I have to share this (thanks again NeoGAF):

Tetris. Tetris. How is that even possible?

I can and did. Every game genre has some sort of endemic flaws, and this is a flaw that's been in this type of FPS RPG since FPS RPGs have existed. If you're not willing to put up with it that's totally up to you, but to me it sounds like you're playing a text adventure for the first time and complaining about the commands needing to be very specific. Like, duh?

No. Borderlands and Deus Ex: HR do not have these problems, for instance.

I legitimately don't get the combat criticism for Fallout. Annoying companions, glitches, lack of things to do (especially in Fallout 3), tons of useless items, that I all understand. I also was pretty lukewarm towards VATS mode as it really does break down the flow of the game. But I just never had problems with the real-time gunplay in the game. Whatever problems I had early on became mitigated once I found a scoped weapon.

Those aren't FPS RPGs, they're FPS's with RPG elements. Big difference. New Vegas, Fallout 3, the Elder Scrolls games, the Ultima Underworld series, etc. are all FPS RPGs, i.e. character stats play a large part in how the gameplay works out. Borderlands and Deus Ex: HR do not have character stats like agility or weapon skill or whatever determining whether or not you hit anyone.

In other news, Steam Holiday Sale starts tomorrow. Be still, my beating wallet.

The STALKER series would also be grouped along with Borderlands and Deus Ex: HR (as well as Bioshock and even The Darkness II) as FPS's with RPG-lite elements, and that one is by far the best of the bunch. Everything from realistic ballistics to (usually) brilliant A.I. to a fantastic arsenal, it's the creme de la creme of FPSs, far as I'm concerned. Although I don't think it'd be even remotely playable on a controller :-/.

failsafeman, if I bought you Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines for xmas, would you play it within the next half decade? It's so fucking good. Best mixture of "true" RPG and FPS out there (well, as long as you install the fanpatch and the widescreen mod). Killer story too, and you can even disable voice acting if you so please (although you shouldn't, because it's really, really good).

Huh? I played that like 6 months ago, with the fan patch. I liked it.

how did i not know this

Troika, mang. Although The Temple of Elemental Evil never grabbed me the way their other two did.

V:tMB was good and all, but man, it really REALLY made me wish they'd had more time and a bigger budget. As huge as the game was, it still felt oddly unfinished in some ways. Like it was just big enough and there was just enough to do to make it feel like a real city with real locations, which just made it feel small, which is annoying because what there was was really good. Also I wish they'd done more with the various clans, other than just giving you tantalizing hints - it honestly felt like you were playing a really good introductory campaign of the tabletop RPG, except for some reason you never get a chance to ever play again. I guess it's not really fair to judge it like that considering it came out before even Morrowind did, but shit, it really whet my appetite for a sequel that will probably never happen.

Wasn't another Vampire: The Masquerade game supposedly in the making some time ago?

Oh probably. Earthbound 64 was in the making some time ago too.

True, true, but I distinctly remember reading something about another Vampire RPG a year or two ago, tops. Can't find anything right now though.

I disagree about Deus Ex, it's definitely more an RPG than a shooter, but that's irrelevant anyway because they are all action-RPG hybrids anyway. The RPG elements in those RPGs are not just the stats, but also dialogue options, faction choices, quest design, crafting, yadda yadda. An RPG with real-time action combat is not excused from having bad combat just because it's an RPG. All these games are action-RPGs, it's just that Borderlands is more action than RPG and Fallout is more RPG than action. If you added character stats/attributes, crafting, dialogue choices, factions decisions, etc. to Borderlands, it'd make the game more of an RPG, but that need not sacrifice the gunplay.

Again, that's not what makes them less an RPG than Fallout.

Dark Souls is less an RPG than Skyrim, and its combat is leagues better, but that's not why it's "less an RPG" because it has plenty of number crunching; it's because of the things other than combat (there is little NPC interaction, dialogue choices etc.). On the flipside, Dragon's Dogma is definitely as much an RPG as Skyrim in this regard, yet it also has good combat. Imagine that....!

I will say that playing as a Malkavian was pretty fleshed out, with lots of unique dialog options and exclusive content; not so much the others though, especially the Toreador.

