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Xythar posted:I have yet to see anyone make a convincing argument as to why SO4 is a bad game, every complaint I hear about it is just anime anime anime blah blah blah. You yourself said that story comes secondary to gameplay, and SO4 even provides you with convenient summaries when you skip all the cutscenes. Star Ocean 4's gameplay, like most Tri-Ace titles, gets ridiculously broken at higher levels to the point where combat involves spamming a few boring abilities over and over again. Unlike the better-made Tri-Ace games, however, I think the mechanics actually devolve as you get further into the game and start getting more broken abilities. Tri-Ace is about making broken games, yeah, but how they break really alters things. Der Shovel posted:I realize I'm at the beginning of the game still, but so far I'd agree with you. This is a game caveats were designed for. But still, there's something charming about it... Nah, don't misunderstand me. Nier is a bizarrely charming game. I did all four endings for my review, but also because I was honestly curious about 'em. It has a sense of humor about itself which a lot of games are really missing these days.
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May 3, 2010 23:42
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ImpAtom posted:Star Ocean 4's gameplay, like most Tri-Ace titles, gets ridiculously broken at higher levels to the point where combat involves spamming a few boring abilities over and over again. Unlike the better-made Tri-Ace games, however, I think the mechanics actually devolve as you get further into the game and start getting more broken abilities. Tri-Ace is about making broken games, yeah, but how they break really alters things. Not until the postgame, really, and by that point figuring out the best way to break the game is half the fun. And as you said, that's nothing new really for Star Ocean g-PEAR INTO PEACHES Der Shovel posted:I realize I'm at the beginning of the game still, but so far I'd agree with you. This is a game caveats were designed for. No, it's a game designed by caveats. Wait, I don't think that's the right spelling...
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May 3, 2010 23:48
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Is there more to the quest with the lighthouse lady? I did the initial introduction quest in the first half of the game, but when I came back to Seaside in part 2 some people were saying she left and other people were saying she was dead. Plus the Mermaid Tear quest had a resolution option to "bury it next to her grave." Did I miss some stuff? You guys were going on a lot about how awesome that particular line was...
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May 3, 2010 23:53
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I think you missed the second part of the lighthouse quest. There's kind of a point of no return with the quests in the first half of the game, where if you don't finish before a certain event in the story, those quests are closed off to you for not just your current game, but all subsequent new game+'s as well.
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May 4, 2010 00:03
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InnercityGriot posted:I think you missed the second part of the lighthouse quest. Can someone spoiler something I can look out for to avoid this?
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May 4, 2010 00:07
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Rei_ posted:Can someone spoiler something I can look out for to avoid this? After you Get all the Sealed Verses.
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May 4, 2010 00:11
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The point of no return is beautifully telegraphed though through an invoking of the lamest of all RPG cliches. In any case, the easiest way to get across the no running room is to realize that A. You can attack and B. The bullet hell boxes are destroyable and don't come back while you stand on the spot they're supposed to spawn on. Pretty sure that's an intended solution, because near the end of the line on the left one of the boxes is one 'box' forward for no apparent reason other than it helps you time the last little bit
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May 4, 2010 00:12
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Can I gently caress myself out of anything major with the point of no return, or just seeing closure in sidequests and stuff? Basically can I miss out on an ending
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May 4, 2010 00:14
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God drat, I keep forgetting to read those Project Gestalt documents that you receive at the end of the game. I've beaten the game twice now and both times have I forgotten to open the menu and look at them when I get them. At least the post-credit sequence for Ending B with Emil's head kinda wandering around the desert was pretty cute.
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May 4, 2010 00:15
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THE AWESOME GHOST posted:Can I gently caress myself out of anything major with the point of no return, or just seeing closure in sidequests and stuff? I think just sidequests and trophies? I can't think of any weapons you can miss, but I may be misremembering.
