I'm going to be sticking to my "One Game at a Time" Rule for the foreseeable future; I have found this is the ONLY way I can really Play, Fully Appreciate and Complete games these days. Every once in a while, though,  I'll get a bug to trade in games that have been sitting around for a while, ESPECIALLY if I know in the back of my head there's a larger purchase (3DS) coming just around the corner for me. One reason is to pay OFF those purchases before they come out so I don't have to take anything out of my pocket to do so, the other reason is to just get rid of some "STUFF." As you all probably know by now, I'm not a fan of having too many possessions; Again, I am the type of person who only wants enough stuff to fit in the trunk of a car, so I can leave where I am at a moments notice. That being said, I'll pop some games in randomly sometimes, to see if I'm REALLY going to want to play them or not; to see if their purchase was just impulse, or I am ACTUALLY going to take the time to play them. My game of the moment right now is Nier --BUT-- this morning was Judgment Day for Bayonetta!

This is going to upset a few people, but it must be said: You have --NOT-- played this game until you've played it on the 360! Is it a great game on the PS3? Yes. Any version is going to be great. Does the PS3 version hold a candle to the 360 version? No. Forget the load times. Once installed on the PS3 they are improved drastically. There's just something about the difference in gameplay that is flat-out AWE-INSPIRING! I don't even now if I can put it into words. There is just a constant fluidity that was not possible in the PS3 version, that when you play it on 360, you just say to yourself: "HOLY CRAP! THIS IS HOW THE GAME IS SUPPOSED TO FEEL!?" I don't know if it is the difference in the frame rates. I don't know if it is the responsiveness of the controller. Somehow the action feels "framey" on the PS3 version, even if it's not the visual frame-rate that's poor. It's VERY hard to describe! The game is not only JUST as fun, it's MORE SO, because the timing of the combos and overall interactivity of the game is just so much more refined here than it was on the PS3. THIS IS NOT MEANT TO BE A KNOCK AGAINST THE PS3 VERSION OR THOSE WHO PLAYED IT ON THAT SYSTEM (as I did when it first came out)... THIS IS JUST MEANT AS A STATEMENT AS TO THE OBVIOUS AND UTTER DIFFERENCE A GAME BEING A "PORT" CAN MAKE! Wow! Wow oh wow oh wow! I will NOT stop playing Nier to play Bayonetta now, but NOW I can HARDLY WAIT!

phantom_leo said:

There is just a constant fluidity that was not possible in the PS3 version, that when you play it on 360, you just say to yourself: "HOLY CRAP! THIS IS HOW THE GAME IS SUPPOSED TO FEEL!?" I don't know if it is the difference in the frame rates. I don't know if it is the responsiveness of the controller. Somehow the action feels "framey" on the PS3 version, even if it's not the visual frame-rate that's poor. It's VERY hard to describe!

Let me have a shot. The difference between the 2 version is that the 360 runs at 60fps and the PS3 at 30fps. This is a huuuge deal.

Are there any other good examples of games like that?   I loved how smooth the action was on Bioshock when I changed the framerate, but then the screen tearing became overbearing at times.

travo said:

Are there any other good examples of games like that?   I loved how smooth the action was on Bioshock when I changed the framerate, but then the screen tearing became overbearing at times.

Good Question. I know of a handful of games. I always consider (now) what the lead platform is on a game before purchasing, as that usually is a good indicator of better performance. The ones I know of so far (and I will update this as I learn more) are:

• BioShock
• The Orange Box
• Red Dead Redemption
• Bayonetta

*Had a bit of a revelation on Nier. Quit playing. (Sorry Homer!)

Got rid of it, along with The Orange Box and GoldenEye 007 Wii.

I own Bayonetta, Orange Box and Bioshock all for the PS3.  It sucks to have the gimped versions but i won't be buying any of them a second time.

phantom_leo said:

*Had a bit of a revelation on Nier. Quit playing. (Sorry Homer!)

Got rid of it, along with The Orange Box and GoldenEye 007 Wii.

aspro said:

Leo said, I believe it, that does it. No Nier for me (but you'll have to give details some time.  As for Orange Box, did you try HL2 or Portal?

Also, Bayonetta... such a mixed experience for me, I've talked about it before.