Vampire: The Masquerade Redemption came out a while before Bloodlines. It's apparently good too, although for very different reasons. Should probably give that a go soon too.

I'd probably take some of those over STALKER, but if we're talking combat... fucking yes. Every damn bullet that hits, every headshot... damn it felt so good in STALKER. Perfection. I've been wanting to revisit it with some mods, it's probably easy to just run through the story in a few hours. Didn't it have infinite fetch quests? There was definitely a lot of filler lol, but it was never that big of a deal to just keep moving forward.

Yeah, I actually played as a Malkavian, was very satisfying and cool as other vampires immediately react to your insanity. I'm amazed at how much actual role-playing they packed in. Admittedly, it's made me want to buy the old Vampire: the Masquerade RPG books and organize a gaming group

The whole thing is just so incredibly late 90s/early 00s and post-Matrix, in that everyone is angsty and wears leather and is SUPER STYLISH AND AWESOME AND IS THAT NINE INCH NAILS I HEAR IN THE BACKGROUND, but in a totally unselfconscious way that just wouldn't be done today.

Yep, some of the quests--particularly in Shadow and ESPECIALLY in Clear Sky--were weaksauce sub-Skyrim randomly generated quests with often worthless rewards. I still didn't mind them though because the shooting was just so goddamn GOOD that grinding never really felt like grinding.


Hahaha, yeahhh, it definitely does make me feel old as balls playing it today; same is true for JC Denton and his reflective sunglasses and pitch black trench coat in DE. God I remember when that was so fucking cool looking. There's no question Activision were trying to tap the VampireFreaks crowd with Bloodlines, licensing music from TheyJustCan'tUnderstandMyObsessionWithPancakeBatter groups like Genitorturers and Chiasm (<-------- wut the fuck even is this).

Ministry's original song was pretty decent though, Tiamat was pitch-perfect, and even Lacuna Coil's much-despised "Swamped" worked perfectly for the seedy strip club it played in. Really could've done with some Moonspell, but, meh. Better than most licensed music in games at the time... or even today, really.

The weird thing is that it never bugged me, at all. Even though I loathe MMO-like quests in any other game and RPG/hybrids, broken down STALKER was still very simplistic and not really true open world, yet still a bit more open than something like Deus Ex or whatnot. I have no idea what you could compare it to. It was a nice blend of everything.

It's too bad I just can't get into Metro at all though. I've tried enough times to know it'll never happen. I'm still curious about Last Light though.

Call of Pripyat beats the piss out of the other (still good) unmodded Stalker games, though. Best atmosphere, best and most balanced gameplay, great quests...I've played it through probably five times and still haven't gotten tired of it.

I wish I could play more than 5 minutes before it crashes.

So weird how most still say the original is still the most unoptimized, but I got that one running just fine on this rig as well.

Yeah that's weird, CoP is perfectly stable 99% of the time for me.

This is the most accurate criticism of that game I've seen. It rules so hard though - but yeah, it dates itself INCREDIBLY the Tiamat song playing in the Asp Hole is perfect. But, I loved the strange humor in it, the atmosphere was pretty great - but man, it just needed to be a bit bigger and fleshed out and it would be one of my faves of all time. I wish the modding community was a bit more active.

Aren't those randomly generated quests optional, though? I know they were in the original. Anyway, weirdly, I actually really like how disposable the quests are - it adds to the immersion, I think. Like if you think about it, you're just one stalker among many; if these guys had some sort of awesome unique thing, why the hell would they give it away for some dumb quest you can complete in 15 minutes? That's a very game-y mentaliy; "my time is super important and I am unique!" Instead you you bust your ass and get like, 2 clips of ammo and some food, and that makes it feel more post-apocalyptic to me. Scarcity, bitch! Then, when you actually DO get something really good, it just feels that much more rewarding, like you actually did something worthwhile in the world to EARN it.


I actually don't think so - best and most balanced gameplay sure, great quests, definitely, but I still think Shadow of Chernobyl has the best atmosphere. That feeling of mystery and danger when you descend into the underground areas for the first time with literally NO IDEA what you'll find is just untouchable. Fucking great game.

Fair point; my view may be because I played Call of Pripyat first, so when I played the other games the downgrade in mechanics annoyed me to the extent that I could never really get over it. I really ought to give the big SoC mod a shot.

