[Once A Villain]

First of all, I'm busy with life itself and I'm also designing a game right now. Those two things are enough, I have no free time as it is (at least not any I can use for "fun", like playing videogames, that I wouldn't feel guilty about). But damn it, the next three weeks are a gamer's nightmare. I simply must buy all of these. I don't see any way around it. That means I'll have to play them, and...oh please I can't even consider it, but...maybe even complete some of them as well. Ugh... Damn it.

Here we go:


The Legend of Zelda: The Twilight Princess (11/19) - An absolute must. The Wii looks like the most promising of the three new competing systems, and having this game at launch is just huge. Nintendo claims this is the biggest Zelda world they've ever created, and they say the game bests their previous masterpiece in the franchise, Ocarina of Time. Add to that the 16 : 9 aspect ratio ability of the Wii version, and the incredible control methods with the Wii-mote and nunchuck...I can't wait. Wii

Final Fantasy XII (10/31) - I thought I had outgrown these games. 7-9 were all disappointing in their own ways, and though I enjoyed 10, it had problems as well. I think I've grown weary of the storytelling style of Square/Enix. However, I loved FF11 because story wasn't what made it such a blast to play. Then, the other day, I read a review of FF12 that specifically said it made all of the previous efforts look simplistic in terms of storyline and characterization. Hmmm... So now I'm thinking, more MMORPG type gameplay (which I prefer), a 40/40 from Famitsu (6th or 7th game to ever get a perfect score), and a story that is finally good again? Must...play... PS2

Medieval II: Total War (11/14) - Anyone who has played Shogun: Total War, the first Medieval: Total War, or Rome: Total War and isn't excited about this game has some issues. One of the best strategy series ever made, with brilliant graphics (check out the demo!) and very historically accurate units, battle formations, etc. It's like commanding troops in another time, brought to life in the modern day. PC

Neverwinter Nights 2 (10/31) - The screenshots look wonderful, the castle stuff (building up your own, defending it, etc.) sounds extremely cool, plus they claim the story will be more in depth than most D&D games. Also, as I've seen mentioned on these very boards, many are saying it's the best game of its type since Baldur's Gate 2. I'm excited. PC

Agatha Christie: Murder on the Orient Express (11/14) - Not much need to sum up why I want this game here. It's an adventure game based on a Christie novel and the word is that it's significantly better than And Then There Were None. Count me in. PC

Gears of War (11/07) - This game represents the first time, as far as I know, that I'll be playing an Unreal Engine 3 game. That alone excites me. I've seen videos of this engine as far back as two years ago, and it always looked incredible. This game could turn into a big, dumb action game, but I doubt it. They say it involves a great deal of strategy, and I can tell from the pictures and movie clips that the art direction is quite good. I've been wanting to try this damn game for over a year now, and it's finally coming out... XBOX 360

Red Steel (11/19) - Another cool looking Wii launch title. I'm a sucker for games set in Japan...even modern Japan, so there ya go. Plus, I'm anxious to try a FPS with the Wii-mote and nunchuck. This one has a lot of gun stuff, but also there is a focus on sword fighting. Wii

[CrimsonBlue]

The Legend of Zelda: The Twilight Princess (11/19) - An absolute must. If I get a Wii on release.

Final Fantasy XII (10/31) - An absolute must. My first pre-order since, well, Final Fantasy X-2.

Neverwinter Nights 2 (10/31) - I want it, but not before the others. Although I was completely in love with the first, love Planescape: Torment and also liked KOTOR 2, even with it's shortcomings. Obsidian have the talent and the potential to create another killer here. I hope it keeps the same great atmosphere of the first, though.

Gears of War (11/07) - to me, this looks like a generic shoot'em up. Especially from the gameplay movie I just saw yesterday (not the one with the "sad" music playing). Looks like a game that should've been on the PS2 or Xbox, if it hadn't so great graphics. Also, all the vids I've seen so far has very little variation in terrain/setting, so I expect this to be quite shallow. This brings me to a more interesting shooter, called...

Rainbow Six - Vegas - I've never played a first person shooter that I REALLY liked (that includes Half-Life, Doom and Quake), so this demo surprised me. I love how it plays like a fast-paced, first person Splinter Cell, with team mates. This will probably be the first FPS I buy because I want to play it, not because I want to test a new graphics card.

