General Games Discussion

Don't buy it yet. Gonna think if it's BO3 or SP i'm getting lol

Bespin isn't out till summer according to DICE

Outer Rim is decent but only thing intresting is that extraction game mode & the hero/villain

Thinking

april: BO3
may: UC4
june: BF (bespin)

Only reason i want is for new heroes and weapons lol, couldn't cares less about the new maps tbh

Outer Rim that is.

but I want BO3 badly atm lmao can't get both this month as I got tons of other stuff i'm buying..

Don't you have BO3 aswell?

Need that S&D fix badly

I do yeah, only played it for zombies so far

https://i.imgur.com/TNuqo4Y.png

If they do this shit i'm sticking to Battlefront for another *bleep* year fml lmao

Unless BF WW1 comes out this year

That Shinobi guy knows his shit so I'd take it as Gospel truth tbh.

should just *bleep* remaster the 3 goat cod games and watch the money rack up ffs

Money is gonna rack up anyway lol, that's the problem they are not really in the position where they need to do it so they won't.

Yeah i know the 3 remaster cod is probably their plan C when new cod start selling shit and they abandon the franchise or some shit..

But yeah think i'll get BO3 in a few days then SP when Bespin is out during summer or if/when we get tired of UC4 MP

#79

Game: Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom.
Year: 1991.
Genre: RPG.
Publisher: Sega.
Developer: Sega.



First things first, I am changing my rating system to better rate different genres according to their own rules. It will still be from 50 quality points, but every title will start from 25 and earn/lose points according to criteria important to the titles and genres themselves.

Among Phantasy Star fans, the third game in the series is usually derided for being different than the rest, and is considered inferior to the second and the fourth game. Finding Phantasy Star II to be a terribly aged experience, I cam into this game with some reservations. Anything that is considered "inferior" to that game would be damn near unplayable.

Yet, I found a significantly better game in Phantasy Star III, one that while retaining some of its predecessor's major faults still manages to push the envelope RPGs in general. Ironically, this game might feature one of the earliest misguided fanboy tantrums in videogame history.

"We are the keepers of our people's history"

The major change that ticked Phantasy Star fans off was replacing the Sci-fi setting to something more similar to medieval fantasy but with clear remnants of that space-faring past. It flagged the game as yet another standard RPG, instead of the unique setting of the series.

For me, the fact that PSII's setting was poorly used (it could have been set in a bathtub and it would work), makes this a non-issue.

Clearly, this third entry works much better in a story-level. While retaining the poor quality dialogue and minimal character interaction, the game's central premise makes the player much more involved with the game. Phantasy Star III takes place in three generations, and in each generation, the main character can marry. Essentially, this is one of the earliest choices in RPG history, and it has noticeable difference in the game even if the endings are not as drastically different.

Apparently, the space-faring age came to an end due to the sereis's big bad, Dark Force. Then, a war broke out between the people of Orakio, and Laya. Early on, we learn that Layans are the scume of the earth. However, the plot unravels in a way as to question that assumption. Immediately, this is much more engrossing than the Dam hunting escapades of the second game, even if there is just as little exposition.

Generations Mechanics: +4
Limited Dialogue: -1

"I can see the pity and confusion in your eyes"

A lot of the time you will spend in Phantasy Star III is divided between two things, grinding, and looking in confusion for where you need to go next. Even though this is a linear game (when not choosing who to marry), there are still difficulties in finding where you need to go next. The map the game gives you is pitifully inadequate, and sometimes the game's environment adds insult to injury.

One entrance for a cave is hidden under the snow, and there is no physical indication of its existence whatsoever. If someone is not lucky enough to find it, they might search for hours to look for it. Especially since they do not know what they are actually looking for.

This issue is actually exacerbated in this sequel, but is made better with the decreased random encounter rate.

Other issues of the past game still remain. Grinding for one thing is just as important as it was, but at least new characters are not as useless. Outside of battle, trying to navigate the game's many menus still is a labyrinthine task. With everything taking thrice as much as it should.

Thankfully, this time around you won't need a GPS system to navigate the game's dungeons, as they are made much better.

Caveman Design: -4
Grinding: -2

"Come back here you dragon-spawn of Laya"

Outside of the mindless grinding battles against the bottom feeders, the battle system in PSIII actually manages to be tactical and interesting. Far more so than PSII, which is one possible reason some didn't like it. It actually necessitated planning your party's equipment more so than buying the best stuff.

It changes things from normal by adding enemy position, changing the spell system, and by the fact there are no misses or critical hits in the game.

