Aside from that though, I got Diablo III over the weekend and got it installed, but did not get a chance to play it yet. My son did. He logged quite a few hours Saturday, Sunday and Monday, and got to level 31 or 32 and beat the game last night. A few of my co-workers have beaten it as well. The general consensus from my son and them is that the game is amazingly fun, but not terribly long and can be beaten on default difficulty in about 15 hours or so.
After beating Final Fantasy, I went for some lighter fair in the form of a platforming PSN title called Outland. So far I have to say the game is pretty cool. Platforming is actually one of my least favorite genres, but I have heard a lot of good things about this one and picked it up real cheap a couple of months ago. Right now I'm about a quarter of the way through it. There are some RPG aspects in upgrading your character via purchases and puzzle-like elements in dealing with the light and dark worlds and also the boss fights, but a lot of the game is timing your jumps and slides to avoid obstacles and enemies as well.
I am about 95% of the way 'done' with Record of Agarest War Zero. And really, that depends on how you define 'done' I suppose. The game has a storyline, it also has a 'true end' you can access if you manage the main storyline properly. Once you get to the True End, there is more content you can unlock, with a somewhat odd, fourth-wall-breaking tonal change. After beating that, I disocvered you can access the 'True End' content from the original Record of Agarest War as well. So really, I'm on like my 2nd or 3rd round of 'end content' and most of the way through it. I'll note when I'm actually done, and then we'll get that review up too.
My poor 3DS with Kid Icarus: Uprising has gotten a bit neglected in all of this it seems. I poked at it briefly this weekend, but that was the extent of it. I did log an hour or two with Mass Effect 3's multiplayer this weekend, making sure I promoted my 3 characters to qualify for this weekend's bonus operation. I am pretty excited to see the additional free DLC coming out for it (today I believe?) with more class characters and two more maps.
Last but not least, I had won a copy of Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 for the PS3 awhile back from a local video store in a contest. I had reviewed the original MvC3 very favorably in the past if you want to see it, and was a fan of Marvel vs Capcom 2 as well. So far I've been quite fond of this Ultimate update, and hope to get a review of that out sooner than later as well.
Tonight I will not be seeing much gaming - at least not the video kind as my co-workers and I will be getting together with them to play Magic: The Gathering tonight. Posts may still be a bit sporadic between this site and Otaku Gaming this week and next as my dad continues to visit and I try to wrestle through some other things at work in the meantime, but I will try to pepper in at least a couple of posts or so a week until then.
So, what have you been up to in the world of gaming? Get any new games like D3? Beat anything that you've been plugging at for a time like FF XIII-2? Just catching up on some backlog like Outland or MvC 3? let me know - and here's hoping you all had a great weekend!
The initial beating of Diablo 3 with one character on normal mode is easy enough to do in a dozen hours or so..
ReplyDeleteHowever, the real difficulty of playing Diablo 3 and getting a return on the $60 price tag is playing AND beating all FOUR difficulty levels, Normal, Nightmare, Hell and Inferno. Nightmare is surprisingly more difficult than Normal and it progresses further in difficulty as you go to the later two levels of difficulty.
Furthermore, no one has beaten the game yet. At least not in my opinion. Beating the game to me, means to beat the game on all four difficulties using all five character classes. So until that has happened.. no one has beat it! :)
I currently have a level 36? Barbarian, beat Normal and at the end of Act I in Nightmare.. and I have a level 15? Wizard that just got into Act II in Normal mode.
By that definition? That will be a tall task to 'beat' the game, eh? Are you aiming for that particular goal, Ken? I know my son's going to ramp right back up on Nightmare next. Did you play solo or in teams for the most part? One of my friends at work has only been playing on his own, but I'm pretty sure my minion was part of a team.
ReplyDeleteMy full intention is to beat the game how I've laid out.
ReplyDeleteI've played both on my own and with others.. as many as 3 others (which is the max for co-op mode. However, when playing with others the baddies show up in larger groups and with higher life or strength attributes.. thus making it still an equal battle.
I do prefer to play in groups.. only because its more likely to find magic or rare items due to just the sheer number of baddies to fight.. the odds increase.I must say that the _ONLY_ way I play in a group is if people join me, this way I'm still playing the quests and act in the order that my game is progressing.
Not having had a chance to play it yet, you just answered a couple of my questions I had had so far:
ReplyDelete1) how the critters balance out for increased numbers of players
2) if it is easier to 'complete' quests/storylines if it is 'your game as opposed to joining in on someone else's.
The baddies increase in number and strength.
ReplyDeleteIt makes no difference from a play standpoint on whether you join someone or they join you.