Wii - funny, the most wanted game on the Wii is the compilation that comes with it. Wii sports. Although I don't count the new Zelda as a Wii game, even though it comes out on that first. So I'll probably want that one too.

Pro Evolution Soccer 6 X360 - Less features than the PS2 version (like not being able to save replays, lack of half/end game statistics, extremely shallow EDIT mode and no International Challenge mode. But these are features I rarely used or can live withouth, and the fact that I get to play PES in Widescreen and HD makes up for it. So, it's a must. It's out tomorrow, so not long to go.

Sam and Max Episode 1 - Culture Shock - first adventuregame I've really craved in a long time. A VERY long time. I prefer humour in adventure games, so I really look forward to it. Available on Gametap, but Gametap isn't available for Norwegians, so waiting for the Telltale release.

[SoccerDude28]

Some games I am most excited about in the next couple of weeks:

Gears of War: Still on the fence about this one, but the single player experience sounds like it could be a great game. Let's hope it turns out to be as good as the game it was inspired by (Resident Evil 4). Plus I'll need to fork out 400 bucks for a 360 to play this one.

Sam and Max: Culture Shock: I have been staying away from reviews, previews and discussions about this game, as to not spoil anything. But how can you not be excited when it is Sam and Max?

Company of Heroes: I heard a lot of praise about this game, but didn't fully appreciate it till I played the demo (which by the way has the most retarded installation process in the world. The whole demo is all bundled in 1 exe file which is 1.85 Gigs huge, and when I tried to run it, All of Windows goes to hell, because I am probably running out of ram to run such a huge process).

God of War 2: If it is anything like the original, I can't wait.

Resistance: Fall of man: I'm excited about this one just because of the pedigree of its developers.

Rayman Raving Rabids: Michael Ancel back in action. Need I say more?

[eriq]

Is anyone else saving Sam & Max until the FULL season is done?

I am playing and buying the following:

Broken Sword 4, Tunguska, Neverwinter 2 (OMGOMGOMGOMG), Gears of War, Dark Messiah, and playing the classic Legend Entertainment games (Death Gate & Shannarra currently.)

[Once A Villain]

You guys have some good taste! Keep in mind, the only reason Sam and Max: Culture Shock and Company of Heroes aren't on my list is because I already own them.

Crimson - I've never been a big Rainbow Six fan, but you made Vegas sound kinda cool. Maybe I'll try the demo some time, if I ever get time with all these other damn games swarming me like mad lovers.

SoccerDude - If you like Company of Heroes (which I think is great but requires a person to give away their real life to get good enough at it to compete online), then you MUST try Medieval II: Total War. Go try the demo. I think you'll love it.

Eriq - I actually sorta forgot about Tunguska. Played the demo and enjoyed it (cat puzzle was rather absurd though). However, the fact that this came out a month earlier in Europe hurt my stance on the game. Had it come out at the same time as it did in Europe I would have snatched it right up. I know I need to eventually play it for myself and form my own opinion, but with so many games coming out that I need to buy and the European version getting mixed reviews... Well, anyway... I'll still get it as soon as I can.

[lostwolfe]

well, not so much for me.

sad as it is, the games coming out right now simply don't do anything for me.

keepsake /sounded/ interesting, but then turned into myst with a third person perspective.

dreamfall was pretty good - though the ending was kind of...upsetting, at first. i've subsequently gotten over it and have started thinking of the game as a piece of a whole.

i was looking forward to the sierra re-releases, then vivendi did what can only be described as a hash job on those [though, to be fair, i think i saw that coming ever since i figured they might re-release them.]

otherwise, the only thing i'm /really/ looking forward to is sam and max - and given that i tend to like my games as "one big dose of game," i'll probably wait until the entire season is put together before parting with my money.

i'm also dimly interested in "neverend." but that's perverse curiosity more than anything. it's the same curiosity that had me holding out hope for "keepsake." the idea of a dragon trapped as a wolf was just something that sounded intriguing.

for the rest, most of it's simply going to pass me by. the type of game i like isn't really made anymore at all. [i tend to like slow-ish turn based rpgs, at a pinch i'll take a fourx [explore, expand, etc...] only /if/ the game allows me one central unit [most don't, anymore.] and i tend to like plot over shininess. most of the first person shooters scream "shiny" and i steer far clear of them.[beyond which, i'm simply not a fan of the genre in any shape or form - much in the way kenw was "surprised" that the first person genre held on so long, i'm constantly amazed by it too. though, i guess, once the genre perpetuated itself with newer gamers coming into the market, it became the kind of thing that would simply not go away...] of course, after they scream "shiny," they next whisper, so no one can hear: "i'm so bland, but you have to play me, because you like blowing up stuff, don't you?"

i don't want to turn this into an "i dislike first person shooters" thread, but...they just do nothing for me, are bland and i would be quite happy if their shelf space was taken over with something more intriguing.

ah well.

