[:plant:] The GFF Game Club [Now Playing: Max Payne] Now with less spoiler tags

Nothing actually spoiled, but discussion:

I will admit, the one thing that kept me going so long the first time through is missing this time.

It comes from knowing what to do, and that's entirely unavoidable, but generally in replays of games I really enjoy I still derive considerably entertainment values from either the gameplay or one of several other factors.

In ICO, clearly a large part of that came from the discovery of what was coming next and the environment's mysteries, amongst plenty of the game's subtleties and charm. The fact that I know what's up next is what surprisingly draining my second play's enjoyment factor.

While I anticipated this to some degree, I didn't quite anticipate the level to which that sense of discovery affected my enjoyment of the title. It's making the replay a fair bit less enjoyable than I was hoping.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Oh, she can vote for Xenogears all she wants.

Just remember that there are four of us overseeing the choices here.

So.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by OmagnusPrime

Also, how are people feeling about the amount of time we left for the game?

I'm actually thinking it was a little long. Despite Bayonetta's release this month, along with ME2, there wasn't a lot of stuff coming out, and I think with too long a window for a shorter game like this, the drive to get it done lost momentum.

I know I had a problem with my PSdouble shitting the bed during this period, so I restarted on triple; but even with that, I think a tighter focus should exist to keep the thing going instead of it being shifted to the back of one's mind, y'know?

And where do you draw the emulation line? N64? Most emulators of things past that are somewhat shoddy, and there are no Mac versions of stuff like nullDC for example (which is occasionally spotty anyway), so.

And PCSX2 is all over the place depending on the game, etc etc etc.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

How far along is everyone? We're approaching the first due date.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Moving right along. The next game we've got is :

Beyond Good and Evil

Ah, yes. The criminally overlooked game of last generation. Very easy to find if you're terrible and lack a copy. Omagnus has a steam link in his opening post, but here it is again for ease. Anyone's computer will run it. Beyond Good and Evil on Steam

Due date for this one is February 28th. More than enough time to polish this off.

-------------------------

Secondly, it should be noted that Ico discussion can and will continue up until that date. As soon as the next game is finished, we can turn the flow to that one. If you're going to discuss BG&E before the due date, remember to use spoilers.

Have fun, folks.

I was speaking idiomatically.

There is nothing "wrong" with any version, it's just slightly superior in terms of visuals or fidelity on one or the other.

If I had to suggest one, GCN would be my console choice. Steam is linked because it's dirt cheap and because it's the easiest way to get it if you don't own it.

By all means, play the PS2 version, it's hardly going to change anything.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I didn't make my post about ICO, as I've hit a bit of writers block. But here goes at least some of it.

Experiencing this game for a second time is actually kind of interesting. I never replayed it after the first time I went through it until this club. I often replay things, but this just wasn't one of them.

So going through it again proved one thing to me. It showed that a vast majority of the experience is defined by the exploration and the wandering about. The leading the helpless lady through the castle that you yourself know nothing about. Worrying about the combat situations and all.

Second time through this is all moot, as you'll remember most of it. It's not a hard game, so the challenges and sense of overcoming a sequence of tricky bits is not entirely present. And knowing is apparently more than half the battle, here.

It's still very good, it just lacks that spark the subsequent time through that made it as interesting the first time. I guess this could be said about a lot of things you go through a second time, but in many of those cases the title doesn't lose *that* much of it's core being during any second plays.

I still adore it, and it's still awesome as fuck, but it feels significantly more hollow than I was expecting it to than when I booted it up again. Unexpected, but I appreciate playing it again. Reminds me of all the awesome that it is.

FELIPE NO

BG&E spoilers now do not need to be marked.

