Third Person Action Game thread (DMC, NG, etc.)

[Ed Oscuro]

damn, why have I not been playing that copy of PN03 I've had sitting around for months?

[Obiwanshinobi]

It just reminds me when God Hand got a 3/10 on IGN.
Biggest case of "missing the fucking point" ever.

Dude.

[Ed Oscuro]

that helicopter looks nothing like an apache longbow

[Ghegs]

damn, why have I not been playing that copy of PN03 I've had sitting around for months?

I've had PN03 for a while now and haven't played it beyond making sure the disc works. Maybe this should be fixed.

[shmuppyLove]

I've been enjoying God of War: Chains of Olympus on the PSPizzle.

Really wants to make me pick up the two remastered collections for the PS3.

[Ed Oscuro]

I got Dead to Rights: Retribution yesterday and cracked it open today.

I was expecting (from the few screens I'd seen) a cheesy low-poly adventure with lots of cheesy dialogue.

I wasn't expecting its fairly high (at points) level of visual polish, especially in the environments (although it's also got a kinda rounded, cookie-cutter feel at times - I really don't know how to put this into words better; some of the scenes are fairly impressive, and there are a good number of small details in the environments, so this is already far beyond the original game in that department). However, the melee combo system seems fairly simple and straightforward (combos of the style Y, Y, Y, or Y, Y, B+Y, B+Y, for example) as in the original game, with added dodges and noir-style takedowns. Not bad, but perhaps not exciting either. I certainly wasn't expecting the old-fashioned Irish cop-like father character, who looks almost out of The Untouchables and is voiced by Paul "Colonel" Eiding, which immediately made me sit up. I'm not sold on the actual gameplay - gunplay was fairly unimpressive; it's no Gears even though it copies that game's gunplay rather closely. It even has Badges to collect...apparently it uses the Unreal Engine. For whatever reason, shooting felt better somehow in the original game, so I thought. We'll see how it continues to strike me as I get into further chapters. Right now, I've got 7 achievements done (the first was Scrotality, which is self-explanatory once I add that you get Shadow, the dog partner, to do it) and some of them seemed rather fiddly. Nothing too exciting in the Achievements list that I've seen so far.

Also here is some pussy bitching about the game's violence. Needless to say I'm not onboard for this at all. My only real criticism of this DTR is that it's just hard to see what's going on (but I'm playing on an old SD TV with just RCA video and only the left speaker can be plugged in), so that's not really the game's fault (although the text is really small, even by 360 standards - I can still make it out but, like FO3's pip boy, it's not really fun to read).

[njiska]

So I've been playing ninja Gaiden 2 lately and I'm starting to get extremely pissed off at it. Not because it's hard, but because parts of it feel really cheap; namely enemy grapples. Getting sick and tired of being unblockably grappled by an enemy that teleports in behind me.

[Op Intensify]

Getting sick and tired of being unblockably grappled by an enemy that teleports in behind me.

I never had this happen to me once on my Warrior playthrough, nor was I ever suicide bombed by a ninja amputee. Try dashing more. Like, all the time when you're not attacking. Also, OT those amputees before they can touch you, it's just one button and instantaneous.

You will totally have a right to get pissed off at the water dragon boss, though. It's like something out of a 3D Zelda.

[njiska]

It's not the suicides that's giving me hell, it's alive enemies when I'm surrounded. Tends to happen more with the sorcerers where they'll just appear in a fray and grab me, or with high grab enemies like those fucking ninja dogs. Trying to block their exploding darts results in me getting grabbed. Try stopping an enemy from grabbing me and I get a dart in the chest. Either way it is really, really pissing me off; far more than anything in the original did. It's not like it's impeding my progress, just that it's annoying.

The Water Dragon boss is actually where I stopped playing this game back in 2008.

[iconoclast]

Target the mages first in group battles (or any ranged enemies, like the archers). They have low health and are easy to kill once you close in on them. For the dogs, you can get through a pack of them without taking any damage just by constantly using on-landing 360+Y attacks with the Lunar.

You should also never stand still for longer than it takes to time a safe dash through incendiary shuriken explosions. If you just stand there and block, you're going to get grabbed. In NG2, [smart] offense is the best defense.

[AweOfShe]

Target the mages first in group battles (or any ranged enemies, like the archers). They have low health and are easy to kill once you close in on them. For the dogs, you can get through a pack of them without taking any damage just by constantly using on-landing 360+Y attacks with the Lunar.

You should also never stand still for longer than it takes to time a safe dash through incendiary shuriken explosions. If you just stand there and block, you're going to get grabbed. In NG2, [smart] offense is the best defense.

The only thing I would add here is to try to stun-lock the mages while you're running towards them, with shurikens. Definitely focus on them first, especially in later difficulties, when their surprise grabs can pretty much instant kill you.

Also, there are times when jumping while running is more efficient than holding block and dashing forward.