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May 4, 2010 00:17
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Policenaut posted:God drat, I keep forgetting to read those Project Gestalt documents that you receive at the end of the game. I've beaten the game twice now and both times have I forgotten to open the menu and look at them when I get them. At least the post-credit sequence for Ending B with Emil's head kinda wandering around the desert was pretty cute. They don't say a whole lot Popola and Devola are robots, #21 and #22, assigned to watch over the world until a contagion dies off. There are apparently a bunch of observers that have regular meetings. They decide to release Nier for some reason. Weiss and Noir are part of a program to rebuild humanity. There are mentions of relapses and things gaining sentience - though I'm not clear on what exactly a Gestalt is and what a Replicant is. I assume they mean that everyone you meet (who is actually a shell) isn't supposed to be sentient, but I'm not sure. Nier is also mentioned as the original Gestalt.
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May 4, 2010 01:05
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In addition to that information dump, sometimes Yonah's diary entries are replaced in loading screens by something else entirely. The entries talk about, among other things, humanity feebly trying to stave off some kind of threat that isn't even fazed by nuclear weaponry, with some of the entries dated more than thirty years before the prologue. Having some kind of virulent superplague take more than three decades to do its work seems a little off, perhaps there's another threat that humanity had to combat and was therefore desperately researching things like Number 6. On another note, in Part 2 of the game an old man in the library tells you that humanity's problems started when an unspeakable horror fell from the sky, resulting in the world becoming a "metropolis of salt" and many of the world's cities being submerged in the ocean.
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May 4, 2010 01:19
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Joystiq's Nier reviewer gave up.
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May 4, 2010 01:26
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I did that too but at least I continued with the game when I realised I was wrong  Change thread title to NIER: Fish at the lighthouse, not at the pier! edit: bahahaha he spent an hour trying to fish in the wrong spot Oh man that video is hilarious, especially the ending. Xythar fucked around with this message at 01:45 on May 4, 2010 |
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May 4, 2010 01:35
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UselessLurker posted:On another note, in Part 2 of the game an old man in the library tells you that humanity's problems started when an unspeakable horror fell from the sky, resulting in the world becoming a "metropolis of salt" and many of the world's cities being submerged in the ocean. Hahahaha, oh my god. God bless you Caim and Red. I'll make sure to murder some folks with the Iron Will in your names.
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May 4, 2010 01:38
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Nier: Prepare to be Defeated by Fishing Yeah, they put the cocktease in something you had to go through and put the clear and blatant reference to what Caim+Red accomplished in the one place you probably would never think to look. Kinda puts another spin on the whole 'snow in summer' thing going on at the start of the game, though, since, well, that's probably not snow. Also minor food for thought: If you talk to some of the random characters in part 2 you get a very clear impression that night just doesn't happen anymore. Furthermore, go out into a field and look up. See the sun? Because I sure don't. UselessLurker fucked around with this message at 01:45 on May 4, 2010 |
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May 4, 2010 01:42
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Sir John Feelgood posted:Joystiq's Nier reviewer gave up. It's quite surreal seeing something this small and simple breaking the brains of so many people.
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May 4, 2010 01:45
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Dominic White posted:It's quite surreal seeing something this small and simple breaking the brains of so many people. It's something they probably should've caught during playtesting, I think.
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May 4, 2010 01:46
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I just honestly don't get how people don't notice the red map X pointing elsewhere. Maybe I'm weird. UselessLurker posted:Nier: Prepare to be Defeated by Fishing Characters even in part 1 flat out say that "the sun never sets.
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May 4, 2010 01:48
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Just picked up the game yesterday thanks to this thread and played for a few hours. You guys weren't kidding about sheep and pigs, these things are vicious. I also got my rear end handed to me by a boar, awesome. Also Kaine,  
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May 4, 2010 01:59
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The boar quest is the best quest in the entire game for one reason and one reason alone. So you kill it and get its tusk, right? And then oh hey, you can loot it for sweet boar parts. I got its liver when I did it. I turn the quest in, walk outside, and there's a boar minus a tusk sitting outside the town. After I beat the living poo poo out of it and took its liver it's just sitting out there like it ain't no thang and is completely ready to charge into destiny. That boar is the most metal boar ever. 
