I agree!!!! I am currently waiting for the timer to run out on the subterranean level (I have 104 kills ON INSANITY already), while in the volcanic level it seems almost impossible to get past 20 kills. Major point loss to bioware for this. How could they release such an unbalanced game!?!?!?!?!?!?!!!!!
Well hey. I've never watched them. to be honest, I didn't even know that such a thing existed before I looked at this sight. They look like they could be fun! And about the animation . . . well it was the end of the eighties . . so I'll excuse it. But if they did make anyhting out of the Legend of Zelda beside games, I think I'd want it to be a movie.
Great to see another Mass Effect fan that also had trouble getting into Kotor. I really think Bioware has done a great job evolving the Western RPG on the consoles from slow and awkward to exciting and pretty fast paced during the action.
I honestly had no trouble getting into the first hour of Mass Effect, I think I actually gave it a 9/10 when scoring the first hour (don't score them anymore). Maybe I was a little pumped up on adrenaline or something but I loved it. I've been wrong about first hours before, but for me and Mass Effect... love at first sight.
This is on my list to pickup soon. You mention diablo and the like and isometric perspective. When speaking of games like this on a console, I'm reminded of the Baldurs Gate: Dark Alliance series as well as the Champions series on PS2. These were 3rd person isometric games and I remember having similar issues with pulling the camera back "far enough". You could zoom in so close that you could see only your character but you could only zoom out far enough to see the room you were in. So, when people say it's supposed to be this way, I think they're right, but from a third person action gamer perspective, this is a bit challenging.
So, if you liked this game, and don't mind playing older last gen titles, I HIGHLY recommend you pick up the first Baldurs Gate: Dark Alliance. I believe it's available on PS2/cube/xbox. It was a blast and sounds very similar, although very linear and the upgrade systems (levels/gear) sound much simpler. But, both of which worked very well.
I played this game for about 2 hours, maybe 2 years ago. I'm a huge Star Wars fan and was really looking forward to this game. My reaction to it at the time was not as good. I really struggled with the dialog heavy layout and the cludgy combat controls. I went into it expecting more action and less RPG and I recall being somewhat confused by the whole "hacking" (is that what they called it?) thing where you could, as I recall, scavenge parts off dead robots to be used later?
I've always meant to go back to it with a better mindset. I'm sure it's a fantastic game. I just went into it wrong and that hurt the experience for me.
Also, because I later went on to play and beat Mass Effect, I wanted to give it a second look in light of that experience. Mass Effect is a game for me that really defied my expectations. The first few hours were painfully slow (with HUGE amounts of dialog) but as I got further into the game, I realized that with such a deep universe and surrounding storyline, the game absolutely required a lot of exposition. What started out as a game I really disliked, eventually became a game I fell in love with. I would say 9 times out of ten, the first hour of a game is all you need to know if it is something you'll like. In the case of Mass Effect though, for me, the game really needed more time to get going; time to breathe. After reading your review, I'm wondering if KOTOR might end up being the same type of game for me.
Hello. I stumbled onto your website from a link you provided on Kotaku. Just wanted to say that I really like the concept of this website (the whole 'first hour impressions'). It's a very interesting way to review these games.
I never play this game before but i found it interesting, is not a typical game, and that is what catch my attention, i don't like to play the games that all other does, i want a special game, and this sound like this. i will try it soon as i can.
I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
It seems it got you into the action quickly enough and provided enough intrigue in the first hour to keep going, at least for me. I love cel-shaded graphics as well, too bad the trend is pretty much over. It rocked in Wind Waker and Tales of Symphonia, and seems to have been used to good effect here as well.
In reference to the box bragging of over 100 hours of gameplay: when I was in high school, I used to like long games like that. Now I prefer games that I can play through and finish; the long games never seem to get finished.
Also, it's likely the game doesn't take nearly that long to beat; that time probably includes all the sidequests and such. I'm in the middle of Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean (tri-Ace RPG on the GameCube) which I believe was once boasted to have 200 hours of gameplay. A friend of mine who has beat it said the main game was about 40 hours, but there was one sidequest that basically required you to play the game for over one hundred hours to complete. That seems a little cheap, but I was relieved to hear I wouldn't have to spend 200 hours just to finish the story.