The reason I prefer others to join me, is so that if I play by myself later, I leave off where I quit playing. For example. If I was playing by myself.. quit and then joined a friend who was further ahead but was something I wanted to take on, I certainly could.. however, all of the quests on my character would unlock up to that point as I progressed through his game. Sure, you can go back to the quest you left off on in your game.. if you remember what it was. :)Either way, playing by yourself or with others, the level of difficulty is the same in my opinion. Also, it should be noted that when playing with others you kind of gain XP as a group. What I mean is, you could sit back in a group of four.. letting the others do all the hard work and still collect XP. In my opinion that should be changed. Doesn't much matter to me though, I'm up in the middle of the combat always no matter if its solo or group play.
"Platforming is actually one of my least favorite genres..."
ReplyDelete*Reports this website, to the FBI, CIA, and whatever other government agency needed to SHUT IT DOWN! Least favorite genres...those words are TREASONOUS!
Interesting about Outland, haven't even heard of it. But, being that I do enjoy some platforming games, I may have to check it out one day.
As for, "So, what have you been up to in the world of gaming? Get any new games like D3? Beat anything that you've been plugging at for a time like FF XIII-2?"
I have been playing Rayman Origins some more, and was playing last night while our oldest was typing on the computer.
I got to the first "boss" in the game, a rather interesting creation, and our oldest said, "Daddy, what's THAT!?" I was thinking, "Crap, ummmmm...what to say." I said, "Ummm, it's a plant? No no...it's a CRAB!
I was trying to figure out something he could relate with, that it looked similar too, and a crab was the first thing I thought of...and it stuck.
He said, "The crab goes ROAR!" and then continued to watch me battle the boss.
I did get a new game, actually went out on a wild limb and purchased a PC game, the sale was incredible, and I didn't want to pass it up. You (and others) will find out soon enough what it was.
"The crab goes ROAR!" - that's awesome. :)
ReplyDeleteAnd looking forward to the game you picked up on Sale. Did you get it through Steam, I wonder? :) And so far Outland's pretty interesting. IGN scored it a 9 if you want to read more about it before I get through it:
http://ps3.ign.com/articles/117/1176259p1.html
Through Steam? I don't think getting/passing video games through steam is advised, as that could probably lead to corrupted discs and/or memory issues. :) Now, using steam to make caffeinated beverages = WIN!
ReplyDeleteIGN? Did you say IGN? *thinks of days gone past, BEFORE the EMPIRE!
LOL - I was just wondering if I was leading to video game purchases/corruption by having needled you onto the Steam platform (the non-coffee-making variety). :)
ReplyDeleteHaha, you've definitely got a workload of games right now! ;)
ReplyDeleteAfter struggling through Dragon's Dogma I'm burned out right now. Might even try to take a break from playing games as much as possible until after E3.
Read your review on Otaku - sounds like to you, Dogma was more chore than fun. :( I had pretty high hopes for that one too, and am still curious, but have no room in the current backlog. I saw the post on Digitally Downloaded about E3 as well - getting pretty ramped up then? I probably won't bother with the Twitter feeds during it like I did last year, but I plan to do some write ups gain about the major presentations, etc.
ReplyDeleteI logged into SCII briefly this weekend and saw 'you' online in D3. Had to give you a little grief about it ("couldn't hold out, har har") only to see that it was your son playing. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm too lazy to read the comments, but I hope you've had a chance to check it out. Still on my 'maybe' list.
You should also get your gamer badge revoked for that platforming comment.
Ken: As for the completed/beat a game. It's kind of just nomenclature semantics, but I know what you're saying . I'll typically use the term 'beat' when referring to making it through to an ending. Though there's clearly more to do with additional playthroughs or 100% completion of everything the game has to offer.
I think disqus ate my previous comment. Either way I was going to add that I picked up Mighty Switch Force for 3DS over the weekend. It's a title that didn't quite fit with me before, but with the content updates I thought I would give it a spin for $5.99.
ReplyDeleteOverall it's a pretty cool game and is starting to get tricky and downright difficult when speedrunning for par times. Not to mention that the graphics are dripping with detail and it has some cool music.
Haha, yeah - one of my coworkers wound up chatting w/ my son too for a moment befor ereasling it wasn't me. I did get to log several hours the other night and so far? it's really, really fun imo. :)
ReplyDeleteI've heard more good things than not about Might Switch Force, but havent' bothered to d/l it yet - I have a few other 3DS games to get through first, heh
ReplyDeleteFinishing games.... I should do that one day.
ReplyDeleteI'm getting a bit obsessed with beating the par times and while the first few weren't too bad, it's getting tough real quick. :)