The problem I had with the narration in Bastion is that right from the start it created a barrier that prevented me from getting too emotionally attached to the story and the characters. It's a neat gimmick but I found the game to be such a detached experience, where I was stuck in a world I knew nothing about with characters that meant nothing to me and I never felt involved in any of it because my only real connection to anything happening around me was this disembodied voice whose overwritten and overwrought narration meant nothing to me. There were moments of the game that were supposed to be shocking or touching that had absolutely no impact because they're expressed through this lifeless third-person narration which robs them of any power. I had fun playing Bastion, it reminded me of stuff like Secret of Mana or the aforementioned Landstalkers, but it left absolutely no mark deeper than that on me.

And frankly, the better games get, the more frustrated I am when I play one and it doesn't trigger any sort of response with me. I had to endure a lot to get through Skyward Sword - there's so much pointless fetch quests and backtracking which leads to hours of dull filler you have to slog through - but there are small moments of beauty throughout which are so genuinely moving that they make any of the frustrations you have to face seem miniscule in the long run. Skyward Sword is as traditional as you can get, following the same series blueprint that's been around for 25 years, yet its last 10 minutes are so brilliant that they'll stick with me for a very long time while I can't even remember a single thing about Bastion's plot.

It doesn't matter how a story is presented, if it's as traditional as possible or gimmick-heavy and intentionally vague, it either works or it doesn't and in my opinion, Bastion doesn't. I still think video games as a whole need a ways to go in the storytelling department before they can successfully pull off the subversive narrative tricks Bastion attempts.

Aw shucks, thanks :P

You guys seem to be unfairly dissecting the games you disliked. Most games wouldn't be original or fresh or whatever by that way of thinking then. Having said this, I haven't played any of those 3 but, from the trailers, Bastion doesn't seem to ooze any kind of meaningful originality.
And come on Monolith don't be all pigheaded now :pan: you can totally see the Populous' god-mechanics/theme in From Dust.


Hope you have a neat New Year's Eve party yall! till next year :7

You do know the demo is free, right? That's all I've played.

Actually, from the wikipedia article:

From Dust is a video game, designed by Eric Chahi and developed by Ubisoft Montpellier. Ubisoft described it as a 'spiritual heir' to Populous, a British game developed by Peter Molyneux and Bullfrog Productions in 1989.

Demos are so rare nowadays that it never crossed my mind looking for it.
*After playing it*
It's like a cheerful fast-food version of Diablo :P with a visual style close to the wonderful FF-TacticsAdvance games. The voice is quite corny but other than that it's fun. It's different from the current norm yes but trigger-happy action games with tons of loot have been done to death years ago.
*Adjusting my imaginary rimless glasses*
So, it's quite avant-garde in the same way the Pre-Raphaelites' works were. Yes yes.

If you wan to try the full version, it's on sale today for a little under 5€.

Well...buy me one then :P

10. Dragon Age 2
9. Puzzle Agent 2
8. You Don't Know Jack
7. Gemini Rue
6. The Next BIG Thing
5. Driver: San Francisco
4. PES 2012
3. Skyrim
2. To The Moon
1. L.A. Noire

I was about to finish the list with Fallout NV on 1st place then realised it came out in 2010 :) so Dragon Age squeezed it's way to the top 10 and I would probably put BOUT on the list but haven't played it much and couldn't make a decision based on an hour of gameplay.

L.A Noire

Its got clumsy driving, clumsy shooting and clumsy interviewing mechanics but it just looks so fucking sexy, especially in black and white mode. I often had to stop driving just and lick the screen.

The performances are good and the facial features... I hope they don't abandon this as a one off, it was only let down by that awful 'truth, doubt, lie' shoe-horning. The actors did a great job making it obvious when they're concealing something leaving you to go lightman on them. 'Doubt' if you have no supportive evidence, 'Lie' if you do.

There where only the occasional Phoenix Wright moments when 'supportive' evidence seemed a total shot in the dark.

I really appreciated that they didn't pull too many punches when it came to the horrors of the crimes and the lack of truly happy endings.

There's an awful lot of filler in the game, but it all looks so damn good... if you don't rush the title and 'live it' instead, taking regular breaks rather than soldiering to the ending you'll enjoy it more. For your own sake switch it to black and white mode too.

Heres hoping something rises from the ashes of the developer, too much of this game was just delightful for me not to want more from them.

The Witcher 2,

Just because... it seemed to effortlessly stand head and shoulders above every other rpg released in the same year.

Honorable mention to Skyrim. The game gives you a lot to play with, oodles of content. I just wish it was more reactive than an actual kid's backyard sandbox. They could add 1000 more identical quests and the world would still feel glaringly empty.

As tragic as it is that Team Bondi had to shut down, it's a blessing in disguise for L.A. Noire because it means Rockstar would be in complete charge in the development of any sequel and they would absolutely blow the first game out of the water. They've done it before: Red Dead Revolver was a nice little game they scooped up from Capcom but then they made their own sequel which took a pleasant little series and suddenly turned it into one of the best games ever made. And what they're doing with Max Payne 3 looks amazing, they're not only making a worthy sequel to two classic games but they seem to be trying to completely revolutionize 3rd-person action games. If they do a sequel to L.A. Noire, it won't be more of the same, it'll be a pretty big jump in quality.

Well we are getting 'the Whore of the Orient', not by Team Bondi, but i'm pretty sure its going to focus on a lot of adventure mechanics more so than LA Noire

Unfortunately I would guess that Rockstar would make it less of an adventure and more of a GTA action game.

Really? Well judging by Red Dead Redemption, they know how to make games. They would be that stupid, not to mention they'd use a better looking engine. :D

:P agree!

I think underestimated La Noire's replay value,when second time around focused on whole story as one with all references and connections.It's really well written script guys actually the best ,made me reconsider my list.

My top 5 games of 2011 (too lazy to do 10 :P)

5. Shogun 2
4. Radiant Historia
3. Ghost Trick
2. Skyrim

.... WAIT FOR IT ...
1. Portal 2 - yeah it's pretty much Portal: Deluxe Edition and was short, but the co-op really added to the overall experience.