campaign. did i mention it's also hilarious?

TF2 is really in some ways the best in the box though. the game play is fast and highly entertaining. it's always team based, and the objective is either capture the point or retrieve your enemy's intelligence from deep inside their base. the stock maps are great, expertly offering both tight quarters and long range battles. this is a class based game with 9 classes if i recall, and all the classes have been distinguished highly from each other. this makes the game different from most other FPSs, and different still from most other class FPSs because there's no standard rifle gun, so aiming actually takes a back seat in this one folks. this is a big deal for some, but overall i find the game infinitely entertaining, if not 100% conducive to player skill like some other online FPSs. still, you can tell a good player, and the team dynamic allows for a lot of latitude in coordination and what not. the graphics remind of Pixar's The Incredibles, and the environments are bright and colorful while maintaining some fine details. the look is overall fairly "cartoony", but it runs very fast on the Source engine, and the artistic direction is excellent. the sound does not disappoint either, with great voice acting and music on the title page. this is a terrific game, and arguably the most entertaining online FPS in a good while.

TF2: 9/10
HL2: 9/10
Ep1: 7.5/10
Ep2:8.5/10
Portal: 9/10

[fraseyboy]

Played a while ago but I thought I'd still rate them...

Half Life 2 - 10/10 (Best game I've ever completed)
Half Life 2 Episode One - 8/10 (Not as good as the first)
Half Life 2 Episode Two - 10/10 (Awesome.)
Portal - 10/10 (So awesome. The humor is incredibly funny)
Garry's Mod - 7/10 (Lots of bugs...)
Medal of Honor Airborne - 8/10 (Laggy on my PC but apart from that I love it)
FlyFF - 8/10 (Too many grinding/collecting quests but I like the funness)

[homers54321]

i am playing nba live 2003 on playstation one. it sucks

[Kirosia]

Persona 3 - 7.5/10

The only RPG this year I actually finished and enjoyed. Pacing and battles can be a bit wonky, but the characterization is great.

FFXII - 6/10

Boring story. Boring battle system. Boring designs. Not enough nudity.

Okami - 8/10

I'm near the end, this game just oozes art and personality.

Zelda Twilight Princess and Phantom Hourglass - 6/10 and 5/10

Yeah... didn't Zelda games used to be fun and memorable?

Beyond Good and Evil - 7/10

Pretty simplistic and lacking in "evolution", but still fun.

Wild Arms 5 - ?/10 (unfinished)

What the hell happened to this series?! And I thought 4 was corny...

Fatal Frame 3 - 6/10

HORRIBLE HORRIBLE HOOORIBLE structure. You're forced to go through the same areas HUNDREDS of times. Insanely easy to get lost without strategy guide. Graphics are good though...

Gitaroo Man - 7/10

Awesome characters, awesome gameplay, awesome music. There's an alien dog that doubles as a guitar case damnit!

[HiGHFLYiN9]

Originally Posted by Kirosia

Zelda Twilight Princess and Phantom Hourglass - 6/10 and 5/10

Yeah... didn't Zelda games used to be fun and memorable?

Agreed, I couldn't finish either of them. It's been a downward spiral since Ocarina of Time.