Been away for most of the weekend, engrossed with Epic Mickey. It officially gets my stamp of approval. It's much bigger than I thought it would be, there are lots of quests some of which are good, others stray too close to fetch questing.

It has some enchanting areas. I'm no hardcore Disney fan, but when the music, visuals and area is juuuuust right, it feels, almost, well magical.

The 2D sections are just little interludes between proper 3D areas. They are throwaway and don't feature any substantial challenge or innovation. But they do have delightful ways of using animation to change the environment, which makes them more than worth investigating.

Cutscenes - the animated ones that is, are brilliantly done. And the game seems to have lots of little secrets tucked away, for instance when I hit Mean Street I thought it was a superficial 2D facade, only to discover that there was a whole new level underneath when you started splashing the thinner about.

There is some BS, like there will be times where you have to find 4 things, and I spent ages looking for them only to find 3 and take the easy way out (paying a character to do it)

Camera is fine, actually, now that I am practiced on it. When it is fixed, it's honestly picking the right angle for the scene, even when you assume it's not and want to see what is unseen. You turn back to see the unseen area the camera wouldn't allow you to see, only to find either a useless drop to your death or a plain wall. Learn to trust the auto-camera and use the c-button centering.

This game is pretty good and is starting to feel "Epic" in a way. Some of the combat is getting more difficult and sometimes frustrating as you can be concentrating on one and several others will bum rush you from behind.

Tomorrow City was hard to see where you were going because of the dark art style, but hell, Tron boss Made it all worthwhile - I will say no more.

Oh yeah on the SDTV to HDTV comparison, SD wins hands down, it's a rounded, soft and jaggie free game, all of which is semi-ruined by HDTV scaling. Jaggies kill it.

Since GG started it: Whatcha been playin' guys?

I've been playing Beyond Good & Evil, and have been having a lot of fun with it. It's not perfect by any means, but it's a fun adventure game. I'm about halfway through the game now, I think.

I started Paper Mario: TTYD from scratch . . . again. I'm determined to finish it this time. My plan is simple: I will play 1 hour of this game per day until it is done. I restarted it Friday, and have played 3 hours so far. I figure it'll take me about a month to finish it, unless I somehow get addicted to it (which is unlikely). It's an enjoyable game . . . in short bursts.

Ravenprose said:

Since GG started it: Whatcha been playin' guys?

I've been playing Beyond Good & Evil, and have been having a lot of fun with it. It's not perfect by any means, but it's a fun adventure game. I'm about halfway through the game now, I think.

I started Paper Mario: TTYD from scratch . . . again. I'm determined to finish it this time. My plan is simple: I will play 1 hour of this game per day until it is done. I restarted it Friday, and have played 3 hours so far. I figure it'll take me about a month to finish it, unless I somehow get addicted to it (which is unlikely). It's an enjoyable game . . . in short bursts.

Nice to read this. Honestly although Super Paper Mario is good, it's not anywhere near as fun as TTYD or the N64 game.

gamingeek said:

Nice to read this. Honestly although Super Paper Mario is good, it's not anywhere near as fun as TTYD or the N64 game.

I enjoyed Super Paper Mario a lot more than I have TTYD so far. Never played the N64 version.

bugsonglass said:

Bit surprised you are finding it hard to get into PP:TTYD.  I became completely engrossed and obsessed when I was playing it.  Played it continuously, usually in marathon sessions and to this day it's one of the best games I ever played.  Perhaps my personal favourite of all Mario RPGs (played all of them including Super PM, and the 3 M&Ls).  BG&E was also very enjoyable to me.  I think the few things that annoyed me were some of the later hovercraft races and the final boss fight

My problem with TTYD is the turn-based battle mechanics; I never cared for turn-based games. If it played more like Super Paper Mario, I'd most likely have finished it years ago.

bugsonglass said:

BG&E was also very enjoyable to me.  I think the few things that annoyed me were some of the later hovercraft races and the final boss fight

So far, the only thing I have found annoying in BG&E is the picture taking of animals. It's tedious and boring, but has to be done to get enough money.

Damnit Bugs you just reminded me that I haven't played Mario and Luigi 3.

Ah the memories.

Ravenprose said:

^ Is that game good, GG? Gamestop has it for $3. I thought about getting it.

I loved it at the time. The controls aren't that accurate and the combat is a little simple these days. But it has a great story and artstyle, plus some neat stealth mechanics where you can pick up chairs and brooms and sneak up on people and crack them on the head with it.

I would love a sequel - but the ending kinda put the kibosh on that.

^ Cool. I'll pick it up soon then.

Ravenprose said:

^ Cool. I'll pick it up soon then.

I loved how it was made so much like a comic.  

Foolz said:

bugsonglass said:

my best buddy here had it pre-ordered online, but he couldn't wait so he went and bought it from a shop.  i agreed to buy his other copy when it arrives (probably monday or tuesday) for 25 euro.  i wasn't going to buy this game but if i can hobo purchase at launch i guess i can't go wrong.

do you like (somewhat) realistic driving sims and was it meh because it's not a good one, or was it meh because you prefer mario kart type racers?

Probably because he is a heartless robot.

Funny you mentioned heartless, because that is exactly what I felt about the game. It is just so sterile, the cars look too clean like they just do not belong there. The background were not impressive in a technical or artistic level. The flat trees and flat crowds were ugly and the track design was  nothing special.

Granted realistic driving sims are not my expertise, to say it politely, but I am currently taking driving lessons and my frame of reference would be the real thing. The sense of speed, is the main thing I am missing. In real driving you really feel the sense of speed, even at lower speeds like 50km/h, but GT feels slow even at higher speeds. One time I was going straight and I just looked around and was thinking 'come on, cross the finish line!' This could be avoided by making the cars faster or a track with shorter straights.

Only played the arcade mode or quick race against another opponent. It is not enough to judge the whole game, but my initial impressions are 'meh'.