The games of February 2013

Shaping up to be a good month with FE: Awakening, Colonial Marines, Etrian Oddysey IV. Maybe Fist of the North Star Musou won't be so average this time around, still hoping Dead Space 3 won't be shit but I think it can't be saved. Crysis 3 looks like the most generic game ever made.

I would have expected you to mention MGR: revengeance as well. Or are you having one of your sudden knee jerk backlash reactions again?

I played the demo and I just couldn't feel the Metal Gear love like in the past titles. Maybe it is just the absence of stealth, or something greater, but I overall prefer "Tactical Espionage Action" over "Lightning Bolt Action" any day.

It's not meant to mimic the feel of the metal gear gameplay. That's why it's called a spin-off. It's fine if you prefer stealth genre over action though, that's Dependant on each person's taste. For those of us who love us a good action game though, this one so far seems to be delivering on all fronts, at least for me.

I really want to love MGR:R, but after playing the demo, I'm not sure I can. The story seems Metal Gear enough, I've accepted it's not a totally Kojima Metal Gear game, but the demo played like total shit. Blade Mode was cool, although a bit tricky to get the hang of it, but everything else seemed like it was pulled straight from the programming of some shitty PS2 hack n' slash. I hope they were still tweaking some of the controls between now and when the demo came out with the ZoE collection, otherwise, I can't do it. I guess we'll find out in a couple weeks.

I respect your opinion, though I obviously disagree. At least when i played, everything responded as it should, the combat was fast and precise, and yes, there is a learning curve here because unlike other action games, there's no guard or dodge button, but instead, parrying, which you perform by pressing the attack button and the direction the attack is coming from. it sounds difficult but at least in the demo, the timing was pretty forgiving, and i really took a licking to outright negating attacks with precision instead of just rolling out of the way. So, to be honest, i feel more like you either simply didn't quite understood how to play it, or action games like DmC and bayoneta just isn't the kind of game you like, which I am inferring might be the case considering how you refered to them as hack n' slash, which is kind of an unwarranted derogatory term.

I'll admit, a sizable portion of my wariness belongs to my general distaste for hack n' slash. I hate God of War (more than just because it's hack n' slash), Bayonetta was a complete snores-ville, Devil May Cry just pisses me off, but at the same time I LOVE Lords of Shadow and the newest Splatterhouse. My love for those games isn't because of their technological prowess and perfect gameplay over the aforementioned series and titles as much as it is simply because I grew up on Splatterhouse and Castlevania, so they just clicked. Similarly, I also grew up with Metal Gear; I mean, MGS4 is easily in my top 5 games ever, but MGR:R... I still don't know. It didn't klick like it should have. And honestly, as the term 'hack n' slash' does sound rather derogatory, I thought it was the only term used to describe that type of gameplay. Seems harsh, I know, but I never thought it really deserved a better term. It is what it is.

Aaaahhh, that explains a lot. This pretty much shows to me that the problem then, is that you simply don't like or get the genre, which is totally acceptable. But it also shows that if you don't like it, it isn't that the game is shitty so much as it simply isn't your cup of tea. And, the reason i feel that the only two games you have liked so far, LoS and Splatterhouse, is not only because of nostalgia for the franchise, but because both of those games are among the least complex and demanding in the genre. (And I say this as a huge LoS fan, I love the game, but while the combat works well, it doesn't even come close to touching the complexity and nuance of bayonetta and the DMC series.) And there lies the rub; I think the reason you didn't like the MGR:R demo, is mainly because that games falls into the more complex camp. The blade mode, sliding attacks, the parry system and the combo system which judges how well you're able to cause the most carnage without getting hit yourself are all tools that require practice and attention to master them, and if you don't have that patience for the genre, you probably won't find it here. So again, it's fine if you don't like MGR, or other action games in general, not everything can be for everyone. That being said, calling those games shitty when clearly it's you that doesn't like the genre in general, can make you come across as ignorant a bit. And I honestly don't mean that as an insult, because, I am also always in danger of jamming my foot on my mouth when it comes to genres I don't like, such as racing games, sports or MMOs. To me, all of those games are "shitty" but not because they are bad, but because their genre doesn't appeal to me at all. If I actually call them shitty to others though, it's more showing my intolerance and lack of knowledge for the genre.

So it all boils down to poor choice of words on my part, again. It's true; I'm just not big on the whole hack n' slash genre. I'm still bummed that I wasn't immediately captivated by MGR:R though. I have no reason to like DmC or Bayonetta. There's no nostalgia like with Splatterhouse and Castlevania. I don't think it's the higher difficulty curve that turned me off during the demo. I do admit it was notably more challenging to get the hang of than Los or Splatterhouse (although I have gotten the platinum on both), but after a while, I got used to how the combat and mechanics worked, and the whole thing still seemed 'off.' Still, I REALLY want to like the game, but there'll be no way to tell until I play the finished product in its fullest. At this point, I probably won't be picking up my pre-order on day 1, and I've already downgraded from the collector's edition. On a separate note, BladedFalcon, I've realized we don't always see eye to eye on things, you and I. In fact, we're almost always disagreeing on something, but I enjoy these chats. Probably because you're one of the only people I've had an online discussion with without it constantly resulting in caps lock and exchanging witty insults like calling each other 'faggots.' I doff my hat to you, sir.

Heh, honestly, i noticed we actually tend to like very similar series and genres, but tend to disagree on a few silly details, like, proper distinction of genres, and my failure to identify ME3 cosplay correctly XD And likewise, I like that even when we disagree, you don't immediately go for the personal attack or irrational fallacies. If it hasn't been evident already, i actually enjoy arguing and discussing stuff with people, as long as they are intelligent and somewhat civil about it XD And well, I just provided my point of view on why you might not have liked the demo based on the info and experiences you have with the genre. And if the difficulty curve isn't what's bothering you, not sure if I can relate then, because I played that demo 5 times, and each time I enjoyed it more and more. Maybe it's a matter of getting more used to what the game offers? I mean, the demo gives you a very superficial taste on things that I want to think will become more prominent on the full game, such as encouraging you to slice certain sections or body parts from enemies to acquire energy or items, (Something I really like, because it basically deters you from just mindlessly slashing an enemy at random.) or using the loose stealth system less as true stealth and more as a tactical way of choosing where and how to start your battles. As for the combat system itself, maybe the lack of enemy variety shown in the demo could have been a problem? I mean, you only fought what I am sure is the main cannon fodder, and a couple of gekkos, the enemies shown in the trailer promise to have way more variety to them. but if the main combat system bothered you in general... then i don't know what to tell you, I personally loved it, I thought it was fast, responsive, and original by way of having a entirely different, cool way to negate attacks. That all could be just me though XD

I don't know what it was myself, to be honest. Like I said, it just didn't click like I felt it was going to. I'm just not sure what to think about it yet.

Title correction needed On Feb.8 we sing 80's. :P

I plan to digitally download FE: Awakening the second it goes online on the 3DS E-shop. And I already have MGR. Revengeance pre-ordered. So yeah, to say I am extremely excited for both games would be a massive understatement. Other than that though... Etrian Odissey IV I might give it a chance later on if it turns out to be good, heard good things of the previous ones, but never really played one. And even though I liked Dead Space 2... I really can't feel any excitement for DS3. The new setting, the human soldiers, the cover based system and a clear focus on more action than atmosphere and horror already tells me that it's going to feel more like a gears of war wannabe than the stellar RE4 wannabe that the original 2 were.