Re-visiting your old games

Retr0gamer

noodler wrote: »

No, in Persona you do regain MP the traditional way - items. However, this was possible in FF12 as well wasn't it? You could just use ethers so in actuality surely it just means Persona had one way of regaining MP in battle and FF12 had two?

You could use items but they were very expensive. Unless you wanted to grind excessively most battles towards the end of the game would leave me totally exhausted of MP whch would require running around in circles to get back enough MP to take on another battle. I never ran away and explored every nook and cranny and still had to do this. Considering how big the game was and how often you got into fights it was an utter chore to say the least. In Persona 3 the MP recovery items can't be bought in shops without using very rare items to trade in and were only found extremely rarely as treasure items so you really had to conserve them. The game was perfectly paced so that if you played the dungeons correctly you would barely get to the end of them with very little MP after exploring them thoroughly. Much better in my opinion than running in circles.

noodler wrote: »

I like P4 but the world is nowhere near as big as FF12, nowhere near as many interesting things to do and the visuals/monster designs etc are no where near as good.

Persona doesn't have the production values of FF12 but I think artistically they are on par with each other and battle system and enemy design was streets ahead of FF12. Persona has the smaller world but it's much more detailed than FF12's big but samey world. FF12's optional quest were nothing more than more monsters to kill.

noodler wrote: »

It was my understanding Retro, that in P3 the other party members actually ARE computer controlled so in essence you ARE watching the computer do most of the fighting for you?

Yes the three other party members are CPU controlled to a degree. You can still give them orders though like to heal, go all out conserve SP, go for weak points ect. so you did still have a lot of control and the AI was superb so you could count on the AI to make good decisions with very few poor ones. The only exception was in the very end game when some characters wasted turns when they got 'break' skills. You still had more control over your characters than in FF12 which involvessetting up AI routines, running into enemies and watching the AI do all the work. I'm not sure if I'm remembering correctly but I think the only reason I went back to the game and beat it was because it was the only game I could play almost solely with one analogue stick one handed after I broke my hand falling out of a christmas tree.

noodler wrote: »

P4 had a story you wanted to get to the bottom off but used so much filler throughout that it will take some patience to finish it. I don't really think the story is why you will play/continue to play FF12.

Persona 3 had a decent if not spectacular story as well with plenty of filler but I enjoyed getting to know all the non major characters and finding out all the stories from the social links, some of which were quite moving.

NeoKubrick

As much as I love Retr0gamer, and his knowledge...

Do not listen to a word Retr0gamer says on Final Fantasy XII. He's the game equivalent of a follower of the Catholic church: if it's not ordained by the gospel (HG101 etc.), it's blasphemy. Get into an argument on Final Fantasy XII with him at your peril.

Read: (1), (2), (3), (4).

Retr0gamer

To be honest my problem is that FF12 plays nothing like a final fantasy game. It has more in common with a western RPG. It plays like a Bioware game more so than any japanese RPG and I just don't like biowares games at all, they just don't click with me.

At the end of the day it bored the arse off me. Persona doesn't.

Cunny-Funt

WTF? I put KOTOR up there with FF7!

Wait you hate ff7..


bah never mind...

Kiith

Retr0gamer wrote: »

To be honest my problem is that FF12 plays nothing like a final fantasy game. It has more in common with a western RPG. It plays like a Bioware game more so than any japanese RPG and I just don't like biowares games at all, they just don't click with me.

I was gonna say that combat in Bioware's games is nothing like the combat in Final Fantasy XII, but i suppose there are some similarities. I think that on the surface they are similar enough, but deep down they are quite different. Give me a Bioware game anyday over Final Fantasy XII though.

I'd would say that Final Fantasy X was the best combat engine yet though, and would like to see a return to something similar. Havent played XIII yet, so i cant comment.

Overheal

Retr0gamer wrote: »

To be honest my problem is that FF12 plays nothing like a final fantasy game. It has more in common with a western RPG. It plays like a Bioware game more so than any japanese RPG and I just don't like biowares games at all, they just don't click with me.

At the end of the day it bored the arse off me. Persona doesn't.

