Now playing...

[Craymel]

Well eternal sonata better not turn out disappointing for considering I got it during boxing day madness (the lines! OH GOD THE HORRIBLY LONG LINES!). Never shopping on boxing day again. I usually shop 2 weeks after boxing day where there are less people and prices are actually cheaper because their priced to just get as much out for the new year as they can.

[Kajitani-Eizan]

i have to agree with craymel regarding the fairly blah camera work and text boxes in ToV, but disagree about just about everything else. the characters, voices, story (for a Tales, anyway), battle system, etc. are all really good.

[ForceCube]

What's wrong with text bubbles? I mean... I'd rather have them than subtitles - and everytime a game makes the "textboxes to subtitles" jump, the lines end up being awfully shortened and dumbed down anyway. Look at pretty much all Square-Enix games from the last generation, for example. >_>

As for what I'm playing right now... I've been busy with a lot of games lately, but decided to leave them alone for a while and just play Tales of Hearts. I'm playing it like a maniac. I can safely say I have never had so much fun with a game that's in japanese. I'm even considering starting it over right after I beat it for the first time, something I NEVER do with RPGs.

When (if?) I'm finished with ToH, I'll move on to something turn-based for a change. Maybe Atelier Iris 2. That is, if I can forgive the lack of a decent world map and not using Mana to explore the surroundings. Guess I liked the first AI too much for my own good. >_>

[Craymel]

i have to agree with craymel regarding the fairly blah camera work and text boxes in ToV, but disagree about just about everything else. the characters, voices, story (for a Tales, anyway), battle system, etc. are all really good.

Never mentioned anything about the battle system

[gyozilla]

Tales' style needs text bubbles. I'd meet you guys half-way with translucent ones.

[Craymel]

Also something else that needs to go in both these rpgs are the fixed camera angles in dungeon like areas and towns! I'd like to be able to actually see my character when moving them... You're not using the right analogue stick for anything else! Had to get that off my chest too. There were several times when I was playing tales of vesperia and eternal sonata where I went strait for the right analogue stick forgetting that I actually couldn't do that. I can move the camera on the map screen in ToV but some times I'd like to have it other places once in a while. I don't even know if eternal sonata has a world map yet. I'm really early in the game. Also a quick save system! So that when I want and/or need to turn off the game I can do it with out fear of losing the last 20 minutes of my life without seeing a single save spot! This happened in ToV. I even met a new party member too  

[Kajitani-Eizan]

tales does sort of need text bubbles i guess, but i wish they'd be less obtrusive some of the time. i guess it's not that huge a problem though.

movable camera would be nice, though. also, whatever happened to that load point system from eternia? couldn't they at least put in a quicksave system?

[jajaswipo]

just finished left 4 dead pc. pretty solid zombie game overall although versus mode online is completely broken. if anybody is considering getting this, i'd tell you to hold off till valve releases the new content they said they were going to release before christmas(last year). Not sure if it's worth the 50 dollar price tag, but i got it for 20 10 minutes before midnight on amazon for black friday. now i plan to catch up on my kanji and play tales of innocence

[Shawn]

Been playing Patapon on the PSP after picking it up for $9 during Xmas break.

[Craymel]

Well I bought Tales of Phantasia, Tales of Rebirth and The Last Remnant... Funny thing about when I bout last remnant: I was gonna buy it with Prince of Persia but couldn't afford both so I just got last remnant... Biggest mistake I've ever made when shopping. I didn't know what I was in for because I only say the game trailers review. The lag and the texture bugs are horrid even when instilled on my hard drive. I heard the lag issues were improved when installed but I wouldn't know because I haven't played it uninstalled... How... in the hell can square release this game as a finished product? It's not finished because they obviously didn't finish FIXING THE BUGS! You know what the worst about all this is? My cleaning lady threw out my receipt... Now I'm stuck with it. I wouldn't recommend this game to anyone even if they think it's the best shit since shit. Why? Square should not be supported for the release of a horribly buggy game, no game company should! I realise my mistake and I'm sorry for giving square my money... I wish this game magically transformed into Prince of Persia right now. Oh and I'm loving tales of vesperia and I haven't touched Eternal Sonata. Eternal Sonatas battle system sucks end of that.

[Kevassa]

Seems a lot 360 games have those lag issues...

[jajaswipo]

not all actually . my rm got lucky with his original 360 from the release. no rrod, no intense overheating,, and not much lag except when we play for long stretches

[Craymel]

Seems a lot 360 games have those lag issues...

Not like this though. This goes beyond the occasional frame rate drop. I've seen ps2 games with frame rate issues as well. The type of lag in the last remnant however is completely unacceptable and is very frequent along with the texture loading in cut scenes. It was like playing an online pc game with a bad connection. I really don't expect this from console games at all. 

[Kevassa]

Not like this though. This goes beyond the occasional frame rate drop. I've seen ps2 games with frame rate issues as well. The type of lag in the last remnant however is completely unacceptable and is very frequent along with the texture loading in cut scenes. It was like playing an online pc game with a bad connection. I really don't expect this from console games at all. 

Eugh, worse than common 360 lag time game? Thats--- horrible!
I feel so sorry for you  D=

[Shawn]

I've heard TLR works a *lot* better when it's installed on the HD.

[Craymel]

oh it does but it's still very noticeable and frequent. It kinda just makes it less crappy but still crappy. If it weren't for the lag I would be playing it with little problem. I just can't stand it though...