--------------

Voting Chat:

22:36:00 Philia: Ikaruga or Vagrant Story
Crackdown
Majora's Mask
M&L 3
Dark Cloud 2
Assassin's Creed
Mass Effect
FFT
San Andreas
Xenogears
Valkyria Chronicles
TWEWY
SotC
Assassin's Creed 2

Added suggestions of after the meeting:
Republic Commando, Descent 2 - Skills
Super Monkey Ball & Silent Hill 2 - Shin
Skies of Arcadia - Myself
Saints Row 2 - Mo0
Dark Cloud 2 - Denicalis
22:36:37 Colonel Skills: did you get the youtube link
22:36:39 Ben (stuff): throw out anything too long and what are left with?
22:36:42 Philia: k Ikaruga sounds great for march any other second picks?
22:36:43 Philia: NO
22:36:54 Colonel Skills: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-slr7wL8KE
22:36:54 Philia: not at you op
22:36:54 Philia: skills
22:37:04 Ben (stuff): Ikaruga, Crackdown, Super Monkey Ball
22:37:25 Colonel Skills: Republic Commando is pretty short
22:37:27 Philia: I like Monkey Ball okay
22:37:35 Philia: Ooooh
22:37:47 Philia: like old school Doom
22:37:47 Philia: awesome
22:37:55 Philia: yeah I can play this
22:38:00 Ben (stuff): play what?
22:38:07 Philia: what platform is this?
22:38:07 Philia: descent 2
22:38:07 Ben (stuff): oh
22:38:10 Ben (stuff): Descent 2
22:38:44 Colonel Skills: DOSBOX
22:38:54 Philia: o.o
22:39:00 Colonel Skills: is there a mac dos emulator
22:39:10 Philia: www.zophar.net
22:40:08 Colonel Skills: google descent 2 max might also help
22:40:38 Colonel Skills: http://descent.en.softonic.com/mac
22:40:38 Colonel Skills: apparently so
22:40:54 Ben (stuff): Boxer is a DOS game emulator for OS X, built around the powerful DOSBox. Boxer aims to make it easy and painless to play your DOS games.
22:41:05 Ben (stuff): or there's that
22:41:15 Ben (stuff): I might actually sit this month out if it's Descent 2
22:41:22 Ben (stuff): I played it back in the day
22:41:34 Ben (stuff): and it was fun, but I'm not sure it's something I want to spend time on this month
22:41:40 Colonel Skills: Is that a genre or time concern
22:42:08 Ben (stuff): more a "I know the game, and how much I enjoyed it" vs "time to spend on other games I'd rather play"
22:42:12 Ben (stuff): thing
22:42:15 Ben (stuff): if that makes sense
22:42:19 Philia: hee hee
22:42:31 Philia: yeah I don't replay games for the same reason
22:43:03 Colonel Skills: indeed it does
22:43:03 Colonel Skills: we can pick something else
22:43:03 Colonel Skills: it's just an idea thrown out there
22:43:16 Colonel Skills: descent 3 has aged better and I believe there's a mac version for that so it might be possible to go that route in the future
22:43:18 Philia: well it was pretty cool though skills
22:43:21 Philia: thanks for the link to the vid
22:43:28 Ben (stuff): we don't all have to be involved in every game
22:43:30 Ben (stuff): hmm
22:43:34 Ben (stuff): didn't play Descent 32
22:43:35 Ben (stuff): 3*
22:43:37 Philia: lol
22:43:38 Ben (stuff): maybe
22:43:48 Philia: I SHOULD be involved with ikaruga right?
22:43:48 Philia: xD
22:44:17 Ben (stuff): yes
22:44:23 Ben (stuff): you've not played that
22:44:24 Philia: lmao
22:44:28 Philia: okay
22:44:29 Ben (stuff): I'm more tempted by Ikaruga
22:44:29 Philia: okay
22:44:32 Ben (stuff): as I've not played that either
22:44:35 Philia: say we have two games to pick for March
22:44:38 Philia: what's your two picks guys?
22:44:41 Ben (stuff): though like you
22:44:42 Colonel Skills: doesn't matter if you're terrible
22:44:52 Ben (stuff): schmups type things aren't necessarily my cup of tea
22:44:54 Colonel Skills: I vote ikaruga
22:45:02 Ben (stuff): I'm certainly not gay for them like Skills
22:45:09 Philia: LMAO
22:45:10 Philia: yes
22:45:13 Ben (stuff): yeah, I vote Ikaruga
22:45:20 Philia: we all have our vices though
22:45:23 Ben (stuff): Skills: you down with doing the thread post?
22:45:27 Philia: and yeah I vote ikaruga
22:45:30 Ben (stuff): and I guess the title change

NO REFUGE.