I was playing Nier and I was enjoying it somewhat, then I hit some kind of wall. I asked myself: "Do I REALLY need to play a 'the World is ending, my daughter is dying, so let me do 1,001 bizarre side-quest, depressing' Action-RPG... AGAIN...?" I don't know what happened to Square last year. With the exception of DQIX, everything else was just mediocre. The trouble is, I used to not be able to get enough of those games (multiple side-quest, forging weapons), but I found myself playing Nier, saying: "There's GOT to be something better I could be doing with my time." It just didn't grip me as --ALL-- the other 360 games I have played recently have. The cursing woman seemed to be trying TOO HARD to be a Western-like character. You got a TON of special magic attacks, but could realistically only use two at a time. I like the blending of genres: the bullet-hell attack patterns were cool and all, the farming aspect is tucked in there nicely --but-- fishing S-U-C-K-E-D and why the HELL would I want to carry FRAGILE objects around a field covered with enemies only to fail a mission if I am touched ONCE?! I did two of those missions and had more than enough. The main character is BUTT-Ugly. The combat is too simple aside from the magic you are too limited in using. A year ago, I would have eaten this game up, today I couldn't stomach it. There's not many games like it around right now and, who knows, if I have nothing else to play some time in the next few months, there were a few aspects I really liked, I COULD see myself playing it... but right now, No.

____

bugsonglass said:

I own Bayonetta, Orange Box and Bioshock all for the PS3.  It sucks to have the gimped versions but i won't be buying any of them a second time.

I played and TOTALLY enjoyed BioShock on PS3. Loved it. No shame there. Bayonetta, Vader will attest, is playable on PS3; just never, ever play it on 360 'til after you're done on the PS3! Orange Box, there's no getting around it, on PS3, it's totally inexcusable! I got rid of it and Goldeneye today. Someone just completely turned me off of the genre as of late. I still have Halo: Reach and still fully plan on getting into it one day soon.

____

Archangel3371 said:

Yeah Bayonetta is a FANTASTIC game, glad you really enjoyed it so far. I definitely want to go back and play it some more.

I know what you guys mean about playing multiple games at once. I just recently picked up The King of Fighters XII, Lost Planet 2, and Nier and tried some of all 3. Fighting games are easy to jump in and out of and play along other games. I think I'll focus on Nier first though before getting too into LP2 plus I'm still plugging away at Dragon Quest IX whenever I get the chance.

I imagine it this way. If I start playing one game, play a few stages into it, and then switch to another, it messes up the gradual progression of skill-building in that particular game and throws off your ability to cope with the natural  scaling of the difficulty in that game altogether, too. You'll play through the beginning, introductory stages, learn how to play, get that instinctual feel for the gameplay, button-placement, etc, get to where the difficulty goes from Easy to Moderate, then switch to ANOTHER game. You learn that game, forgetting what you learned in the FIRST game... when you go back to that first game your skill is pretty much reset to ZERO, yet you've left off on moderate difficulty stages, you've probably forgotten the (motivation for playing) story... You become frustrated, stop playing IT and then it sits in your backlog for the rest of eternity, while you tell yourself: "I'll get back to it one day." Gaming becomes rote and disjointed. Developers want you to treat their game as if it's the only one that exists. Immerse yourself in it, learn it's nuances, follow the story uninterrupted, keep the skills they gradually introduce to you sharp from start to finish so you can overcome the challenges they set for you... You know the drill...

Bayonetta is DEFINITELY the kind of game you need to keep up with. The combos, the pacing, how they introduce tougher enemies one after the other after the other... take a break from that game and go back to it and you are totally screwed! I played it this morning, found myself entranced, gave up on Nier, went back to Bayonetta and immediately got to the point where I left off on the PS3 version last year in no time. I found it SOOO much easier to get there this time! I swear, it also feels like there are more video clips and I don't remember the whole Concoction System --AT ALL-- in the PS3 version! Is that just my imagination?

I loved KOFXII for the first hour. The graphics, animation and color were GORGEOUS! Then I realized there was nothing to it. Online SUCKED too. I was very depressed when all was said and done. There was something like a team of 6 people making the whole damn game last time... and it showed. They put everything into making it look phenomenal and then just had nothing left. I am afraid those same 6 people are making KOFXIII, so I am not getting my hopes up. It's really a shame!

I advise you to keep up with DQIX, but if you happen to play a bit of Nier, let me know what you think!

Oh! And...

Boobies!

Yeah I can definitely understand why you'd drop Nier. It's got some interesting aspects but most of it like graphics, enemies, story, characters, and voice acting is quite bland, at least so far. Supposedly things are supposed to get more interesting near the end but there's a lot of mediocrity to trudge through to get there.

phantom_leo said:

*Also: the fact that you have to play Nier a FEW TIMES to get the whole story... Dammit Dev's do you REALLY think I have THAT much time?!

It's the old Japanese value for money thing.

Well, it sounds like you've just be playing too many A+ titles lately (and you still have plenty on your shelf), so why settle for something you are not in the mood for, right?  It doesn't sound like there was anything too bad wrong with the game, it just not for you at this time (as you said).

Concoction is in the PS3 version. (Bayonetta).