[kthorjensen]

i think this thread is the REAL binary domain
_________________
Go to this website, you (person who is loved)

[Levi]

I always figure the Medusa Heads are a Clash of the Titans / The Gorgon reference.




Bloodlines at least had the dignity to provide a nazi skeleton factory a decade ahead of schedule...I wonder if they might have actually thought it tacky to include a period correct Hitler in PoR. Maybe they're saving him for Demon Castle War 1999 Tactics: Somebody to Love. Cyber-Rommel's defection is how the Lance of Longinus ends up in the cavern in the 2030's.

[unlabored flawlessness]

This is getting a demo on February 1st (single player only). Might be exclusive to the Japanese PSN/XBL stores to begin with.
_________________

[unlabored flawlessness]

The demo is up on the Japanese PSN and will likely be on XBL as well shortly.
_________________

[lofighost]

i don't know what anyone is saying to me!!!!!!!!

the revive animation is totally hilarious though

i don't know what this says but i've been playing shadow of the colossus and on a whim idecided to use sotc thinking on this chapter 2 robot and it totally worked

[Bingle]

I sure hope the gunplay in this is better than the Yakuza zombie game.

I always saw the anachronistic elements of Castlevania to be of quirk, camp, or humor. Their function in Lords is a bit too serious for me to share the same sentiment. Still, I don't mind it since the world of Lords is just completely detached from our own.

Lords is a secret space-time tear in Translyvania filled with all sorts of goblins. It's very wonderful. Looking at it from outside, it resembles a grubhole, but upon entering, you enter a wonderland of creative dysfunction that could never exist in the real world.

[unlabored flawlessness]

I can't play the demo because it's not on XBL yet, but every impression I've read so far has been positive!

And no, this is not like Of The End...no QTEs to make something explode after you already shot it.
_________________

[tacotaskforce]

You people really need to get over that QTE. It's a HEAT action, of course it's a QTE.
_________________

[unlabored flawlessness]

I have played the demo in its entirety on Hard difficulty (No Mercy is not selectable.) It's not the most exciting game in the world, but it is extremely solidly built and tries some neat things. Probably the best Gears clone yet...and no, I didn't like Vanquish.

- One thing they really nailed is the fact that, well, robots are made of durable stuff! And they don't experience pain! It takes a good amount of effort to take down even the lowliest grunt, since enemies don't stagger from shots unless they've lost a limb. Even if you blow off their legs, they'll keep firing, and they can get grabby if you're close. Blinded enemies without heads will keep running straight forward while firing.

- The controls are quite honestly, better than Gears of War's. Completely fluid, and I never saw any glitchy movement related to cover. I also like that you have to double tap A/X to roll: unlike Gears, you can go straight into a run without rolling.

- The game puts an interesting spin on Gears' revival system. You have regen health and can be revived before a death, but you're limited by how many medkits your team has. You can use a medkit on yourself or call a team member to use one of theirs on you. Unfortunately, extra medkits are dirt cheap in the shop (1000 CR), and each member can hold up to 3, so I had a total of 9 at the start.

- The level design is excessively cramped and linear in the tutorial and first mission, but it quickly opens up a whole lot in Mission 2, so I'm not worried about this aspect.

- The voice recognition is perfect. We've come a long way from the days of Life Line on the PS2. You can adjust the background noise sensitivity level and test out the recognition in the options menu. You don't need a headset, but you can't use the subtler voice commands without it (i.e. "Gomennasai" after friendly fire to avoid a team morale drop).

- The sniper rifle is a bit too good...a single shot to the chest will take out most enemies, and it has a huge ammo capacity by sniper standards. On the other hand, the riot shield is worthless: you're forced to use the unlimited-ammo handgun with it, which is the most pealike of peashooters, likely even when it's fully upgraded. And you can barely move.

- The vending machines have a cute little roulette after every purchase. You get extra ammo if you win. The Yakuza lineage is very evident here. There's some sort of nanomachine upgrades for your character that can be bought at these shops. However, the language barrier prevents me from understanding them. You can also purchase upgrades that affect specific stats of each gun.
_________________

[CubaLibre]

WHY DOESN'T THIS HAVE CAMPAIGN CO-OP.

It's fucking Call of Juarez all over again
_________________
Let's Play, starring me.

[Rud31]

unlabored play Dog Days.
_________________
My Hawt Blog Vita Games

THERE ARE DEFINITELY WORSE VIDEO GAME PODCASTS

[unlabored flawlessness]

Probably because co-op would be very difficult to integrate with the AI voice commands and dialogue scenes. As it stands, the campaign is very much designed with a single player in mind. You couldn't have voice chat and AI voice commands going at the same time without serious problems. There's other issues with a potential co-op mode that are difficult to explain unless you've played the game...the entire game stops when you use a vending machine, for instance.

Of course, they could have just forced you to use button commands in co-op (probably limiting them to Player 1 as well) and trimmed the Ripple Link System, but that would have undermined the game's gimmicky selling point more than the higher-ups were willing to allow.

