Posts by ReNo

  • The toughest game levels/missions

    God Hand, just in general, is bloody tough. Currently at a point where you fight 3 bosses in a row that has me pretty much stumped - I can deal with the first 2, but to do so I end up using all my specials (you need to collect items to use your most powerful moves) and most of my health. The final of the 3 is also the toughest it would seem. Finding the will to put it in the PS2 again is a real struggle at this point!

    Another game I can't bring myself to play again is Lost Planet. There were a few tricky sections through the game (playing on hard mode) as collecting enough thermal energy to survive some encounters was a real trial. Most of the time I ended up letting my mechs be destroyed at tactical moments so I could nab the energy they leave behind. That said though, its the end boss that has me scratching my head. I'm sure there is some approach I haven't tried - I might end up on GameFAQs for that one.

    Quote

    final fantasy 7: beating the black chocobo rider in the race ... i heard you cant even beat him with a golden chocobo because he always has +10% of your speed

    There's some cheat you can do with holding the shoulder buttons or something that recharges your stamina slowly - it's the only way I managed to beat him. Think its 10% extra of your stamina that he has, rather than speed, by the way. I had a maxed out stamina stat (999 I think?) after having bred several generations of golden chocobo, but he even manages to push his beyond 1000. Can't remember if you even get anything much for beating him to be honest.

  • How to Craft a Great Multiplayer Experience

    Indeed it was, I enjoyed it. I felt that it was a tad focused on FPS games, which isn't a bad thing at all, it's just that it read like it was trying to apply to all multiplayer games. I know there was a disclaimer stating as much near the top, but I just felt that came across as an "Oh shit - this is actually about FPS games, not just multiplayer games, better put something in about that!" last minute addition Like R_Yell, I think one of the most obvious examples of the genre focus comes from the statement that claims 15-30 seconds is the ideal time between player encounters (obviously not relevant to, say, RTS, RPG, racing, fighting, etc...). You can't cater for everything, I know, but it might have been wise to just write about FPS games and suggest that some of the points might be relevant to other genres. Interesting read anyway, and all valid points. Good job

  • Halo 3 Multiplayer behind the scenes

    I can't imagine anybody is all that impressed by what has been shown of Halo 3. They keep saying "what we've shown is ugly - the game will look much better!", then releasing some new media like this documentary that really doesn't show any improvement at all. Some parts of the environment are so low poly it hurts, and most of it just looks like a UT2004 mod. Things like there being no splashes when a ragdoll falls into a river just looks completely ridiculous in this day and age. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and assume some of the more obvious shortcomings will be fixed before release, but I can't see them doing enough to make this as "wow!" a game for the 360 as the original game was for the Xbox.

    That said, I really enjoyed playing through Halo 1 and 2, particularly in coop. I've no doubt I'll enjoy Halo 3 as well, regardless of how big or small an improvement over the originals it ends up being.

  • Call Of Cthulhu: Dark Corners Of The Earth

    It's easily worth picking up. I wasn't familiar with any of Lovecraft's work but I decided from previews and screenshots that the game was up my street. Glad I did too, as it was really quite awesome. Though there are sections of the game that are fairly boring or frustrating (some of the stealth sections are hard to judge, leading to trial and error repetition), a handful of set pieces make it well worth buying, particularly at the low prices you'll find it these days. The first chase section is one of the finest "oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck!" gaming moments I've ever had, and it manages to rekindle the same degree of panic and fear several other times through the game. The section on the lifeboat, for example. Wow Oh and for those that would prefer to play it on the console, the Xbox version it is compatible with the 360.

    Since then I've bought 3 books that contain pretty much all of Lovecraft's work - some really scary tales mixed in with some rather far-out fantasy. Worth reading for any fans of dark and morbid stories, although very few are the "horror" stories that some might expect.

  • PS3 Backwards compatability listings up (EU)

    I'm surprised there is such utter disdain for the system amongst us here. I appreciate that Sony have fucked up their public image with some of the worst marketing blunders I've heard of over the past year or two, but the fact is it is still a gaming system that has some unique titles. I'm not buying one right now because I can't afford it, and likewise with the Wii, but I still want both. Motorstorm is enough to make me want one - it looks like an awesome game and since the PS3 is the only way to play it, that makes me want a PS3. I'm the sort of gamer who buys a system for one game though; maybe that isn't exactly the norm.

