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I think if you had perma-death on the enemies in Far Cry 2, you would then have really large encounter-free areas on the map after awhile, and then travelling would become- tiresome. Not for me, per se, I LIKE free-roaming a quiet empty expanse of beaitifully rendered bush country, but I think it would've put alot of gamers off.
A logical progression would have been to see the enemy force get organized in response to your attacks.. you come back to a place you burned to the ground to see a armored ATV there with special ops guys waiting- something like that would've been better, I think. Sortof like- in the 1st Resident Evil where you return to the mansion to find the zombies replaced by those froglike hunter-killers. Total underpowerment panic!
That's a good idea. I liked how reinforcements would turn up in Red Faction Guerrilla, and the same sort of thing in Far Cry 2 would have been the difference between it being a chore for me to play, and it being great.
Yet another update on Just Cause 2, now I'm ten hours in- I've gone back to loving it. The missions are a bit more varied (in fact, my earlier complaint seemed to be directed at "stronghold takeover" missions, a specific type which basically have an "escort some unappreciative douche" objective), and it's genuinely fun finding the pickups to upgrade your weapons/ health/ vehicles- when you are close to one, you get a signal icon on the screen, which gets stronger as you get closer. The ways you can destroy bases require some thinking- rather than going in shooting, I like to take out as many guards as I can with a sniper rifle first. I'm not sure if it's really clever AI, or really stupid (seems fairly realistic to me, anyway), but it takes your enemies a while to figure out where you are if you take this approach. Another good tactic is to take out the SAM sites and cause havoc with a military-grade helicopter, if one is available.
There's so much good about this game, I could go on. I'm not oblivious to it's flaws (awful attempts at humour are actually probably my biggest one, although the game got a genuine "lol" from me- after I grabbed a guard with the grappleing hook, he shouted "AH! He's got me with his wire thing!"). The vehicle handling... Isn't great. But I'm converted, despite my earlier doubts. And wow, the scenery...! Not as great as Red Faction Guerrilla, but a game I'm glad I took a chance on.
my favorite thing in JC2 is the parachute dynamics.. they always feel right, and cool, and they break up the otherwise manic feel of the game. I will say I definitely preferred just making trouble in that game to actually completing missions.
I am very happy with XCom so far, especially after last night's loss of three key squad members knocked me right out of my comfort zone. I don't want my XCom games to be comfortable at all, is the thing. I might be just the sort of masochist who would enjoy the game on the impossible setting.
I picked this up for the PS3 (heresy!) and am quite enjoying it, apart from just researching and building stuff at random. Playing on Normal and it seems manageable so far, though I am only just past the interrogation part.
I am starting to feel a little uneasy though. I appear to be working for a bunch of fascists.
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Originally Posted by JLB1987
So far, fun gimmicks aside, it's reminding me of a third person Far Cry 2.
Cough! Splutter!!
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Originally Posted by JLB1987
It was the relentless respawning of enemies that got me.
I can't figure this out, it is all the game is remembered for and has taken on a life of its own; surely this was just a minor irritant though?
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Originally Posted by RandomRob
I think Far Cry 2 is a perfect FPS. I always felt lost and underpowered playing it, but in a good way. The most basic attack plans in that game could always end in unpredictable disaster. lol. I never felt any need to finish it, though.
I agree. The ending(s) were lauded, though they weren't really very good - in the sense of, logically they didn't make much sense. You should watch them on YouTube. Great game though - hefty weapons, good gunplay, adult themes and the failed states of Africa encapsulated well.
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Originally Posted by JLB1987
I'm still sort of looking forward to Far Cry 3, really hope the issues I mention are sorted.
The respawning checkpoints are sorted, once you wipe them out, that territory goes under your control and you can travel at will.
However the rest of the game appears to be about some dudebro getting high and whacking pantomime villains.
I'm still playing the same game of Xcom. I really thought I was done for, but I've manged to scrape together a bit of a comeback. I didn't realize how vital it was to build satellites early, and by the time I actually got them deployed (two or three in game months) the entire world was in the red and ready to cut funding. Luckily I realized my mistake just in time and when I did finally launch satellites, I was able to launch six at once. This alone lowered panic levels enough to keep me in the game. I think the game ends whenever you lose the support of eight countries, and I lost six that month alone.