Well, it was smart of you to only put Sims on one computer so there will always be someone to "take care of the kid."
I have to agree with you about the speed thing. I still go on super speed when all of my sims are sleeping and it drives me nuts how slow it is. I imagine it's much worse when you are only one sim and at work for a whole day.
I forgot to ask you about it after I started playing, but I knew you'd love the never nude part. Too funny.
There is a windmill in the game, if i'm not mistaking, you should have passed that part what you see on the windmill art image to go further. Plus that the image looks exactly how the spot looks like ingame.
does any body think that link and zelda should not be into each other? in all the games they never were. to me it doesnt seem right to show emotions that never were there. if they r going to make a series of the legend of zelda then they should use some 3-d animation not cheep stuff like that and use realy excelent graphics. link and zelda never lived in the castle together! if someone is gonna make something like this fallow it straight from the book and really no ur stuff!
Did you take the time to watch the intro movie? The WHOLE intro movie? The one that starts "War. War never changes ..." ?
Because that movie basically explains the plot. It explains that there was a nuclear war which nearly wiped out humanity, what caused the war, that some people took shelter in "great underground vaults" and that an entire generation has lived there "without knowledge of the outside world ... until now."
Seriously, this review sucks. The first 5 minutes of play should have been having the patience to watch the game's introduction. Then you wouldn't be bumbling around without a sense of the story's context.
And yes, you do find out more about the world as you play. Exploring old ruins often yields old journals, newspaper articles, and so forth from the "pre-war" era that add a little flavor and history to the setting. Fallout actually has an incredibly detailed timeline, when you consider all of the various games which have taken place in the setting and the lore that was generated. If you want to learn about the setting and plot in a condensed format without exploring all of the games (or bothering to watch the introduction movie) then investigate this wiki article.
Big Rigs is probably the best present one man could ever give to another. Ridge Racer was but a fad, Big Rigs is eternal.
And I actually sold my first copy of CT. It took a while and a lot of money to get another one, and that was the point that I decided that selling games was a bad idea (used to sell back most everything before that event).
"I think maybe you should write reviews about games you actually like.
[...]
If you don't have anything good to say about a game. DON'T REVIEW IT AT ALL."
For real? Doesn't having a restriction like that kind of defeat the point of reviewing anything? If someone dislikes something, knowing that (and more importantly why they don't) is just as important as what they do like about it. The entire purpose of most reviews is to let you know people's opinions, whether they're positive or negative, so you can decide whether or not it interests you, not to just sit around and talk about how awesome things you like are while ignoring the rest. The more you know about something, the better a decision you can make about whether it'll be worth your time. Even if he has the exact opposite opinion on games from how you feel about them, that's useful, because you can go look for the ones he liked and avoid them and go play the ones he hated instead.
Nethack has two nice commands; ';' can be pressed to allow you to move your cursor to any square, and it'll tell you what that symbol means. '/' does the same thing, but will provide a more in-depth description (if you don't know what the heck a "leocrotta" is, it'll tell you).
Of course, sometimes the most useful is '?', the help screen.
Actually, I have to agree with you for the most part.
The first part of this game is odd, and the dialog is quite boring. But trust me, as you get further into the game and realize what it's all about, it's actually really amazing.
The storyline is actually different from what you would expect, with plenty of twists and turns.
And it also turns out that the main character isn't as much of a jerk as you think he is. :]
I love this game because it's an interactive novel. Therefore, it's not supposed to have a large amount of game play. This game deserves a fair, unbiased review.
I agree!!!! I am currently waiting for the timer to run out on the subterranean level (I have 104 kills ON INSANITY already), while in the volcanic level it seems almost impossible to get past 20 kills. Major point loss to bioware for this. How could they release such an unbalanced game!?!?!?!?!?!?!!!!!