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May 4, 2010 02:06
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Goddamn it guys. Why do you keeping finding out out games I would otherwise never know about and make me want them so much. From the videos I've seen there seems to be a lot of references to older games/genres. Does this keep on happening (thereby making the game consistently interesting) or are the videos edited to make it seem like it is?
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May 4, 2010 02:12
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Will there be a demo of this any time soon? The storyline, soundtrack and art direction are really interesting to me, but the comments about the iffy gameplay kind of worry me. Is it Drakengard bad, or just mediocre? I can put up with so-so gameplay as long as there's some sort of variety to it, and I've heard NIER mixes things up every once in a while. The Giantbomb quick look made me really doubtful of that though; It was just the same thing over and over. Did they pick a bad section of the game to show, or is the entire game really that monotonous? I really hope not, because the artstyle, storyline, and music seem so fresh and creative. I really want this Cavia game to be one I can actually enjoy.
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May 4, 2010 02:18
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It is absolutely not Drakengard bad. Personally I think the gameplay is pretty varied, fighting regular mooks is a bit button-mashy (no worse than Darksiders though) but you do a lot more than that. I couldn't stand Drakengard and I think this game is great.
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May 4, 2010 02:21
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Sir John Feelgood posted:Joystiq's Nier reviewer gave up. I don't understand how someone could not have understood that fishing minigame. It wasn't that hard.
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May 4, 2010 02:23
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Lopside posted:Will there be a demo of this any time soon? The storyline, soundtrack and art direction are really interesting to me, but the comments about the iffy gameplay kind of worry me. Is it Drakengard bad, or just mediocre? I can put up with so-so gameplay as long as there's some sort of variety to it, and I've heard NIER mixes things up every once in a while. The Giantbomb quick look made me really doubtful of that though; It was just the same thing over and over. Did they pick a bad section of the game to show, or is the entire game really that monotonous? I really hope not, because the artstyle, storyline, and music seem so fresh and creative. I really want this Cavia game to be one I can actually enjoy. The Giant Bomb people basically picked the worst possible section of the game to show off and took way too long going about showing it off. e: scratch that, they could have decided to fail at fishing for half an hour, which would have been worse. e2: VVV They went from immediately after the prologue to starting the boss fight of the first dungeon and took a bit more than half an hour about it. UselessLurker fucked around with this message at 02:33 on May 4, 2010 |
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May 4, 2010 02:28
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Which section was in the Giant Bomb quick look?
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May 4, 2010 02:31
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Imazul posted:I don't understand how someone could not have understood that fishing minigame. It wasn't that hard. He understood it perfectly, he caught a high-level fish with the terrible starting bait. He just didn't realize you had to fish at the red X because it never mentions you need to.
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May 4, 2010 02:34
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Phoix posted:He understood it perfectly, he caught a high-level fish with the terrible starting bait. He just didn't realize you had to fish at the red X because it never mentions you need to. Well, the red X was a pretty good indication for me.