Hes right. I played up as far as the airship - would have kept going but it wasnt my place or console. But right in saying it was more like a bioware game than a final fantasy game. It never really felt right. not that i didnt love KOTOR, but thats not what I was expecting to play when i popped in the disc, I was expecting good old fashioned ATB (how i miss thee)

Retr0gamer

Cunny-Funt wrote: »

WTF? I put KOTOR up there with FF7!

Wait you hate ff7..

I don't hate FF7, it's a great game, it's just not even close to being the best game ever that some people hold it up as.

Cunny-Funt

I know, I was just messin with yea, I've read your detailed posts on the subject and while I don't necessarily agree, I don't disagree either as I don't have experience of all those other obscure japanese rpg's of the time that you compare it with.

Not liking bioware though, for shaaaaaame retro for shaaaaaaaaaameee

Retr0gamer

Well it's a personal thing. I can see how people do like them and I respect that they are good games. I really tried to like knights of the old republic but had to give up on it a good bit in because I wasn't enjoying it, it just wasn't for me.

CiDeRmAn

Knights of the Old Republic, one of the best games I have ever played.
That game came out against the backdrop of the prequel movies in the Star Wars saga and I remember thinking, on many occasions, "Why the hell didn't they just film this?".
It had everything, and when I go back to it now, it still does.... (aside from the quasi speeder racing, that sucked).
Bioshock also stands up along side COD2 as one of the most enjoyable few hours spent on a console recently, as does the underated Prey, now available for the 360 at the price of a jam sandwich, so I urge you all to buy a copy!
I went back and played a bit of Lost Planet, also on the 360 and that still is a very cool game (no pun intended).
Played a spot of Another World and it definitely wasn't as good as I remembered, played some Mickey and Donald in the Land of Illusion and that's fanastic, much better than the Snes Mickey Mouse games imho.
I can still knock a few laughs out of Minestorm II on the Vectrex and I caught my 6 year old son playing one of the Megaman games via a GB emulator on my DS, and he loved it, damn it!

noodler

Retr0gamer wrote: »

You could use items but they were very expensive. Unless you wanted to grind excessively most battles towards the end of the game would leave me totally exhausted of MP whch would require running around in circles to get back enough MP to take on another battle. I never ran away and explored every nook and cranny and still had to do this. Considering how big the game was and how often you got into fights it was an utter chore to say the least. In Persona 3 the MP recovery items can't be bought in shops without using very rare items to trade in and were only found extremely rarely as treasure items so you really had to conserve them. The game was perfectly paced so that if you played the dungeons correctly you would barely get to the end of them with very little MP after exploring them thoroughly. Much better in my opinion than running in circles.

I don't really see how your criticism is valid here - ether's aren't that expensive and you are running around anyway PLUS you would get more savepoints (tents etc) so basically you have a million other opportunities to get your MP back whereas in Persona you have to call it a day after a couple of floors. Not saying thats a bad thing I am just saying that you could have just zoned back and slept in a tent in FF12 - it didn't seem to bother you in Persona!

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Persona doesn't have the production values of FF12 but I think artistically they are on par with each other and battle system and enemy design was streets ahead of FF12. Persona has the smaller world but it's much more detailed than FF12's big but samey world. FF12's optional quest were nothing more than more monsters to kill.

I completely and utterly disagree. Enemies are tough in Persona and well curved difficulty-wise but when it comes to their appearamnce they haven't a patch on FF12 or FF10. Also, they same designs are used over and over in different colours - way more than in FF games. There were other quests etc in FF12 but the Hunts (which I loved for their difficulty if you tackled them early enough) were the huge majority alright.

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Yes the three other party members are CPU controlled to a degree. You can still give them orders though like to heal, go all out conserve SP, go for weak points ect. so you did still have a lot of control and the AI was superb so you could count on the AI to make good decisions with very few poor ones. The only exception was in the very end game when some characters wasted turns when they got 'break' skills. You still had more control over your characters than in FF12 which involvessetting up AI routines, running into enemies and watching the AI do all the work. I'm not sure if I'm remembering correctly but I think the only reason I went back to the game and beat it was because it was the only game I could play almost solely with one analogue stick one handed after I broke my hand falling out of a christmas tree.