[Obiwanshinobi]

I wonder why Max Payne (the PC original; I have no incentive whatsoever to take the console ports into consideration) seems so forgotten in this day and age, or indeed why this kind of TPP, favouring mouse and keyboard, seemingly faded into oblivion after Total Overdose.
The original Max Payne did for run 'n' guns what Rogue Squadron on the GameCube did for space shooters - it was THE game boys in love with Hollywood action flicks must have been dreaming about since they'd heard of video games for the first time.
Remember the PC demo? I played the living hell out of just the tutorial in that demo.
Nowadays S&P2 (nowhere near as impactful, obviously) seems to be following Max Payne's route into oblivion. I'm under impression that even those who made grand statemets about S&P2 when it was new hardly ever replay it. I mean, sure, it doesn't have technical polish of Radiant Silvergun or Alien Soldier - production of such a caliber seems to be out of Treasure's reach even on Wii these days - but at the same time it's way more accessible and whenever I return to it, it's every bit as good as I remembered.

[Op Intensify]

I'm under impression that even those who made grand statemets about S&P2 when it was new hardly ever replay it.

Unfortunately I think it has to do with the game being long as hell for an arcade-style game (close to an hour on one credit). It's an ordeal to sit down for a full session, let alone multiple runs, and not something people will always have the time or patience for. It's easy to get burned out on it. There's other factors, like the first stage being an overly drawn out and easy excuse for a tutorial, and some of the bosses like Snapper Keeper and Horror Keeper are tiresome to fight repeatedly, because you can't do them at your own pace. S&P 1 opened with a very easy mini-stage to help players get accustomed to aiming, but it was over in a flash. The game relies too heavily on variety gimmick scenarios (the train chase, the lava crane, the mini-fighting game--all in the same stage!), which also lose much of their luster on repeated plays, and make the experience feel somewhat unfocused.

Not to mention that the scoring is rather silly: you get points for remaining on the ground, which invites unfortunate comparisons to Hyper Duel's scoring. There are some ridiculous hidden requirements for getting medals; I'm not even sure if they've all been discovered yet. But they aren't really worth enough points to justify it. I also think they could have included a better co-op mode than to have the second player control the cursor of an invisible off-screen gun, with no story explanation.

I love S&P 2, but it just doesn't hold up compared to the original.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Stage select makes for quick blast sessions, with a separate scoreboard each. People serious about practicing and playing for the score wouldn't make "it's too long" excuses. Again, if you want to practice, there's no reason to play through the lot every time.
It's structured a lot like Shinobi (PS2) in this respect - a game that would also be tiresome to complete in one sitting, but almost certainly wasn't meant to be completed this way. There are differences of course: Shinobi doesn't even recognize 1cc as such (from what I know), but S&P2 has more generous checkpointing and saves after every checkpoint at that, which makes for easier first playthrough to boot. Nevertheless, it'd be unreasonable to attempt S&P2 1cc not having 1cc-ed each and every stage separately before.
I'm still working on my playthrough as Isa on Hard and I keep on trying to 1cc particular stages on Normal. None of those things requires long runs.
Pointing finger at extra points for staying on ground is petty. Those points can be only earned in a couple of places and are most certainly not something you shoud be worrying about before 1-ccing a stage. Don't have an hour to spare, nor do you want to stay on ground for extra points? There are stages to be mastered that require neither. Won't substitute for making sweet love to the internet perhaps, but can be enjoyed in way shoter sessions.
I assume the way co-op works has something to do with system requirements; the performance goes south in single player now and then and surely wouldn't fare any better with another character onscreen. It's rather self-explanatory too: the camera just keeps the 2nd character offscreen and that's it.

[evil_ash_xero]

Anyone else think NG II was a good bit easier than Black? My friends won't even play Black, saying it's "too hard to be fun", while telling me that II is a blast.

I've beaten both, and Black was a good bit harder to me. I just don't hear it that much on the web. What's your opinions?

Black's a bit better though. Both are kick-ass.

[njiska]

Anyone else think NG II was a good bit easier than Black? My friends won't even play Black, saying it's "too hard to be fun", while telling me that II is a blast.

I've beaten both, and Black was a good bit harder to me. I just don't hear it that much on the web. What's your opinions?

Black's a bit better though. Both are kick-ass.

I definitely find Black to be harder, but also a lot more fun. Can't quite put in to words why, though.

[iconoclast]

I think NG2 is much harder on Master Ninja if you do a complete run (ie. all Tests of Valor and 'hidden' fights - so 4300 kills or so). I don't remember the lower difficulties very well in either game, but at least Acolyte is piss easy.

Mentor is my favorite mode though. MNM is a fun challenge, but it forces you to play in a more reserved style because everything does so much damage. Mentor gives you enough breathing room to allow you to do whatever you want, but you can still die if you're being too careless. Still, I think the perfect difficulty would've been something in between Mentor and MNM.