Oh shit, you're saying. Oh shit. You know that logo. That's the one alright, you're not wrong.

Shit just got real

That's right kids. It's...

Ikaruga

"A shmup?" you say? Well yes. You'd be QUITE CORRECT. Brilliant observations, as always!

"Stop being a dick, Skills."

Yes, well. Look. March is some serious bullshit. There's something between a major release and a semi-major release every week. We know most of you (us included) will be buying Final Fantasy 13, for example, because we're terrible.

So how to keep the club going through that? Lighter, faster games.

The game may demand a lot from you, but we aren't asking for you to 1CC it or anything. Play and enjoy.

Available really easy to steal on the DC if you're unable to do so otherwise, but also available for a medium amount on GCN and for 800 space bucks on the XBLA. Link

Due date is March 28th. Again, because of the schedule of the month, so there's tonnes of time for you to get your shit wrecked.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Crackdown was discussed but not acted on this month, Shin, we were gonna save it for a little down the road.

I don't think I've seen any of GB suggestions. Have I just missed them? The PM function is there too, if you want to use that.

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Regarding BG&E, I didn't get all the animals this time either, although I probably should have.

I didn't even bother with all the minor collectibles either, the game paces really well and I find myself just going through from story element to story element to keep it up. At times it feels almost like it's progressing too quick, that the characters should be stopping and questioning a few things, but that's something I noticed more this time than last. Maybe just because I gave it a little more thought as I knew what was coming.

Still, holds up real well, and I'm glad the PC bug issues ended up getting resolved for Acer.

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by Lady STD KILLA

Crackdown Ikaruga would allow for discussion of tactics and different approaches to killing the bosses,

Could actually replace that with just about anything, which was what we were going for.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Supporting the idea to add Shin to the group and while we're at it we can spoiler lock in the voting discussions for extra transparency.

How ya doing, buddy?

Unwilling to credit feed?

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

I'll admit I fell apart this month. I didn't keep up with proper attempts at these stages like I should have, but Battlefield seriously monopolized my time.

Despite the fact that I KNOW the patterns for stage 1 and 2, the couple of times I did try it this month my reflexes failed me, and all I could post were 'eh scores. I haven't surpassed the 2ish mill posted in Shin's thread by any respectable amount, not to speak of coming anywhere CLOSE to my old records.

It's kinda sad, actually. I will make a god damn NOTE of it to put some time in tomorrow, again.

I figure this was an unpopular genre for the club, and it's a shame, since there's plenty of easy to access shmups that would make for some decent discussion. What do people think of the genre as this sort of thing? Didn't work? Just a bad choice in it? Anything?

I was speaking idiomatically.

When I play the game I just pretend it's a Jason Momoa simulator



What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

This is because you are a negro

FELIPE NO

If you vote incorrectly in this thread it just gives you a STIGGGGGGGGGGMMMMMMAAAAAAAAAA

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Originally Posted by Qwarky

Ence has more than enough STIGGGGMAAAAAAAA on him already.

No, that is actually SMEGGGGGGGGAAAAA

Jam it back in, in the dark.

If you played it then you still have it.

it's not like anyone with three or more firing brain cells would have gotten rid of it or nothin

There's nowhere I can't reach.

So I've been trying to play on New York Minute, since I've never beaten it on that before. Yeah.

Uh.

I'm not really getting anywhere. This was not a good idea.

Has anyone here got anything they can offer me for general pointers? I understand getting by under the wire is how this works but I feel like I'm succeeding more on luck than brains in the rare occasion where I do?

Or am I just doing that shittily? Maybe trying this coming off of such a lengthy hiatus is not the best idea.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

It held up exceptionally well, but that wasn't my problem. I got to chapter 6 in New York Minute and just had to stop. It wasn't necessarily the baddy difficulty that was getting me as much as the time limit, but I just felt like I wasn't making consistent progress, and everything I was doing felt like more luck than brains.

I don't know if I was just playing sloppily after having a go for so many years, or what the deal was, but it was something I was unable to finish.

Maybe if I watch some vids about it I'll pick up on what I was doing wrong, I don't know.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?