Oh yeah, that would be kind of a problem. I played them in order, so it was really satisfying to have all the new mechanics layered on top of the original game. CoP definitely had great atmosphere though - that mission where you go underground into the bloodsucker lair and they're all sleeping there and you have to be vewwy vewwy quiet is great.

Also, those motherfucking chimeras:

Best atmosphere and best story definitely go to the first STALKER. CoP did most things better but not those two aspects. SoC just feels much more tightly knit regarding both narrative and world. There are very few times in it where what you're doing or the places you're visiting feel uninteresting or unimportant. It just didn't have empty open world syndrome as the other two games sometimes did with their huge, stretchy maps. Plus you were playing the most interesting and important character in the entire franchise, and there was a real feeling of gravity to your actions and discoveries, rather than being some random bloke who has to deal with aftermaths.

Plus the underground levels were perfection. X-16 scared the shit out of me as a teen, haha.

Hah, the Bloodsucker lair! My favorite thing to do in that section is make an additional save file, then load it and roll a grenade in the middle of the sleeping bloodsuckers and laugh like an idiot at the ensuing insanity.

CoP engame spoilers for anyone else reading:

PSA:

- Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition is on a daily sale on Steam right now (which means it won't get lower during this winter sale) at a measly $5.50 CAD (not sure of the US prices but it'll be lower still), 75% off. Note that it's no longer using GFWL. Now's your chance, dammit! Play the Game of the Generation, you won't regret it.

- Dark Souls II is also on a daily sale at $14.80 (66% off). Of course, if you can wait til April for that Scholar of the First Sin Edition, it's probably not worth it, but if you planned on playing it during the Holidays, now's your chance.

Now playing The Novelist. I won't say much, because it's the sort of thing that is better experienced if you have no idea what you are getting yourself into, but I will say that it has been quite a unique experience so far and that it makes me want to listen to An Autumn for Crippled Children. Make of that what you will.

Probably a bullshot... or it'll run at 20 fps. But holy fuck I'm hyper ventilating right now:



Media blackout fail on my part. But fuuuuuu I wants it Also, Blood Fashion confirmed!

Sums it up.

I love how there were even numerous parts, where you descend into some underground sections and NEVER even get into an encounter, but the atmosphere is that fucking tense that you want to get back to surface as fast as fucking possible. Then, you remember it's not safe there either.

I don't know what it is, but there was just something about the looks of this game that rocked so hard. Was it the FOV? I think one of the only things I could compare the building designs to would be Half-Life 2. Every building was so intricate, creepy, and realistic looking. Maybe it's that eerie tallness to the looks or something, but I wish more FPS's looked this awesome. That's one thing I'll knock on Fallout 3/New Vegas about, it looks like cartoony garbage compared to Half-Life 2/STALKER.

So far the Steam sale is lookin' real good. I bought Enclave (a fun little hack 'n' slash fantasy action game that I remember being pretty challenging and real good looking for the original Xbox) for $1.24, and I'm on the fence about buying Dark Souls II per Morrigan's post above, but everything else that's on sale either doesn't tickle my fancy, I've already got in my library or simply ain't cheap enough yet, so my wallet remains very happy.

Isn't that game unplayable without mods, with said mods being a huge pain in the ass?

I'd probably just rather wait until I can get a PS3 for cheap and get it for that.

Not even close. Without mods it's identical to the console versions, except with a more stable framerate and more content. With ONE super-easy-to-install mod, it's godly and the definitive version.


Okay, enjoy the more expensive and drastically inferior version with less content, then.

Not all of us have computers fit for gaming, you know, Morrigan?

I've always wanted to buy something on Steam. Alas, I have no credit cards to purchase anything and throwing money onto the screen doesn't work either.

I understand but Dark Souls is not exactly that demanding... also, I don't think that was Zelkiro's problem, otherwise he'd just have said so.

I think instead of getting back to Dragon Age I might just replay Suikoden 1-2.

It's not the game being demanding so much as the necessary computer upgrades for it being really, really expensive down here. I'd need to invest a few thousand pesos to be able to run it properly on my PC, which is just not affordable.

I love my console, but I'd definitely enjoy being able to play on PC some day.