We have had this argument before I guess - you insist you didn't overlevel so I don't know what to say. However, gambits took time to collect, purchase and setup and were completely optional. Why didn't you just take the game off 'automatic' and control the player yourself?

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Persona 3 had a decent if not spectacular story as well with plenty of filler but I enjoyed getting to know all the non major characters and finding out all the stories from the social links, some of which were quite moving.

I haven't started 3 yet due to the backlog but I must say the same about 4 to an extent. Wanting to get to the bottom of the murder mystery was probably more interesting than any plotline in FF12 that I can remember.





On a another note, last night I got to the stage in Bioshock where our world is torn upside down.

"Would you kindly? Excellent stuff! I always wondered how Atlas was going to fit into the Fontaine VS Ryan struggle. Still not sure why Ryan made me kill him in the end or why eh didn't issue the control words to have me top myself ages before but whatever. Now to hunt down Fontaine!

Saving Little Sister is the closest thing to a truly alturistic feeling that I have ever experienced in a videogame.

monkeypants

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

aside from the quasi speeder racing, that sucked

I think they meant to make more of that, allow you to upgrade the speeder, etc. but they just didn't get around to it before the game was released.

Maximilian

After playing Dragon Age, I'm tempted to give Planescape Torment yet another run through. My fifth or sixth probably.

Reganio 2

Gotta be Broken Sword 1 and 2. I must have bought them games about 10 times each on PS 1 and PC over the years, just amazing. Even played Broken Sword 1: Director's Cut on DS the other day and it was just awesome . Best games ever.

Other than that, I don't think is any games I have gone back to play. Would love to play MGS 1 and 2 again but haven't got a PS1 or 2 and I can't find it d/l on the PC so they are just memories

Vyse

Reganio 2 wrote: »

Gotta be Broken Sword 1 and 2.

I actually start playing BS1 on the PS3 again recently. The first two were class. Was not as mad about the third one though.

noodler

Finished Bioshock, great game. Got a little disappointing in the last quarter of the game after

the big reveal and the ending was extremely disappointing

Can't say I fully understand the story, may well be worth an extra playthrough to find more tapes.

corblimey

Just polished off Splinter Cell, the first one. Man, is there any better feeling than getting past a spot in an old game that has flustered you in the past?

oceanclub

Vyse wrote: »

I actually start playing BS1 on the PS3 again recently. The first two were class. Was not as mad about the third one though.

I played and finished it on the GBA last year - perfect platform for it! Shame no. 2 didn't appear on the GBA as well.

P.

thewheel2.0

I replayed GTA IV recently to get the other ending. Then went on to Oblivion and assassins creed 1. Id love to get around to finishing up Bioshock and FF7 (second disc), but i find these games very hard to play, bioshock just has a eerie atmosphere where i could be playing something like oblivion and FF7 feels like a spreadsheet sometimes (maybe I'm just spoiled by action RPGs such as Oblivion and Mass Effect )

So yeah point being I play old games and the damn things take away time from my pile of shame:http://www.giantbomb.com/profile/reinforcement09/to-play/46-15553/

monkeypants

Reganio 2 wrote: »

Would love to play MGS 1 and 2 again but haven't got a PS1 or 2 and I can't find it d/l on the PC so they are just memories

Do you have a working PS1 emulator?

chamlis

Going through Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines myself again after many years. Playing as a Malkavian.
It's patched up to the nines, is still buggy as ****, but Christ is it a great game.....

felix101

Vyse wrote: »

Just wondering if anybody here re-plays any of their old games? I have hundreds of games and with the exception of about one or two, I've never replayed any of them. I'v probably forgot the plot of pretty much all of them so replaying them now would seem like a good idea. Games I'd love to re-visit include Splinter Cell, Max Payne 2, Beyond Good & Evil, Psychonauts, JSR and Call of Duty 2.

Anybody replaying any of their fav games at the moment?

I played need for speed,'' beyond good & evil'',contra.

callaway92

all of the Metal Gear Solid games

Coriolanus

Michael Cravez wrote: »

+ 1

I still play these alot. Especially X-com Apocalypse

Just saw they have the whole X-com series for €15 on Steam. I'll now be revisiting the lot!