The first three games are excellent (even the first game is pretty good but probably a bit abstract in story compared to 2 and 3. 2 is standalone and doesn't have much connection to the first game outside of the setting (though the game takes place in a different part of SH). 3 is actually a direct sequel to the first game and basically explains and wraps up the storyline from the first game. Personally it's my favorite one. 3 also has a few subtle little nods to the second game so I wouldn't just play 1 and then skip to 3.
I believe there's a PC version of 2, so I'd just play that instead since I've heard people say it looks "HD" compared to the console versions of the game. At the very least it ought to be better than the piss-poor effort that was put into the HD Collection.
SH4 is where the series started going downhill. There are people that like it, but there's a lot of really stupid game design flaws that will test your patience. Though there are some interesting ideas in the game, it's just a lot of them weren't that well executed.
Definitely play the first 3 games if you can, as they're all worth it (have multiple endings and the joke endings are the best).
PSO is an action RPG. Not sure how that worked on PC but the console versions controlled just fine with no UI issues. It seems like PSO2 isn't going to change in that regard. And to be honest this doesn't come as a shock to me. I anticipated that PSO2 getting a Vita port would happened. This could be about on par (or close to) MH on the PSP, so this could be very interesting to see play out.
Like I said, if the handheld is losing Nintendo money, that isn't a success. Nintendo isn't a megaconglomerate like Sony or Microsoft where they can funnel money from other areas to make up for their consoles losing them money at the outset. Nintendo felt the burn badly because of the 3DS. End of story. I'm not arguing some kind of magical fantasy land rules, I'm arguing real life business logic. So far the 3DS has failed to match up to the DS's success (which is what Nintendo intended).
Also, like I said, this "mobile gaming will overtake handheld gaming" is the same load of garbage that was being talked about for years and years and years with PC gaming making console gaming obsolete, and it still hasn't happened.
Maybe you're the one who is not as well-informed about gaming?
First off we need to stop lumping dedicated gaming handhelds in with handheld PCs. iPhones and what have you do not offer the same kind of tactile gaming experience that a dedicated gaming console can deliver. There is no "fear" of mobile PC gaming eating up the handheld market because that same line of nonsense was parroted by analysts all the way back when the NES came out. "OMG who why buy a game console when you can play your games on a PC?!" The NES then goes on to be a huge success, as does the SNES and Genesis.
Second off, The PSP managed to stay competitive with the DS in Japan thanks to Monster Hunter, which couldn't be replicated on the DS (and why Iwata was so desperate to try to have a MH on the 3DS). The only problem was that MH was only a killer app in Japan, and elsewhere it was at best a cult game (which I gladly bought a PSP for). The Vita needs a killer app everywhere else, and with a CoD coming out for the system sometime before the end of the year, it might very well be the killer app that is needed. This worries Nintendo (why do you think they threw out that tacky analog nub attachment while the new 3DS redesign looms on the horizon?).
The DS was a blue ocean game system, but the 3DS is about as far from that as you can get, and it has hurt them badly (if your handheld is is losing you money then it's not a success no matter how much you sell, and unlike Microsoft and Sony they can just funnel from other areas of their business to prop up their failures). The 3DS has been turned to a portable N64/Game Cube which were both consoles that failed to excite the mainstream market, and so far the 3DS is having a similar reaction.
What held the PSP back before was it was trying to be a portable console but lacked the interface to pull it off. There are plenty of other reasons, but for its intended goal it failed. The Vita is definitely realizing the PSP's original intent, and bringing with it all the stuff they've been doing in the past few years, such as bringing PSN's robust software offerings and (free) services to the system. It should have a better online infrastructure (which would be a boon for FPS and third person shooters). The 3DS was so focused on the 3D output (which no one cares about) that everything else on the system suffered for it.
As someone who has bought three PSPs, and two DS Lites and one DSi XL, I have absolutely zero interest in a 3DS (since the software is all about 3D and less about interesting games) and I'm more likely at present to buy a Vita right now. If Sony plays their cards right (and due to Nintendo's own stupidity with the 3DS) they might wind up being both competitive with the 3DS both in Japan and everywhere else.
The 3DS is still losing Nintendo money and putting them in the red. Clost to a billion dollars in the red. I don't know what you'd call that, but it isn't a success. It doesn't matter how many units you sell if at the end of the day you aren't making money off of it. Or do people forget the Dreamcast?
In the original the game takes place within a set period of time--7 days--for plot reasons. Though your time isn't actually finite. When the player does story events or battles (which are clearly outlined so you don't accidentally pick something that will move time forward and potentially screw up something you might have been doing) time moves forward so much, and the player can even choose to "wait" ala Elder Scrolls a set period of time if they just want to skip ahead. Otherwise you can do free battles that let you level up and such without having to worry about time/story issues till you're ready to move on.