[Once A Villain]

Hate FPS games all you want, I don't mind.

But be aware, the only FPS I listed among the 7 games I need to buy is Red Steel. The others are Action/Adventure/Exploration (Zelda), RPGs (FFXII, Neverwinter Nights II), Adventure (Agatha Christie), 3rd Person Action (Gears of War), and Real-Time Strategy (Medieval II: Total War).

[lostwolfe]

once a villain:

ah, pardon me. i didn't mean to make it sound like i was specifically taking umberage at the games /you/ were looking most forward to.

my rant, such as it was, was directed against first person games in general. for the record, though - i had no idea gears of war was anything /but/ a first person shooter. [the name implied that it might be something of the sort.]

i do apologize for that.

[Once A Villain]

Originally Posted by lostwolfe

once a villain:

ah, pardon me. i didn't mean to make it sound like i was specifically taking umberage at the games /you/ were looking most forward to.

my rant, such as it was, was directed against first person games in general. for the record, though - i had no idea gears of war was anything /but/ a first person shooter. [the name implied that it might be something of the sort.]

i do apologize for that.

Eh, no need to apologize. I was just ranting too, in a way. Trying to show off my wide range of tastes...or...something.

[lostwolfe]

once a villain:

well, no harm done then. and yes, you certainly /do/ have quite a large field of computer game interests there. at the risk of derailing the thread, i'm especially fond of:

adventure games - quite naturally.
trading card games that have been converted to computer games.
strategy games that - at their core - can be played with one single unit. [you could do this in "master of magic" with one very strong stack - and i enjoyed it as a result.]
turn based role playing games
and anything along or between those lines.

which is why i was having a mild rant at the "state of gaming" currently. there's nothing especially interesting, gaming wise, in the near future for me to get worked up about.

and so we come back to the main topic of conversation. i'd be /mildly/ interested if someone made a computer game out of the "world of warcraft" trading card game, but i don't see that happening anytime soon unless the card game itself proves it's worth. [which, for the record, it'll probably do quite easily.]

[Once A Villain]

Originally Posted by lostwolfe

adventure games - quite naturally.

What about Murder on the Orient Express? I think it looks like it could be pretty good.

[aries323]

HI

Yes, it does seem like an overflooding of (good) games.

Gothic 3

Neverwinter Nights 2

Orient Express

Secret Files: Tunguska

Broken Sword 4

And some other games from varius indie developers like Shivah, Eulemberg-experiment (or Martin Mystere) as well as Operation Wintersonne etc. etc.

Unfortunately for me money is tight right now ---
but hopefully it clears up --- next spring.

aries323

[Hammerite]

Me:

FFXII - after that 'PERFECT' score thing in that japanese magazine, this one COULD possibly be better than VII (doubt it, but whatever)

BIOSHOCK - just started playing System Shock 2, although it gets stupid around the cargo bays when the robots keep absolutely battering you.

ALAN WAKE - sounds really interesting.

[Once A Villain]

Originally Posted by Hammerite

FFXII - after that 'PERFECT' score thing in that japanese magazine, this one COULD possibly be better than VII (doubt it, but whatever)

Bah... If it's not better than FF7 then it's a complete failure in my opinion. If it's better than 6...now THAT would be something. Heh. Let me guess Hammerite, FF7 was the first FF game you played? A lot of people who played it first put it up on a pedestal. Most people who played the others first weren't too impressed.

[Tobbe]

Originally Posted by Once A Villain

Bah... If it's not better than FF7 then it's a complete failure in my opinion. If it's better than 6...now THAT would be something. Heh. Let me guess Hammerite, FF7 was the first FF game you played? A lot of people who played it first put it up on a pedestal. Most people who played the others first weren't too impressed.

I´ve played (in order) FF7,FF8,FF9. I really liked FF7, disliked FF8, and liked FF9 almost as much as FF7. What FF game do you recommend me to play now? FF6?

