marlow83

Do you work for EA?

Your accusation comes down to personal taste. A dislike for linear gameplay is an argument that many people use to justify their belief that a game is bad, an argument that is really starting to get annoying. Mass Effect is amazing because of its narrative, and the way it presents that story is utterly unique to games. The dialog options, while not ultra-extensive, allow the player control over the development of Shepard's character, and over just enough elements of the plot to let the player feel truly involved, while still telling a well-structured story. The characterizations, especially when the conversations are fully explored, are excellent. The fiction is expansive, and the game's structure allows the player to be immersed in that fiction in a way that more passive entertainment media can't hope to match.  The gameplay isn't the best, certainly. But it's competent, and the differing shields, barriers, and powers allow for enough tactical considerations to keep the shootouts interesting. Also, let's all admit it, Mass Effect 2 isn't a goddamn RPG. It's a shooter. ME1 and ME2 are utterly different games. The argument that ME2 is a poor RPG could be reversed and applied to the first Mass Effect. What I mean is, I could call ME1 a shitty shooter, but people would respond "It's an RPG, the poor combat is just a result of that."  Mass Effect 1 isn't judged as a shooter, Mass Effect 2 shouldn't be judged as an RPG 
 
In short, Mass Effect 2 is amazing, and you are wrong

Never had a problem with it on 360

While I did find it amusing when I first saw it, I still don't really get this forced rivalry between the two franchises. They really have very little in common from a gameplay standpoint. Yes, they are both shooters set in modern time periods but that's where there similarities pretty much end. Battlefield is all about teamwork, forming a squad, sticking to orders, playing a specific role in a massive battle, capturing/defending objectives, and an overall slower, more thoughtful pace while Call of Duty is a much more arcadey, rapid-fire, kill-to-death-ratio focused type of gameplay that is fun to play pick up games and can be easily enjoyed in small or large bits.

I have almost always owned both franchises in the past and enjoyed each one for what it was. I personally stick with Battlefield for longer but I just don't really see them as that big of competitors or anything.

I'm going to be different and say that i hated Just Cause 2. Like, I really, really hated it. Boring/repetitive missions, tedious traveling, and offensively terrible voice acting. Fun. 
 
...it is pretty, though

HEY GUYS SOMEONE WHO LIKES FF7 

The following is a repost of an article I wrote around 6 months ago on my website:  

  I have some new for all my fellow game-playing human beings out there: Gaming is supposed to be fun. Wait, wait, before you all stop reading this post and dismiss me as idiotic, I need to explain why I felt the need to tell people this. Recently, I was watching Gamespot’s review of Final Fantasy XIV. Why? I was bored. Anyway, everyone knows now that this was not a very good game, and the people who were involved in this abominations’ creation are currently out of work. But that’s not why I bring this up. Then I glanced down at the comments, I saw that one user, who will be referred to as “the commenter,” decided to write a damn essay defending this game, and the last Final Fantasy MMORPG, Final Fantasy XI. His comment is as follows:

     “FFXI was the best game I have ever played. I have faith that 14 will improve over time. 1 thing that pisses me off is the First and Last name thing. Why not stick to one name ??? I don’t get it. Seeing someone named Bill Clinton is extremely stupid. Take away from the mystical genuine unique sanctuary that Final Fantasy players love and respect. Many people know…. for a good 8 years…. FFXI wasn’t just a game…. for a lot of people, it was like being in Heaven. It was a way of life.

     Final Fantasy XIV for me “MUST” be good. It has to perservere. If it doesn’t…. they need to fire people and hire a staff that can make the game work. There’s too many fans of FFXI that quit FFXI in hopes for a great FFXIV game…. too many fans that bought a PS3 “JUST” for this game. Too many people that love the name  FInal Fantasy to see a potentially beautiful experience go to waste. There’s too much on the line to accept “THIS” as a sequel to the best MMO I’ve ever played.

     People say “FFXI sucks. I hated that game…” Why? B/c it was an MMO that was a test. It was a test of Patience. Few MMOs test Patience. So this review’s quote “It’s not fun, it’s work.” No shit. The loyal FFXI playrs want Work. We like to woro for respect. We like to work for gear…. so when we go to a major city… “So and so is inspecting you..” That’s what we love. We love the work. We take pride in the work. It’s not the work that’s the problem. And no Auction House? No shit. It will come

     And no recipe books? Not knowing where to go? You’re not supposed to know where to go. I didn’t know where to go half the time in FFXI. When I got my Tamas ring and Balrahn’s ring…. you think it was easy? No. I had to do research. For hours. I had to study fight. I had to have my laptop next to me to look up recipes. Because it’s what I had to do to place myself above other careless impatient players.

     And “you have to make macros…” Like hey bro…. did you play FFXI? You had to macro everything. Or click spells, white magic, heal… to heal. Or you could make a macro. Wow that’s hard. If you can’t make a macro…. figure out how. Since when are MMOs for lazy people?This dude never played FFXI. He addresses issues that aren’t issues. Why not just say, “They released this game too early.” It’s not ready for online play yet. That’s what it comes down to. “

     …Jesus. Now, if you were to overcome by this guy’s idiocy to make it through that, know I’ll be directly addressing his arguments here. The first half of this is really just fanboyism at its absolute worst. He insists that because the game is a Final Fantasy title, that there is no conceivable way that it can be bad. He even says that Final Fantasy XI wasn’t just a game; it was like being in heaven. “A way of life” is what he calls it. This is the kind of insane, blind devotion that leads to situations like the  Wacoshootout. It’s terrifying. This guy comes back using a different profile (he refers to the rant above as “his argument” in his proceeding comments, just in case you were wondering how I know it’s the same person) and proceeds to bash World of Warcraft, probably one of the most important games in recent memory (even if it is an evil, life-stealing organism*). He criticizes it because it lets everyone obtain the best armor and weapons and numbers and such. Think about that for a second. He says a game is bad for being accessible and rewarding. Yeah, we’ve got a nut on our hands.