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May 4, 2010 02:38
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Xythar posted:It is absolutely not Drakengard bad. Personally I think the gameplay is pretty varied, fighting regular mooks is a bit button-mashy (no worse than Darksiders though) but you do a lot more than that. Well that's a huge relief. I hated Darksiders, but that was more because of the awful writing and art design than the gameplay. Button-mashy combat doesn't bother me in the least, as long as it's not frustratingly unresponsive or boring to look at. Hell, I even think Dynasty Warriors combat is kind of fun sometimes. As long as there aren't any terrible control issues with the fighting, I think I'll be fine. Definitely gonna pick this up now. Also, can we talk some more about the music for a bit? I bought the soundtrack on Itunes the other day and I'm seriously loving it. It's such an atmospheric and ethereal bunch of songs. I'm definitely getting some Bjork vibes from a few of the tracks, especially in Kaine's theme. The Emil/Karma theme is also incredibly cool, I don't think I've ever heard a battle theme quite like it. Does anybody know if the composer has done anything else? Xythar posted:Which section was in the Giant Bomb quick look? Nier's daughter went into some dilapidated building with a huge tree inside of it in order to find some flower, and the entire quick look was basically just him fighting the same monster over and over in identical rooms filled with crates from a top-down perspective. The video kind of picked up when he got Grimmoire Weiss and engaged some golden statue boss things, but the quick look ended before you actually got to see any of the fight. Lopside fucked around with this message at 02:49 on May 4, 2010 |
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May 4, 2010 02:43
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Lopside posted:Does anybody know if the composer has done anything else? Tekken games. That's it. Yeah, you read that right.
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May 4, 2010 02:46
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What's the length on this game look like? How long would it take to get the first ending or two, roughly?
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May 4, 2010 02:50
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Cyrai posted:What's the length on this game look like? How long would it take to get the first ending or two, roughly? I just got ending A after 33 hours which included quite a bit of puttering around. And there's an achievement for speedrunning the game in under 15, so, not so long.
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May 4, 2010 02:53
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UselessLurker posted:Tekken games. That's it. Yeah, you read that right.  That's a loving travesty. Hopefully the composer will get some well-deserved recognition for this sountrack and not have to squander their talents on Tekken games anymore. I can totally see them making music for Team Ico games or something.
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May 4, 2010 02:56
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The cool thing about the music is that it mixes very well with what you're doing. It's not simply STOP START STOP START that you get in a lot of other RPGs, but rather flows from one track to another and does so quite well. Also cool: the town theme at the start actually has a vocal track, that you can only hear when you walk near Denora. Again, mixes beautifully.
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May 4, 2010 02:58
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About Devola's singing - that's cool but not actually the whole story. Often Devola will be in the town's bar singing - so as you get further away from the bar you hear the singing portion of the track less clearly. If you enter the bar though, the song's acoustics change noticeably to reflect the enclosed surroundings. There's a also a special version of the track used only once in the game as a reward for completing a bit of an odd sidequest. Also a lot of the themes that start off quietly and then get more 'exciting' are that way because the calmer form plays while you're just exploring and mucking about. When you encounter enemies, though, the 'other' part of the song seamlessly blends in with what was playing before. It's pretty obvious that the soundtrack and its use in the game was a labor of love. And yeah, that this guy hasn't gotten more work is a goddamned shame. UselessLurker fucked around with this message at 03:06 on May 4, 2010 |
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May 4, 2010 03:02
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Adaptive soundtracks are so awesome. I loved the way Uncharted 2's music adjusted to what was happening in the game, adding or removing layers of sound depending on the situation. I'm sure NIER's sound design builds some awesome atmosphere if it does the same thing. fffffuck I am now really excited to play this game Lopside fucked around with this message at 03:32 on May 4, 2010 |
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May 4, 2010 03:15
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Yeah the one and only nitpick I'd make with the music is that some of the dungeon themes seem to be on a bit of a short loop, to the point where you get a little sick of hearing them by the time you reach the end of the dungeon. The other stuff is all great though.
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May 4, 2010 03:20
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Xythar posted:Yeah the one and only nitpick I'd make with the music is that some of the dungeon themes seem to be on a bit of a short loop, to the point where you get a little sick of hearing them by the time you reach the end of the dungeon. The other stuff is all great though. Looking at you Junk Heap.
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May 4, 2010 03:24
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I loved the Junk Heap theme, maybe my favorite tune in the whole game, but grinding for machine parts will really burn you out on the song. I also really loved the song in the Barren temple where http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rE5eXOL8LfE happens. Updated the final fish for the fishing quest, too.
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May 4, 2010 03:33
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