<![CDATA[PSU Forums - Community Reviews & Opinions]]> http://www.psu.com/forums/ Submit reviews and opinion pieces on the latest games and topics. en Tue, 21 May 2013 09:25:56 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.psu.com/forums/images/misc/rss.png <![CDATA[PSU Forums - Community Reviews & Opinions]]> http://www.psu.com/forums/ <![CDATA[[Opinion] Next Generation Franchises]]> http://www.psu.com/forums/showthread.php/310106-Opinion-Next-Generation-Franchises?goto=newpost Wed, 15 May 2013 02:02:53 GMT At first I have to admit that I was quite excited to see the next generation happening at last and with it a new, Killzone game showing off what will be possible on the hardware. But soon after gathering my thoughts and returning back to my adult mind (The Playstation 4 announcement made me feel like a kid again!) - I began to wonder if, Sony is going to continue their campaign of milking successful games and turning them into long lasting franchises.

While many people are happy to have the sequel of the games they came to enjoy, having a fourth Killzone and a third, Infamous game as their debut games to compliment the Playstation 4 announcement only worries me that Sony won't attempt to put new IP's that will intrigue our interest at new universes to tell and experiences to experiment with.

Instead what I come to expect is to see in the future is, Killzone: Shadow Fall 2?, 3?; Infamous: Second Son part 2 and 3; God of War IV, V, VI; Gran Turismo 6, 7, 8.. and Uncharted 4, 5, 6.. as their flagship titles. While GT6 and Uncharted 4 are inevitable with the former being an exemption to this - God of War has been exhausted to the point that it needs to rest after, Ascension. Kratos had a good run and made his mark in the industry but Sony Santa Monica has the talent to make a new universe that we will all come to love.

Killzone is another franchise that will need resting after, Shadow Fall. After re-watching their debut gameplay I knew that these guys haven't improved after, Killzone 3 (You can say that the maps are bigger and graphics are eye candy but it doesn't play any better and instead I found it dull most of the time).

Naughty Dog's decision to work on a new IP is music to my ears with, The Last of Us and likewise it's turning out to be another title to remember. Overall I personally think that every game deserves at least one sequel/prequel and move on to a new game. Developers get bored of working on the same franchise so why not give their creative muscles a good workout with a new tale?

The industry as a whole should start to reconsider their options of prolonging the same concept. Recently we have seen franchises sell less than the last game: Ascension sold roughly over 300,000 units in the states in one month vs 1,100,000 in a week with God of War 3!. Dead Space 3, Gears of War: Judgment and Resistance 3 also didn't show stellar numbers compared to their last games(To name a few).

There are big risks involved with new IP's so I can somewhat understand their reasoning in milking franchises but with a new generation of consoles; powerful game engines and tools will lower their costs significantly. Coding and developing shouldn't be a major issue nor time consuming as a result so developers should have the liberty of being more creative like they should. ]]> Fon http://www.psu.com/forums/showthread.php/310106-Opinion-Next-Generation-Franchises <![CDATA[[Opinion] Habits that need to die this gen (Part One)]]> http://www.psu.com/forums/showthread.php/309990-Opinion-Habits-that-need-to-die-this-gen-%28Part-One%29?goto=newpost Sun, 12 May 2013 14:16:19 GMT As next gen approaches, there are definitely some things that need to die off so that we don't run into that deja vu feel on the first day of launch. This gen has brought us some great games that will stand the test of time, but certain habits have created games into a certain, "same" feel. This is going to be a little mini-series of rants, hoping for a change in how some games are made as well as lamenting the current situation of gaming. Part one focuses on the most popular genre of some time, first person shooters.


Two guns and all the jelly I want

Ok first off, we need less games with the 2 gun limit, regenerating health scheme. It's overly abused, and in many cases limits the freedom. First, regenerating health. Get shot a few times, the jelly splashes onto the screen, then just duck. It's not hard to stay alive in these situations. Regenerating health just makes the game slower. Oh, I can pop my head up for three seconds to kill a few bad guys then look at the jelly for five seconds, rinse and repeat until you reach the next trigger.

The two gun limit, it's becoming a little boring. Remember how much fun in Resistance 2 it was to alternate between your assault rifle and whatever else you brought? Yeah, nobody remembers. Because the weapon wheel was a lot better. Not to mention makes the gameplay more difficult. In Resistance 2, if you saw a rocket launcher precariously sitting on the ground, you knew in about three seconds you would fight some crazy goliath looking Chimera. Then you would toss it to the ground and move on.