Anyway, there's at least one of those me-too multiplayer modes that won't last more than a couple months, complete with some Gamestop preorder DLC nonsense. Cuba, can you be content with the knowledge that Armored Core V has a co-op campaign?
_________________

[geinou]

[unlabored flawlessness]

I used to like Gears, but eventually the excessive Unreal Engine glitchiness, endless shotgun warfare, and meatheaded characters got to me. Also, the infuriating "only executions count as kills unless it's a sniper headshot or an explosive" rule. I believe they actually patched that into a multiplay game mode that didn't have it at the start.

Horde was often very fun, but it's unfortunately a gigantic timesink, and once the Bloodmounts show up you're usually doomed.

Gears 2 was probably the last Western "AAA" game I didn't ignore.
_________________

[CubaLibre]

[unlabored flawlessness]

But then you wouldn't be using the Ripple Link System™!

I think some of the nanomachine upgrades are specifically concerned with how the partner AI acts, too.

As I said, it's pretty difficult to explain why co-op wouldn't work if you haven't played the demo. Just watch how the mid-mission dialogue interludes play out. i.e. When you're advancing at the beginning of Mission 1, Big Bo hangs back so he can joke about your female team member's ass (or something) with you. This scripting couldn't run with another human in control. Yeah, they could have trimmed these for co-op, but they didn't. I think it's not something Japanese players are big on.
_________________

[Dark Age Iron Savior]

Some people talk about Japan having fallen behind western developers this generation (specifically on PS3/360), but I've only ever felt that was valid in terms of the technical competence/achievement of games, and even then it's being compared to what I would call an unprecedented number of high-quality titles developed in the west that take advantage of the power of the hardware.

But I get the feeling that even if Japan catches up in technical expertise, they're still going to suffer in sales/reviews due to placing an emphasis on developer-crafted narratives over player-generated experiences. Social/mobile gaming especially seems like it will drag the market more towards the illusion of control and importance such games foster.

I kind of miss the days when multiplayer was a novelty...

[unlabored flawlessness]

I'll mention that the demo's second boss seems to be a bizarre Donkey Kong reference. You could say it's just a big ape, but then it starts throwing barrel-shaped objects.
_________________

[geinou]

You can't win that fight in the demo though, right? Because it just fades to black after some time.

[Kitten ClanClan]

[boojiboy7]

[Kitten ClanClan]

unlabored flawlessness - If your interest in Gears 3 somehow got piqued, it's only about $15 shipped using this here deal.
_________________

[unlabored flawlessness]

I only buy used games when new copies aren't available or are out of my price range, but thanks. I'll probably wait for the inevitable reissue with all the DLC packaged.

[rye]

The demo of this was good fun. I liked that you had some choice in squad selection. The banter between the soldiers at the beginning of the mission is different depending on who you chose. The English guy asked me if I liked beer, while the black guy commented on how our other squadmate (the non-asian lady) didn't really look like a chick. Nice touches I guess!

Fighting the robots was good fun. I like them more than the vanquish robots. They're pretty relentless and do lots of interesting things, as unlabored described. Where you hit them, and everything actually feels important, if only because they're very detailed about how they show damage. That was one of my favorite parts about that first boss. Watching the armor pieces rip off made me feel like I was doing something. Crunch time.

I just might buy this when it comes out. I'm happy that Sega is letting the Yakuza guys make a game that's not Yakuza, and that it's got some nice ideas (seemingly, so far!) executed with competence.
_________________

[Lasakon]

The demo is out in the US now.
_________________

[geinou]

Happy Binary Domain day, Japan. ;_; Wish I could play the full game today too.

For some reason I thought it comes out in Europe this week. Guess I was wrong.

[Dracko]

_________________

[rye]

Man that could be halfway decent with good localization. : (

It really bugs me that Japanese games (in English) always put English subtitles on by default. We don't need them like you do, guys.
_________________

[Kinto]

So are the robots bad. Or is that one of the themes, or?

Man I will buy basically anything that's about that.
_________________

[remote]

I would like to be able to assume the kids speaking Japanese there will be speaking Japanese in the English version, too, but...
_________________

letterboxd | last.fm | steam

[rye]

The robots are bad. But some of the robots don't know they're robots?

This trailer is pretty well edited actually (why does this game have so many trailers (sorry, i don't know how to embed youtube here and i searched a bit for how))
_________________

[Mikey]

[Kitten ClanClan]

I played the demo today and I had a lot of fun with it, but without co-op and with a few problems I don't really think this is worth full retail. I'll definitely get it in the $20-30 range.
_________________

[Mikey]

I think this will be my "fuck it, let's do this!" video game purchase for 2012.

[remote]

I think I'll have to hold off only because I've already preordered Armored Core V and that's probably the only full-price game I'll pick up for a while.

Even though I really do want this one, especially now that I realize the full version will have co-op and vs. modes... Hmmm.
_________________

letterboxd | last.fm | steam

[Kitten ClanClan]

[Dracko]

[geinou]

I'm actually surprised by how good the voice recognition is working. Only on a few occasions the game didn't want to recognize my voice commands. It's a nice feature, but I will probably play the game without using it. At least on the first playthrough.

[remote]

[Lasakon]

_________________

[Mikey]

Does the voice recognition work with either your headset or a Kinect? Or is it only via a headset?