  • PS3 Backwards compatability listings up (EU)

    Most of the biggies seem to work in some capacity, and its a much better list than my initial expectations had built up. Perhaps not quite the number of games Phil had us believe recently though, as there are so many duplicates in there and a whole lot have issues. Will be interesting to see what qualifies as a minor issue and what qualifies as noticable issue - I hope everything that places at all on the list is at least still playable start to finish.

    There are a few worries though. Firstly, some games listed only work if you have the right release of it. For example there are several FFVIII's listed in the PS1 games which people seem happy about through the internets, but I was worried by the presence of "(SPA)" after the name. Sure enough, I checked the product codes, and it seems my UK version of the game isn't listed. FFVII isn't listed whatsoever, either, and neither are a few PS2 games I own (GT4 being the most obvious). Grandia only has disc 2 listed as compatible, which obviously isn't of much use either.

    I doubt I'll use it all that often so I'm hardly upset, but then I said that about the 360 and PS2 and I have played a fair few old games on both. Will be a while before a PS3 joins my collection anyway though, so its quite possible the BC support will be even larger by then.

  • This is... SPARTAAAA!!!

    I've watched the trailers many times now, and I'm still not bored of them. I love trailers that just give me that spine-shivering feeling of "awesome!" when you watch them. I'm really hoping the movie doesn't disappoint me as it seems to have done for quite a few critics, who seem to think it is little more than a computer game. But then again I did love Advent children, so what are the chances I won't love another over the top action fest

  • Now playing

    Quote from Minotauro

    Monster Rancher 2 - PSX (although this game has a high gay rate its awesome... everyone who never played it should try it some day)

    I'm trying to figure out what you meant by a "high gay rate", but I seriously can't

  • Unreal vs Source.

    Quote from hessi

    maybe thats why unreal games are kind of lame (ctf, dm and thats all) while halflife has always been a freaking cool story.

    Or maybe its because UT games are multiplayer focused, and HL games are single player focused? UT doesn't really need a story, as it isn't a story driven game. Besides, it's crazy to suggest that spending time on tool development is somehow going to be to the detriment of a game's story, I can't imagine the tool programmers are the ones penning the script.

  • The random model thread!

    Good changes, but I'm not sure that wall-vagina thing works too well I imagine it would come across a whole lot better when textured, but right now it isn't very convincing as damage to me. Also, given the overall detail I feel that the pipe thing on the left should have more polys given to it's curved sections. Nice work though man

  • Unreal mapping community

    Pretty certain it DOESN'T automatically subdivide any meshes Peri. That update did see improvements and on large, fairly well tesselated models it can make a world of difference (using one giant model for a big handrail section, for example), but on many models it makes things look worse. Still, at least now you have the OPTION of having proper vertex lighting on models.

  • Playstation 3 - Home

    Quote from Izuno

    I say this because I already played SSX3 to death on my PS2 but wanted to play a good snowboarding game while on a ski trip.

    If you've a PSP you might wanna try out SSX: On Tour - saves lugging a console away on holiday, and provides much the same Snowboardy goodness of SSX3 but with added skiing

    SKDR, they announced they were moving from hardware emulation to software emulation, not that they were removing backwards compatibility. Phil Harrison keeps dropping numbers of over 1000 PS2 titles to be supported (most recently 1200+, via a downloadable patch available on EU release).

    James, I'm reckon that what they are claiming is most likely true, but I doubt it matters too much for most of us. Apparently there will be a release day patch with the 1.6 firmware, and that is where the vast majority of the software emulation gubbins will be found. Bit of a shame for people who buy the system and don't plan on plugging it in to the net (something that is true of quite a few of my mates), but for folks like us I doubt it will be an issue.

  • WIP in WIP, post your level screenshots!

    Great to see you're still working on this CJ, I love the grandeur of it all. I can see your concern with the cliff; it isn't looking as nice as other parts but I've no doubt you've done pretty much everything you can with optimisation to push the limits, so I wouldn't worry too much about it. Is that an angle you can see it from during gameplay? I'm sure most people will be suitably impressed by the overall scale of the scene that the perhaps lacking detail will be overlooked. I do feel the grey rocks with grey structures looks a little monotone though - have you tried a browner hue on the cliffs?