It was much better when you had a weapon wheel, conserving ammo in your more powerful guns for moments like this when one big dude comes outta nowhere looking to take you out. Then you have that "Oh Shit" moment when you realize you wasted your rockets on some scrubs earlier in the level. Level design and enemy difficulty changes greatly when you have eight weapons at your disposal.

In games that limit you to two, you have certain sections you reach where they give you a cool gun to be like, "Hey we're going to increase the difficulty here, pick up that explosive weapon and toss it after you finish the room". Then you go back to corridor shooting with your assault rifle that you've had since the beginning.


Invisible Triggers

Call of Duty is not the only one guilty of this crime, but essentially the use of invisible triggers where enemies keep respawning until you magically cross some part of the level. It's really implemented to cover up need for actual difficulty. The AI doesn't have to be sharp, developers can have the enemy across the field in buildings where you keep playing Whac-A-Mole until you feel the need to cross over into the next part of the level.

Situations can be controlled much greater as you don't need to worry about enemy AI having flanking abilities, as they can be coded to rush into a barred off area directly behind you, and keep respawning until you reach a certain point. It's really just lazy game design. Pump your clip into some enemies, wait for the jelly to go away or run to the next part of cover. Keep doing that until you reach the trigger to continue the next part and do the same thing.


I'm a Marine, so I use profanity

In real life, as in off the interwebz, I probably curse more than your average person. But one thing that's overly used is generic character types in shooters. If there are marines, they probably curse a bunch. If there's a Russian in the game, he's probably an evil dude trying to blow something up, if he's British, he's special forces and generally a badass. You get the point, whatever the stereotype, the game uses it instead of trying to create characters with substance. It's fine if a game is more about the gameplay than trying to tell a big epic story, but it's lazy to depict different groups as these one dimensional characters.

It's just unfortunate to see, and something I wish we see less of next gen. Oh, and it wouldn't hurt to get some new villains that aren't Russian, Nazi, or some kind of vague Middle Eastern group.



That's it for part one. It's not an exhaustive list of everything wrong with shooters, but some things that really irk me. Feel free to give your two cents, curious to see what you all think of current state of first person shooters. ]]> Sir_Scud http://www.psu.com/forums/showthread.php/309990-Opinion-Habits-that-need-to-die-this-gen-%28Part-One%29 <![CDATA[[Playstation 3] Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen]]> http://www.psu.com/forums/showthread.php/309403-Playstation-3-Dragon-s-Dogma-Dark-Arisen?goto=newpost Wed, 24 Apr 2013 22:04:24 GMT 914lv36y2KL._AA1500_.jpg


This is a review of Dark Arisen the re-release of Dragons Dogma. This review only covers the new Bitter Black Isle part and not the full game. For original Dragons Dogma review please click here http://www.psu.com/forums/showthread...Dragon-s-Dogma.

Dragons Dogma-Dark Arisen is the anticipated expanded version of Dragon’s Dogma. After listing to the players Capcom created the evil Bitter Black Isle for higher level players to come test their might against new foes. This place lives up to the challenge, but in some ways you would not have guessed.
Noticeable changes in interface
-You can now equip two jewelry slots
-interface when opening and closing menus is faster
-jewelry has its own category
-Japanese language option
-Hard mode/speedrun has their own option at start menu

If you think your pawn may have been rented use original Dragon Dogma to sleep and get rift stuff. Resting in Dark Arisen you will get "invalid data."
Story
At night in Cassidus you meet a girl who tells you she is basically projecting herself. She takes you to Bitter Black Isle and tells you little else saves for there is a dungeon, she has lost her memories, and you are not the only Arisen to visit. With such little knowledge you dive deeper into the depths of this new dungeon. At start there is a monument you cannot read. For this you find etchings in the dungeon that unveil the story and thus the girl’s memories.
That’s it, that is all you are given. The plot and story is even thinner than Dragons’ Dogma and I can’t fig out how that is possible. In the last 15 min yeah you learn a lot, but the other 12hours 45min leading to it is dungeon crawling, which would be ok except for the dungeon itself is not very impressive.
New Stuff
On the new isle you get cursed items that you must bring back to the girl to uncurse and they give you random items (like really really random). Each item is splint into weapons, items, and novelty. What you get depends on the lvl and the item. The best items are of course the rings which upgrade certain abilities for classes basically making them stronger. There are also many new weapons and armor, some better than everfall loot.