Pictured: Heaven and/or a way of life

     But, it is not his loyalty to Hironobu Sakaguchi’s JRPG kingdom that is so troubling about this comment. For the second half of his diatribe he essentially focuses on Kevin VanOrd’s claim that Final Fantasy XIV is “not fun, it’s work.” He sites that the true fans of the Final Fantasy MMOs love the work because of the respect it brings them. Now, I must admit, there is a slice of validity to this. There is a certain amount of satisfaction with gaining an amount of power or notoriety in any aspect of life, even in gaming. However, what our esteemed lunatic is forgetting is that, and I’m going to be blunt about this, video games don’t really matter in the real world. Now, am I saying that video games are without value? No, of course not! Gaming allows us to experience events and situations that we could never experience in life or in another entertainment medium. When we play games, we can gain powers we could never have. We can experience excitement or terror in ways that we could never feel them before. Because that’s what gaming is all about. The experience. And most of all, that experience should be fun. The ultimate goal of any game is to have fun playing it. Whether or not it offers some kind of arbitrary award, a game is not worth your time if it isn’t fun to play or experience in some fashion or another. It really bothers me that the man describes Final Fantasy XI as “a test of patience” as if that’s supposed to be a good thing. I honestly don’t know how to respond to that. If a game wants to make you turn it off, then you should turn it the fuck off. A truly great game should never test your patience. I game may frustrate you, but you should feel compelled enough to continue playing. Now, that may sound hypocritical, but I justify it this way: there is a difference between “challenging” and “patience-testing.” Patience testing can mean that a game is monotonous/boring or unfairly difficult. A challenging game keeps things interesting.

     But, I digress. So, it is okay to try to get some big reward, or reach some kind of goal while playing a game, and its ok to put forth a certain amount of effort when trying to obtain accomplish this ultimate goal. However, just like anything in life, the amount of effort and, well, work that is involved in achieving this end needs to be relative to the real-life value of the reward. Performing tedious, mind-numbing work to make a wage or get a degree at a university is acceptable, because those rewards have real significance in life. Now, to address the comment again, a goddamn ring in a video game isn’t worth doing “research. For hours.” Having to study a combat system to improve, instead of just learning and improving from experience, makes a game cease to be a game (I’m looking at you, Starcraft. But you’re like a sport now, so I’ll let it slide.) To offer some personal experience to contrast the commenter, I’m currently trying to finally reach the rank of Lt. Colonel in Halo: Reach. Now, I’ve sunk a lot of my time into accomplishing this objective, but I have enjoyed myself throughout the journey. I’ve gotten better through experience only. It has only felt like a grind when I actually glanced at my progress bar between matches. But from game to game, the actual act of playing is enough fun where I forget my overall goal, and just let myself become immersed in the match. Now, this is essentially the opposite of the experience the commenter describes. Where I enjoy the game and try to not focus on the goal at hand, the commenter suffers through work in order to reach that goal. Like a carrot on a stick, except you have to constantly walk over hot coals and thumbtacks as you try to get the carrot.  

     But this commenter’s real issue is that he thinks these rewards he’s torturing himself for have tangible value. Reaching an impressive level in a game may make yourself feel good, but I guarantee that anyone who cares needs as much psychiatric help as you do. When I see someone highly ranked online or whatever the hell, I never think to myself “Wow, I respect their abilities and I am inferior to them as a person.” I think “Wow, these guys have too much time on their hands.” To be fair, I have grinded for inconsequential rewards, but I accept that nobody really cares. Sure I felt good right after I got all the achievement points in Assassin’s Creed 2. But when I look at that full bar now, do I feel any pride? No. No one respects me for it. No one cares. I didn’t enjoy finding all of the feathers in the game. My perfectionist attitude just came over me. Nothing more.       

I could have just played this     

     Before this little post ends, I need to say this: I have never played FFXI. I looked it up, it got fairly good reviews. Maybe it’s actually good. But, if the experience is anything like the commenter describes, then it sounds wholly unpleasant. The game isn’t the point here, it’s that some people have managed to effectively misunderstand the entire point of gaming.

     And now, Mr. Commenter, I say to you this:  If, ten years from now, you’re proud of your Tamas ring and Balrahn’s ring, you need to rethink your life. You disrespect games as a medium by contributing to the stereotype that all gamers are is a bunch of nerds obsessed with their little pixilated avatar’s statistics. 

I actually agree, that tank battle was boring to watch, but I understand why they chose it (showcasing explosions) 
Also,  
@PenguinDust said:

You know what else is boring?  My mom! 

@marlow83 said:

No, I'd like to keep that comment rating bullshit, in any of its forms, out of Giant Bomb. It would be a fucking disaster, like it is on any other website. 

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