Not sure who you are Mr. Anonymous... but I'm guessing Steve or Aaron? Must be Aaron, because I believe Steve sold his copy. Pathetic!
Did you play my copy of Suikoden 2? I still have it... it really is one of the best RPGs ever.
Well hey. I've never watched them. to be honest, I didn't even know that such a thing existed before I looked at this sight. They look like they could be fun! And about the animation . . . well it was the end of the eighties . . so I'll excuse it. But if they did make anyhting out of the Legend of Zelda beside games, I think I'd want it to be a movie.
Great to see another Mass Effect fan that also had trouble getting into Kotor. I really think Bioware has done a great job evolving the Western RPG on the consoles from slow and awkward to exciting and pretty fast paced during the action.
I honestly had no trouble getting into the first hour of Mass Effect, I think I actually gave it a 9/10 when scoring the first hour (don't score them anymore). Maybe I was a little pumped up on adrenaline or something but I loved it. I've been wrong about first hours before, but for me and Mass Effect... love at first sight.
This is on my list to pickup soon. You mention diablo and the like and isometric perspective. When speaking of games like this on a console, I'm reminded of the Baldurs Gate: Dark Alliance series as well as the Champions series on PS2. These were 3rd person isometric games and I remember having similar issues with pulling the camera back "far enough". You could zoom in so close that you could see only your character but you could only zoom out far enough to see the room you were in. So, when people say it's supposed to be this way, I think they're right, but from a third person action gamer perspective, this is a bit challenging.
So, if you liked this game, and don't mind playing older last gen titles, I HIGHLY recommend you pick up the first Baldurs Gate: Dark Alliance. I believe it's available on PS2/cube/xbox. It was a blast and sounds very similar, although very linear and the upgrade systems (levels/gear) sound much simpler. But, both of which worked very well.
I played this game for about 2 hours, maybe 2 years ago. I'm a huge Star Wars fan and was really looking forward to this game. My reaction to it at the time was not as good. I really struggled with the dialog heavy layout and the cludgy combat controls. I went into it expecting more action and less RPG and I recall being somewhat confused by the whole "hacking" (is that what they called it?) thing where you could, as I recall, scavenge parts off dead robots to be used later?
I've always meant to go back to it with a better mindset. I'm sure it's a fantastic game. I just went into it wrong and that hurt the experience for me.
Also, because I later went on to play and beat Mass Effect, I wanted to give it a second look in light of that experience. Mass Effect is a game for me that really defied my expectations. The first few hours were painfully slow (with HUGE amounts of dialog) but as I got further into the game, I realized that with such a deep universe and surrounding storyline, the game absolutely required a lot of exposition. What started out as a game I really disliked, eventually became a game I fell in love with. I would say 9 times out of ten, the first hour of a game is all you need to know if it is something you'll like. In the case of Mass Effect though, for me, the game really needed more time to get going; time to breathe. After reading your review, I'm wondering if KOTOR might end up being the same type of game for me.
Hello. I stumbled onto your website from a link you provided on Kotaku. Just wanted to say that I really like the concept of this website (the whole 'first hour impressions'). It's a very interesting way to review these games.
Well the sims are games i can play a whole day. Lucky my girlfriend is putting me away from the sims ;)
I never play this game before but i found it interesting, is not a typical game, and that is what catch my attention, i don't like to play the games that all other does, i want a special game, and this sound like this. i will try it soon as i can.
thank for the review.
I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Susan
It seems it got you into the action quickly enough and provided enough intrigue in the first hour to keep going, at least for me. I love cel-shaded graphics as well, too bad the trend is pretty much over. It rocked in Wind Waker and Tales of Symphonia, and seems to have been used to good effect here as well.
In reference to the box bragging of over 100 hours of gameplay: when I was in high school, I used to like long games like that. Now I prefer games that I can play through and finish; the long games never seem to get finished.