[Once A Villain]

Originally Posted by Tobbe

I´ve played (in order) FF7,FF8,FF9. I really liked FF7, disliked FF8, and liked FF9 almost as much as FF7. What FF game do you recommend me to play now? FF6?

6 is my favorite so far (12 will be on my doorstep tomorrow morning at 8 AM). It is still a wonderful game to this day I would imagine, but the last time I played it was probably 5 years ago. The game has the best music of the series by far, and I would argue that it has the most memorable characters as well. The storyline, for its time (I was 14 when I first played it in 1994, mind you), was very exciting despite being, at its core, another rebels vs empire thing...

FF6 had a great villain, 2 bonus characters that one could discover and recruit or ignore completely, and one interesting character that could disappear for the second half of the game depending on what you do in the first half. It was the beginning of all the really cool summon spells in the series but they weren't 2 minute long unskippable animations like they became in later entries.

Also, even in combat the characters had multiple special abilities they could pull off that really went hand in hand with the type of person they were in the storyline. The best swordsman had "Sword Techs", the gambler had moves that involved slot machine stuff, Sabin uses Blitz attacks, Mog (a moogle) learns dances that have magical effects, Edgar uses Tools, the artist Relm can sketch enemies and use their abilities, etc. This stuff was missing in later games, or at least it was never done to equal effect. Lastly, the game has a ton of memorable sequences. Ask anyone about the Opera sequence, and most will say its among their favorite parts in gaming history.

I would say, try FF6 for sure. I'm not promising that you'll be as blown away as you would have been in 1994, but I'd be surprised if you weren't sucked in.

[CrimsonBlue]

I played FFVII first, and it may well be nostalgia reasons that determines this as my favourite. But it's on my top three favourite games list of all times, which includes Sensible World of Soccer, Monkey Island 2 and Final Fantasy VII. After that, I got Final Fantasy VIII, which was a dissapointment, but I absolutely loved Final Fantasy IX - especially the music and atmosphere. While I waited for Final Fantasy X to arrive to the PS2, I got hold of the earlier Final Fantasies as well. Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger got most of the attention.

But I got to say, after all the praise Final Fantasy VI got from the "hardcore fans", I must say I was pretty dissapointed. Sure, great game, but I didn't find it nearly as good as Final Fantasy VII, nor as good as Final Fantasy IX. There's no definitive answer here to which is better, only what you prefer. FFVII gets hyped so much by FFVII fans, that when people play it, they're somewhat let down. Same with FFVI - none of them can even possibly live up to the hype. I'm sure FFVI is just as much nostalgia to its fans as FFVII is.

But that said, I think Chrono Trigger is better than Final Fantasy VI.

[Hammerite]

Originally Posted by Once A Villain

Bah... If it's not better than FF7 then it's a complete failure in my opinion. If it's better than 6...now THAT would be something. Heh. Let me guess Hammerite, FF7 was the first FF game you played? A lot of people who played it first put it up on a pedestal. Most people who played the others first weren't too impressed.

yep
but 6 comes in a VERY close second, i really liked the atmosphere in FF7.
the only reason i dont like 6 is because i've been stuck on it for a few years with some thing where i'm sure the game has messed up because i cant find bastard cyan in that weird dark ninjatown (after the apocalypse)

[Once A Villain]

Just my opinion from being 3 and a half hours in, but Final Fantasy XII is the best Final Fantasy since VI. That could always change, but right now...wow. The story has drawn me in thus far, the visuals are imaginitive, and SHOCKINGLY the writing is quite good and well translated. The battle system is the most fun of the series I think, reminds me of MMOs.

[Once A Villain]

UPDATE: Final Fantasy XII is still going strong at 6 hours in. Very good game thus far.

By the way, I was thinking maybe my love of FF6 was nostalgiac too, but I guess not... I played the first Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy IV before I ever played VI. Then I played VII, then V, then VIII-XI in order. So, I guess I just picked the best one purely by reasoning alone. Not that my reasoning is better than anyone else's.

Also, no one ever hyped FF7 to me, I just got it the day it came out because it was another FF game. It disappointed me then, and it disappoints me now. For those that have to have their Japanese RPGs nice and pretty with 3D characters, I feel confident already in saying FFXII is a better choice. BUY THIS GAME!