So this isn't like Dead Rising where you're facing a constantly ticking clock, and the player can choose the pace at which events move forward.
Which is effectively what everyone said about Final Fantasy for years even as the quality was declining. FF13 comes out in Japan and sells a million in a week. FF13-2 comes out and sells half of that in a week. Damaging your company's reputation wish poor quality games or asinine business practices isn't usually felt immediately but it does snowball until eventually the ill will is so great that it winds up crushing the company in the end.
We aren't there yet with Bioware, but if they continue doing things like this (whether EA is mandating this or not is irrelevant) eventually they're gonna get flattened in the end.
Boy this isn't gonna end well. Why not just wait and put everything in the game and then everyone is satisfied. You put out a game that feels incomplete on the outset to people and then you act shocked when people wind up trading it in and in fact you wind up encouraging people to just wait and buy the game used or cheaper because they at the very least want to bare minimum to wrap the game up at the minimum, then they just re-trade it in or don't even bother with the DLC.
Real issue here is that gaming production values are out of control, but the simple fact of the matter is that the game industry put themselves in this mess. If they're gonna cry about used games and development costs spiraling out of control they should have thought about that before they went down that road in the midst of a rocky economy where people's tolerance for disingenuous corporate BS is gonna be very, very low.
There was a reason Nintendo rushed to throw on that crappy extra-analog nub attachment to the 3DS, and why the 3DS will be getting a redesign with proper dual-analog support.
In case nobody noticed, Monster Hunter isn't a system seller outside of Japan (and this is coming from a MH fan in the US). However, CoD's popularity has been steadily growing and beginning to take hold in other parts of the world outside of the US and Europe (it's beginning sell in Japan). Right now CoD is about on par with Super Mario Bros. in terms of selling power. And having a CoD on a handheld with all the features and proper console controls could be *THE* killer app for the Vita over the 3DS...and Nintendo knows this.
Watching how this game affects the VIta in the US market is going to be interesting indeed.
It's pretty hard to argue that FF is just a shell of its former self now. Hell, in Japan it even sold poorly compared to 13 (I think 13 sold out a million copies or so in its first week and 13-2 only sold half that, apparently Tales of Xillia sold more than it did).
I think it's about time for there to be a clean sweep of the people who have been helming FF since Sakaguchi left and maybe some people put in who actually grew up with the older games and actually understand what made those games so loved and respected because the FF of today possesses none of that magic. It's just a pretentious self-fellating mess.
Oh, The Places You'll Go: Silent Hill 3
Apr 4th 2012 1:02AM (Joystiq)The first three games are excellent (even the first game is pretty good but probably a bit abstract in story compared to 2 and 3. 2 is standalone and doesn't have much connection to the first game outside of the setting (though the game takes place in a different part of SH). 3 is actually a direct sequel to the first game and basically explains and wraps up the storyline from the first game. Personally it's my favorite one. 3 also has a few subtle little nods to the second game so I wouldn't just play 1 and then skip to 3.
I believe there's a PC version of 2, so I'd just play that instead since I've heard people say it looks "HD" compared to the console versions of the game. At the very least it ought to be better than the piss-poor effort that was put into the HD Collection.
SH4 is where the series started going downhill. There are people that like it, but there's a lot of really stupid game design flaws that will test your patience. Though there are some interesting ideas in the game, it's just a lot of them weren't that well executed.
Definitely play the first 3 games if you can, as they're all worth it (have multiple endings and the joke endings are the best).
Phantasy Star Online 2 coming to Vita with PC crossplay
Mar 9th 2012 12:39PM (Joystiq)PSO is an action RPG. Not sure how that worked on PC but the console versions controlled just fine with no UI issues. It seems like PSO2 isn't going to change in that regard. And to be honest this doesn't come as a shock to me. I anticipated that PSO2 getting a Vita port would happened. This could be about on par (or close to) MH on the PSP, so this could be very interesting to see play out.
So far, so good: Why the Vita rises where the PSP fell
Mar 2nd 2012 7:11PM (Joystiq)Like I said, if the handheld is losing Nintendo money, that isn't a success. Nintendo isn't a megaconglomerate like Sony or Microsoft where they can funnel money from other areas to make up for their consoles losing them money at the outset. Nintendo felt the burn badly because of the 3DS. End of story. I'm not arguing some kind of magical fantasy land rules, I'm arguing real life business logic. So far the 3DS has failed to match up to the DS's success (which is what Nintendo intended).
Also, like I said, this "mobile gaming will overtake handheld gaming" is the same load of garbage that was being talked about for years and years and years with PC gaming making console gaming obsolete, and it still hasn't happened.
Maybe you're the one who is not as well-informed about gaming?
