dabe

@phantomzxro: That's their personal preferance though.

@Hailinel: has it right (although it isn't limited to FF or Japanese games -- see their quick look of Grand Slam Tennis 2 or F1 2011 or the Vita FIFA). Also, it was Patrick...:(

Blue Dragon. Played ten hours, just couldn't reconcile the childish Toriyama character designs mixed with the weird J-Rock boss battle music. Had a nice UI, set up & combat but Lost Odyssey demolished it in that regard (I bought it with the trade in money for BD).

I would say FFXIII but I lent it for six months instead of buying it. Generally speaking, since the PS2 era, I've been pretty good about purchasing games I enjoy (backed out of LA Noire/Borderlands/FFXIII/Dead Island & others because something didn't sit right with me -- needless to say I'm happy I did).

After playing through the first portion of the single player demo, some notes;

* - The additional UI elements seem to clutter the screen unnecessarily (pointers to where you need to go, the Anderson cone around his body). I think Bioware assumes we're all retards or something (most big time developers do this)...

* - The melodramatic child thing was pretty rote. The dramatic piano music, close ups of Shepards emotional face...just come off as silly.

* - The action seems similar to ME2 and I quite like it but the standoff waiting for the Normandy felt like I was playing Gears of War and fighting the lambent (which I'm not sure is a good or bad thing).

* - Ashley's new design is alright in motion (as opposed to the still images floating around). But they've definitely tampered with her since 2007 (bigger lips, different eye position/angle).

* - I don't mind the generic looking characters (Default ManShep & Vega), they keep the fiction moderately grounded in the psuedoscience universe of Drew Karpyshyn. I'm looking forward to hearing how retarded Freddy Prinze Jr. is. Then subsequently having sex with him (in the post Dragon Age Bioware tradition they've started to create).

* - Visually, it looks slightly more impressive than ME2, but it's mainly the same. That isn't a bad thing though, I appreciate the grainy aesthetic on some of the textures and general spartan design.

* - I'm adverse to the whole "Action/Role-Playing/Story" menu option. Make the game you feel is right for the audience, don't try to cater to everyone. It's why I don't like the controls choice given in things like the Conduit. I'd rather they implemented a singular design choice they were confident in & subsequently polished the shit out of it. Instead, in this instance, you can "play" the game without playing it -- which seems redundant unless you're literally watching it as an extended movie or play it while gimping half of its mechanics.

Whatever, I'll be getting it once my pile of games from 2011 has been completed (LA Noire, Ass Creed Brotherhood, Dark Souls, Skyrim & Mortal Kombat among others).

Bioware has a history of advertising things you may not want to see until you're actually playing the game (see character videos for Dragon Age).

Thanks for the heads up, although I just started the demo and my 360 crashed as the Reapers attacked...:(

Good blog post. Videogames is pretty good, most of the other stuff I've heard isn't.

That aside, her plastically enhanced top lip can fuck right off.

This thread is just appalling.

Just a few quick thoughts --

Punishment for looting should be in every fantasy/RPG game. You shouldn't be able to steal every item you can find & sell it on thereafter. Also, more inferred social adherence (speed limits in GTA actually having weight or impact people who don't follow them).

Anyways, I don't mind abstract representations of life or mana, because games allow for this abstraction in a unique and brilliant way (when mechanics can explain a setting/theme/story without dialogue, text or cutscenes -- which doesn't happen often).

Instead of a seperate UI for sorting items, you should physically see the items and decide which is going to fit in your backpack etcetera before leaving a hub (see a mix of item management in Resident Evil with encumberance & Elder Scrolls item touching).

Lastly, this...http://stevenpoole.net/trigger-happy/working-for-the-man/ sums up some of my thoughts on how players experience their games (working as opposed to playing as it were).

Yeah I know this post isn't totally relevent but whatever.

I love how when initially developing the first Mass Effect they had a trilogy in mind. Success + EA = more sequels/prequels/spin-offs/onine multiplayer. I'm out after ME3.

This thread is hilarious. People criticising the OP for discussing tropes of the genre. Guess what, they're tropes for a reason. Exceptions don't supply an effective counter-argument (they do provide easy ammunition for itchy trigger fingers however). I like how XIII-2 has caused this chasm in the community over the last week.

Also...I Iike good JRPG's and hate FFXIII...come at me.

@BionicRadd: As a man who found the comics (I remember reading around 10) to be grossly unimpressive, I can't really argue your first couple of points. Although, considering the way the first game ended coupled with him being a mob hitman in the first game (not comic) as well as having a well defined leadership or mob-boss quality to his personality I'd rather he wasn't a don in the second game.

But alas, I have issues with arbitrary purple coloured doors, prompts for opening them, glowing balls inside people incase you forget to stab them with the Darkness and the overall aesthetic (which is prohibitive to my personal enjoyment of what the first game accomplished). I appreciate Kirk Acevedo and thought he did a splendid job of VO, which isn't replicated in what I've heard from the new Jackie.

The ghost NYC thing, I disagree with. I won't be renting it, there are far more interesting games out there for me to play in 2012. Putting it in the real world or some facsimile of simulacra would be preferable for me -- heightening the gravitas of the actual story/plot & setting. Also, as mentioned in the OP I made, I was fully aware of it being a demo & have made a mental allowance for that (although it doesn't sound that way!).

The Jenny thing just seemed tacked on in the demo but I'm sure it will be more prominent/well-defined in the game itself. If I could take anything back it may be that line (but the whole don/Jenny/darkness/burns victim enemy thing doesn't jive with me).

Considering I love most things that try to be different (in a creative and non-derivative manner), I'd disagree with that point you made.

Anyways at the end of the day, I won't be playing it, you will and we can both enjoy the way of that. I hope you have an engaging experience!

Note* - my friends wouldn't even praise the gunplay, just shitting on everything, so I'm playing with a tough crowd in real-life! Also, it's always easier to be critical and while I probably could try and voice some form of improvements I would make to the game, there's no real need imo.