Also, it's likely the game doesn't take nearly that long to beat; that time probably includes all the sidequests and such. I'm in the middle of Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean (tri-Ace RPG on the GameCube) which I believe was once boasted to have 200 hours of gameplay. A friend of mine who has beat it said the main game was about 40 hours, but there was one sidequest that basically required you to play the game for over one hundred hours to complete. That seems a little cheap, but I was relieved to hear I wouldn't have to spend 200 hours just to finish the story.
Reminds me of Tales of Symphonia.
The odd thing is that the game is factually inaccurate as well. Only female mosquitoes suck blood.
Often had my eye on this one, but never picked it up. Looks quirky in a Roommania #203 way.
Well, it was smart of you to only put Sims on one computer so there will always be someone to "take care of the kid."
I have to agree with you about the speed thing. I still go on super speed when all of my sims are sleeping and it drives me nuts how slow it is. I imagine it's much worse when you are only one sim and at work for a whole day.
I forgot to ask you about it after I started playing, but I knew you'd love the never nude part. Too funny.
There is a windmill in the game, if i'm not mistaking, you should have passed that part what you see on the windmill art image to go further. Plus that the image looks exactly how the spot looks like ingame.
This game was extremely creative for the time and generally fun.
does any body think that link and zelda should not be into each other? in all the games they never were. to me it doesnt seem right to show emotions that never were there. if they r going to make a series of the legend of zelda then they should use some 3-d animation not cheep stuff like that and use realy excelent graphics. link and zelda never lived in the castle together! if someone is gonna make something like this fallow it straight from the book and really no ur stuff!
Did you take the time to watch the intro movie? The WHOLE intro movie? The one that starts "War. War never changes ..." ?
Because that movie basically explains the plot. It explains that there was a nuclear war which nearly wiped out humanity, what caused the war, that some people took shelter in "great underground vaults" and that an entire generation has lived there "without knowledge of the outside world ... until now."
Seriously, this review sucks. The first 5 minutes of play should have been having the patience to watch the game's introduction. Then you wouldn't be bumbling around without a sense of the story's context.
And yes, you do find out more about the world as you play. Exploring old ruins often yields old journals, newspaper articles, and so forth from the "pre-war" era that add a little flavor and history to the setting. Fallout actually has an incredibly detailed timeline, when you consider all of the various games which have taken place in the setting and the lore that was generated. If you want to learn about the setting and plot in a condensed format without exploring all of the games (or bothering to watch the introduction movie) then investigate this wiki article.
Big Rigs is probably the best present one man could ever give to another. Ridge Racer was but a fad, Big Rigs is eternal.
And I actually sold my first copy of CT. It took a while and a lot of money to get another one, and that was the point that I decided that selling games was a bad idea (used to sell back most everything before that event).
GIGAWING!
"I think maybe you should write reviews about games you actually like.
[...]
If you don't have anything good to say about a game. DON'T REVIEW IT AT ALL."
For real? Doesn't having a restriction like that kind of defeat the point of reviewing anything? If someone dislikes something, knowing that (and more importantly why they don't) is just as important as what they do like about it. The entire purpose of most reviews is to let you know people's opinions, whether they're positive or negative, so you can decide whether or not it interests you, not to just sit around and talk about how awesome things you like are while ignoring the rest. The more you know about something, the better a decision you can make about whether it'll be worth your time. Even if he has the exact opposite opinion on games from how you feel about them, that's useful, because you can go look for the ones he liked and avoid them and go play the ones he hated instead.
Nethack has two nice commands; ';' can be pressed to allow you to move your cursor to any square, and it'll tell you what that symbol means. '/' does the same thing, but will provide a more in-depth description (if you don't know what the heck a "leocrotta" is, it'll tell you).
Of course, sometimes the most useful is '?', the help screen.
Actually, I have to agree with you for the most part.
The first part of this game is odd, and the dialog is quite boring. But trust me, as you get further into the game and realize what it's all about, it's actually really amazing.
The storyline is actually different from what you would expect, with plenty of twists and turns.
And it also turns out that the main character isn't as much of a jerk as you think he is. :]
I love this game because it's an interactive novel. Therefore, it's not supposed to have a large amount of game play. This game deserves a fair, unbiased review.