So far, so good: Why the Vita rises where the PSP fell
Mar 2nd 2012 5:07PM (Joystiq)Second off, The PSP managed to stay competitive with the DS in Japan thanks to Monster Hunter, which couldn't be replicated on the DS (and why Iwata was so desperate to try to have a MH on the 3DS). The only problem was that MH was only a killer app in Japan, and elsewhere it was at best a cult game (which I gladly bought a PSP for). The Vita needs a killer app everywhere else, and with a CoD coming out for the system sometime before the end of the year, it might very well be the killer app that is needed. This worries Nintendo (why do you think they threw out that tacky analog nub attachment while the new 3DS redesign looms on the horizon?).
The DS was a blue ocean game system, but the 3DS is about as far from that as you can get, and it has hurt them badly (if your handheld is is losing you money then it's not a success no matter how much you sell, and unlike Microsoft and Sony they can just funnel from other areas of their business to prop up their failures). The 3DS has been turned to a portable N64/Game Cube which were both consoles that failed to excite the mainstream market, and so far the 3DS is having a similar reaction.
What held the PSP back before was it was trying to be a portable console but lacked the interface to pull it off. There are plenty of other reasons, but for its intended goal it failed. The Vita is definitely realizing the PSP's original intent, and bringing with it all the stuff they've been doing in the past few years, such as bringing PSN's robust software offerings and (free) services to the system. It should have a better online infrastructure (which would be a boon for FPS and third person shooters). The 3DS was so focused on the 3D output (which no one cares about) that everything else on the system suffered for it.
As someone who has bought three PSPs, and two DS Lites and one DSi XL, I have absolutely zero interest in a 3DS (since the software is all about 3D and less about interesting games) and I'm more likely at present to buy a Vita right now. If Sony plays their cards right (and due to Nintendo's own stupidity with the 3DS) they might wind up being both competitive with the 3DS both in Japan and everywhere else.
So far, so good: Why the Vita rises where the PSP fell
Mar 2nd 2012 4:52PM (Joystiq)The 3DS is still losing Nintendo money and putting them in the red. Clost to a billion dollars in the red. I don't know what you'd call that, but it isn't a success. It doesn't matter how many units you sell if at the end of the day you aren't making money off of it. Or do people forget the Dreamcast?
When Genres Collide: Why Devil Survivor 2 works so well (and Namco x Capcom doesn't)
Feb 29th 2012 5:21PM (Joystiq)In the original the game takes place within a set period of time--7 days--for plot reasons. Though your time isn't actually finite. When the player does story events or battles (which are clearly outlined so you don't accidentally pick something that will move time forward and potentially screw up something you might have been doing) time moves forward so much, and the player can even choose to "wait" ala Elder Scrolls a set period of time if they just want to skip ahead. Otherwise you can do free battles that let you level up and such without having to worry about time/story issues till you're ready to move on.
So this isn't like Dead Rising where you're facing a constantly ticking clock, and the player can choose the pace at which events move forward.
Mass Effect 3 'From Ashes' DLC also sold separately from Collector's Edition
Feb 23rd 2012 3:46PM (Joystiq)Which is effectively what everyone said about Final Fantasy for years even as the quality was declining. FF13 comes out in Japan and sells a million in a week. FF13-2 comes out and sells half of that in a week. Damaging your company's reputation wish poor quality games or asinine business practices isn't usually felt immediately but it does snowball until eventually the ill will is so great that it winds up crushing the company in the end.
We aren't there yet with Bioware, but if they continue doing things like this (whether EA is mandating this or not is irrelevant) eventually they're gonna get flattened in the end.
Mass Effect 3 'From Ashes' DLC also sold separately from Collector's Edition
Feb 22nd 2012 10:17PM (Joystiq)Real issue here is that gaming production values are out of control, but the simple fact of the matter is that the game industry put themselves in this mess. If they're gonna cry about used games and development costs spiraling out of control they should have thought about that before they went down that road in the midst of a rocky economy where people's tolerance for disingenuous corporate BS is gonna be very, very low.
Sony: Call of Duty blasting onto Vita this fall
Feb 19th 2012 3:22PM (Joystiq)In case nobody noticed, Monster Hunter isn't a system seller outside of Japan (and this is coming from a MH fan in the US). However, CoD's popularity has been steadily growing and beginning to take hold in other parts of the world outside of the US and Europe (it's beginning sell in Japan). Right now CoD is about on par with Super Mario Bros. in terms of selling power. And having a CoD on a handheld with all the features and proper console controls could be *THE* killer app for the Vita over the 3DS...and Nintendo knows this.
Watching how this game affects the VIta in the US market is going to be interesting indeed.
Final Fantasy XIII-2 review: Fixing the past
Jan 29th 2012 4:42PM (Joystiq)I think it's about time for there to be a clean sweep of the people who have been helming FF since Sakaguchi left and maybe some people put in who actually grew up with the older games and actually understand what made those games so loved and respected because the FF of today possesses none of that magic. It's just a pretentious self-fellating mess.