I've also fallen woefully behind the power curve on the ground war. I've only managed to keep one veteran sniper alive, and in the last three months I've lost 100 percent of the missions that she wasn't available to oversee. Every other soldier I have is practically a rookie. I've been trying to build up a stronger squad, but I can't keep anyone else alive for more than a promotion or two.
I've been putting off assaulting an alien base I found because my squad simply isn't ready. I know I won't be able to retreat from that mission when things start going badly, and I know that if my elite sniper falls the world will follow soon after. Rising panic levels have finally forced my hand, though. The world is once again entirely in the red, and with only five days to go until my next monthly report the only hope left is that taking out that base lowers panic levels across the entire globe.
We attack tonight. Wish me luck. Wish my sniper luck, actually. She's going to need it.
Started XCom Enemy Unknown. I'm constantly short on money and struggle to get some satellites launched. Mexico and Egypt pretty much hate me and Germany is not far behind. I could attack an alien base now, but somehow I feel my soldiers are not up for the task yet. My snipers miss pretty much every shot, my heavies are surprisingly inept with the rocket launcher, my assaults seem to be a bit jumpy and panic as soon as plasma comes flying and I have only 1 support who's struggling to keep the rest alive. It's a common sight that the entire squad has to visit the infirmary after a mission.
__________________ Currently playing: Bioshock: Infinite
Since I just got an email that the NDA has fallen: I've been playing the Hawken alpha the last couple of weeks and look forward to the beta weekend coming up. Really fun game, I like it more than that other free2play mech-game coming up (at which I'm still not sure if I'm allowed to talk anything about?). The controls feel tight but still weighty, as they should be when moving a mecha around. The public beta opens 12.12.12. - a date to mark in the calendar for anyone who likes games with big stompy robots.
__________________ Currently playing: Bioshock: Infinite
Started Oblivion again after deciding to give it another try, this time with a dark elf character. Put a few hours in so far, but I really don't know if I can be bothered. The combat is just tedious, and the missions either entail you hacking stuff with said poor combat system, or waiting around for robotic NPCs to go about their routines and following them to a specific place. I really loved Morrowind, Fallout 3 and New Vagas, so I don't really understand why I don't get this game.
I loved Oblivion when I played it first, but it coincided with my re-entry into the gaming world (having not gamed since being a kid) and it was everything and more than I asked from a game. Blew me away.
Join the Dark Brotherhood; I seem to remember their quests being a bit more fun and inventive.
That's exactly what I was going to do- the mission where you have to kill everyone in a mansion without them knowing it's you sounds interesting. I really like the speech minigame, though!
I hate being one of these people who cry "dumbing down for the console crowd", but that's precisely Oblivion's problem. In Morrowind, everything was based on how many points you had in a certain area. So, even if you sword or spell may physically hit an enemy, it's not necessarily a hit. I thought it was weird at the time, but in hindsight, I think it really worked in it's favour. Also, in Morrowind, you could ask any character anything, so long as it was brought up in a previous conversation. In Oblivion, you have, at best, four or five things to speak to an NPC about.
On the plus side, exploring is infinitely more interesting than the two modern Fallout games. That's all that's keeping me going.
Started Dark Souls again, purely because of the contrast and skill in comparison to Oblivion. Only a couple of hours in, but I'm loving it all over again.
I've bought and traded this game over 2 times now, I must love it.
Running the game now through a 720p HDMI upscaler and through my dolby prologic 5.1 receiver.. i have to admit: I don't think there was ever a more beautiful game to look at on the PS2 than Valkyrie Profile 2. Every screen, every map, every cutscene is gorgeous.
Likewise for trading and buying back.. I FUCKING LOVE THIS STUPID GAME!!! lol
What are you using as a controller, and is the control scheme ok? I played through the first level of Godhand - pretty good, though moving (especially turning) and looking with the right stick made it very difficult.
I played 3 games of Madden online against randoms yesterday morning and it was very depressing. Two of them cheated massively, and the other guy with whom I was having a great game quit out as soon as I went ahead. The two guys who were cheating were good enough that they would beat me without cheating, I reckon. What is wrong with people?
Playing a bit more XCOM, however I may give it a rest and play some Dishonored. It's turning into a bit of a trudge, and the bugs (shooting through walls, aliens materialising on your square) are getting more annoying now.
Linear Mode