[njiska]

So who all has checked out the DMC: Devil May Cry demo that went up today? I've tried to keep an open mind about this re-envisioning and I'm very much glad I did. The demo is fun, the combat is fast, the platforming is not a bastard. Everything comes together really nicely.

The only thing is the max difficulty unlocked at the start is kind of easy. I ended up with a final mission Style rank of S (Savage), Time rank of B and Completion Rank of D. Turns out theres a lot of stuff hidden in this short level and that's a good thing. Also, it appears platforming deaths do not count against your final score, only combat deaths. Which in my opinion is quite fair.

I'm definitely looking towards picking this up.

Edit: Unlocked Son of Sparda difficulty. Now this is a fucking Devil May Cry game. Very good difficulty. Flying enemies with ranged weapons were my death. Super fun.

[CMoon]

Also just checked out the demo. My biggest complaint is that screaming boss. Some reason that voice grates on my nerves and then the stupidest dialogue between the boss and dante in probably any video game. Still, can't say I ever really liked the boss fights too much in the DMC series, and this at least felt different (but not really good.) What shines is the combat vs standard enemies. Yeah, you can go read people bitching about it on gamefaqs, but Dante has a LOT at his disposal allowing for an absurd amount of mix-ups. The complaint here is that casual players like me are going to be able to do crazy combos like super skilled players could on the earlier installations. I was really only starting to get the hang of it by the end of my first play through (there is a secret arena which you can play endlessly to help you practice combos.)

I doubt this is a day one purchase for me--but it seems fun enough to warrant a purchase sometime down the road.

[njiska]

Looks like Ninja Gaiden 3 may not suck anymore.

http://www.gametrailers.com/reviews/ffp ... com-review

[evil_ash_xero]

Most other reviews say that NG III still sucks quite badly.

If they want to truly get people to play DMC, maybe they should have a downloadable skin, to get rid of that fucking emo kid.

He reminds me of Steve Burnside, from Code Veronica...and we all know his fate.

[mesh control]

A new skin would not rid new Dante of his new found angst.

Also, Skrillex music.

[njiska]

If they want to truly get people to play DMC, maybe they should have a downloadable skin, to get rid of that fucking emo kid.

I wouldn't exactly call him emo, especially in the game proper. What I found amusing is that when you activate the Devil Trigger Dante's hair turns white and his jacket becomes a bright, traditional red.

[CMoon]

Worst thing in the demo. Really didn't enjoy fighting that boss. Again, this is a budget buy for me sometime late next year (if I still care.) All bets are on MGR. What's the deal with Anarchy Reigns. Actually looks pretty good, but ultimately shallow, mindless and short. I really want to care, I'm just not sure I can.

[iconoclast]

What's the deal with Anarchy Reigns. Actually looks pretty good, but ultimately shallow, mindless and short. I really want to care, I'm just not sure I can.

Sounds about right from what I've played, although I wouldn't be so harsh. It's a fun game, but it's definitely not in the same league as Platinum/Clover's best efforts - Bayonetta, Vanquish, God Hand, etc. Honestly, I think they wasted their time by putting so much focus on multiplayer because nobody was ever going to care about playing it competitively.

And I feel the same about Devil's Third. That one really kills me because I want a new Itagaki action game so bad. ;~;

[evil_ash_xero]

I have Max Anarchy. It is shallow, mindless and short. That being said, the multi-player is fun. Single player is kind of worthless.

Don't buy it for the single player.

[Obiwanshinobi]

I need a word to describe that je ne sais quoi rubbing me the wrong way about... no, not just Bayonetta character design (wouldn't be the first poor looking kid on the block; accidents do happen), but also: Resonance of Fate, S&P2... You get the picture (in case you don't, look up some concept art and cutscenes).
"Metrosexual" would be the word, but that implies narcissism - Capcom's domain last gen - and I can't think of a single Capcom game looking this, ewww, you know. Some other devs went there TPP route years ago: Crimson Sea and that Gackt game come to mind (though I'm not sure if Bujingai really deserves to be namedropped here).
Seems like a pretty recent fad in Japanese pop-culture. The first character design fitting the bill I'm aware of would be the Cowboy Bebop dude, and the dead-eyed Redline chap just followed in his footsteps.

[Strider77]

what?

[EmperorIng]

well he is right in saying that the character models in SnP2 are fucking awful and it looks like everyone in that game shops at hot topic and ambercrombie and fitch stores at the same time.

[Obiwanshinobi]

In other words, some TPP games have problems with their graphics that people choose to pretend are not problems.
Globally it's not news (about every Crystal Dynamics and SCEA game I played have similar problems), but it just recently reached Japan, it seems. That one of the least embarrassing graphically Japanese TPP games this gen came from Team Ninja speaks volumes.
[In North America's defense, I must admit Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance has got still some of my favourite (human) character models and animations in polygonal, textured land.]