Dungeon
This place is HARD!!!! The mobs are completely brutal. For a place made for lvl 50, I at lvl 130 was struggling but there were a few factors that really made it seem harder than it was.

Factor 1-Other peoples pawns dressed skimpy with little resistance: Yep you can NOT have your pawn dressed skimpy anymore in this place. Those pawns WILL DIE. The low resistance is not a good thing unfortunately I have yet to find an actual pawn not dressed skimp so this is making my dungeon time more painful. I tested my level 59 tank with full Crimson Armor and best gear and she was taking less damage then a level 130 dressed skimpy!!!

Factor 2-Pawns with shitty inclines: Yep inclines make all the difference and I have struggled to find ones with good combo. It takes me on average 20 min of searching various levels to find ones with good incline, good armor, and good skills. It sucks because there are so many guides out there and seems like players just want to look at skimpy girls (often in kid size) all day long.

Factor 3-Shitty AI: Yep the AI still sucks major. The enemies in the new dungeon are very resistant to physical, thus making augments on weapons more crucial and unfortunately the AI will buff you with the wrong one making it painful. When I was held by a mimic they would often stand there doing nothing even after I tapped help, and finally they love to stand in the one hit spell rings thus leading me to res them every 5 min.

However this is not the type of hard you would see in a game like Demons Souls or Dark Souls, this the cheap cop out hard. To make it seem hard they throw tons of mobs at you with high health and high damage output. I was wearing the best armor I could get from everfall and was getting rocked. To make it seem even harder you do extremely little damage unless you hit the mob in its weak spot. In Dragons Dogma sure you did reduce damage if not hitting the mob with the right weakness element/spot, but you would still do a decent amount and they have changed that in this dungeon. The relying on right element/right weak spot with the tons of mobs with high health and damage is just a cheap feel. Unlike in the DS series were if you die it was your faults and you learned what to do, this game depends so much on the Ai support for right everything it all seems like the perfect storm is a must to win.

Most of the dungeon is close quarters, dark, and has water so min you get knocked down it becomes harder to see. Because of this pawns like sorcerer, rangers, striders die very very often. Yes get those fighters out because this is a place were high armor is better.

Because everything is so physical resistance if you play a mystic knight or magick archer you will dominate this place. Seriously I switched and it was so easy. I know you’re thinking “hey then why not get a sorcerer pawn.” That is a great thought and I thought the same, yet once again the players and AI hold you back because most sorcerers have the big spells that take forever making them worthless. People with Sorcerer Pawns please please just use ingle, Levin, miasma, and frigor.

Rift Crystals are the name of the game here. You use them to uncurse items, re-build rift stones, and light various lanterns. Do not worry they drop very very often.
Often your screen with faded black and white, this means a boss is appearing and guess what…it is all random when and where it happens and what the boss is. This defiantly adds to the hard part as you could be fighting a mini boss then a boss appears. Good news is you can run out of the level then go back in and its gone.

Some doors require Moonbeam Gems to open. these places are optional but loot hunters will want to dive right in. Moonbeam gems are found scatter throughout main part.

After you beat MR. Bad guy you are free to explore everything the dungeon has. If you go to hunt for new armor have fun.

The Bad
This pains me so much to say but the dungeon design is repetitive. Think Dragon Age 2 dungeon repetitive complete with blocking off areas. I started getting the “haven’t I been here before” about an hour in and sure enough I was right. This is completely lazy and unacceptable. It really made me want to stop playing. I hated it in DA2 and I hate it here.

So Yuuichi should I buy this if I have never played Dragon’s Dogma before?
Yes. Dragon’s Dogma is still a fantastic game. Dark Arisen part just seems rushed.
What if I already own Dragon’s Dogma?
Yes once again. The changes are great and make the game even better. If you have other games to play right now hold off a bit then.
Final Verdict
Dark Arisen- 7/10: Could be better and often feels like they just made it to shut higher level players up about being over leveled and game to easy.
Dragons Dogma + Dark Arisen-9/10: Still a great game if you missed it first time around get it now!!

Yuuichi Likes:
-New changes in menus
-New Gear
-New monsters


Yuuichi Hates:
-“difficulty” feels cheaply made
-Pawns die to fast with low armor (your healer going to die a ton)
-Reuse of same map over and over
Attached Images
]]> Yuuichi http://www.psu.com/forums/showthread.php/309403-Playstation-3-Dragon-s-Dogma-Dark-Arisen