With enemy positions, weapons have different attacking range. Some weapons weakly hit all enemies in a row, while other pierce through the first row and hit the back. Generally, the prime result you should look for is being able to finish each battle in one round.

To do that, you will want to utilize the spells in your disposal. Unique to this game, is the fact that all spells for each character are unlocked from the start, but get stronger with leveling up. Additionally, you can change the balance for those spells. This means you can increase the strength of one spell at the expense of the others. Initially, you would want a balanced healer for instance, but once you get two of them, you would want specialize more.

Back to the one round rule, once you understand the battle system, you realize you could finish most battles in one round only. Through a clever combination of weapons that can hit multiple enemies, and one hit strong attacks, you can game the system on your favor. But you can even go further than that.

For instance, you can equip your front tank with two shields, making sure you spend minimal time in the archaic menus healing yourself. As for spells, you can either upgrade the spell that hit multiple enemies to prepare them to be mowed down by your melee attackers, or have a slow caster specialize on one target spells to kill that extra strong enemy at the end of the round.

This all combines to make a battle system that is engrossing if you take the time to understand it, even if it appears chaotic and confusing at first.

Good Battle System: +4

"You used and escapepipe, normally a smart move but you will need to restart the game"

Eve though this game was released only 1 year after Phantasy Star II, it nearly looks a generation better than that game. Sprites are more detailed throughout, and the environment, while less interesting, is much more detailed than before.

In the battle system, we no longer see the backs of our characters, but the enemy sprites are more varied well designed, and there is actually varied backgrounds instead of one black screen.

Generally, the game's presentation is acceptable for its time, even if the overall design is a bit stale and repetitive. Looking back at what I thought of PSIIs graphics, I cannot believe I was as generous as I was.

Musically, the same trend continues, with higher number of tracks of higher quality. However, these tracks do lack the catchy nature of its predecessor. One thing of note though is how battles feature more than one battle track, with planning phase and attack phase each having a different tune.

Graphics: +3
Sound: +2

In Conclusion:

Sometimes in gaming history, you go back to a much maligned game and do not understand what all the fuss was about. Clearly, Phantasy Star III is a much better game than Phantasy Star II, yet it consistently gets lower ratings, and is derided by fans of the series as an inferior game.

With its unique generation mechanics, and its overall better presentation, this is a better sequel, and one with enough qualities to offset the many sins of its age.

Final: 32/50

"Tips"
1- Save before you make any marriage decision in a different spot. Maybe you would like to go back to see another ending.
2- Make sure you rebalnce your spells for what you need.
3- Many spells are cheap to use, so don't be stingy with them.
4- Generally, offense is the best form of defense, so prioritize having better weapons over defensive gear.

"Next Game"

This game actually gives me hope in Phantasy Star IV. After experiencing the second game, I was beginning to think the series is just hyped by Genesis fans against the mighty Final Fantasy series, but this is actually a good (if a bit aged game).

Next in the list is ARPG and the first of many Treasure games on this list, Light Crusader @ 65. Here is hoping for a good time.

Stay Tuned

Thierry Henry is currently playing the new DOOM with other athletes, Rooster Teeth, and some gamers.
LIVE STREAM:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-kfIrneQWE

Holy shit, I actually thought I was seeing things when I saw Henry pop up on the Doom stream. My brain shut down for a few seconds because I couldn't comprehend what my eyes were showing me.

For anyone that wants to watch the event (starts at ~33 minutes in):


Fair warning: As much as I enjoy RoosterTeeth/Achievement Hunter and their content, they don't know a damned thing about footy... like how to properly pronounce Henry's name.

Another leaked survey about Mass Effect ES it sounds really interesting

Damn that delay

Definitely seems like Sony are going to announce the Sony 4K thing at E3, if some of the insider info on NeoGAF is any indication.

Won't mention the games they are going to announce alongside it because it would be a disgusting spoiler

E3 should be good this year with Nintendo's new system and now this, would expect Microsoft to follow suit as well tbh.

I would expect Microsoft to introduce a new feature to Xbone, that instantly downgrades the console to an Xbox elite, as soon as kinect doesn't detect a nearby credit card. Or something along those lines

Oh, and sports.

If they sell Sony PS4K at full price

RealGunner wrote:If they sell Sony PS4K at full price

Same price as when the PS4 came out apparently, so 350. I expected it tbh. They was never going to make an advancement in tech and sell it for knockdown price out of goodness of their hearts.

This is the thing that worries me about it, if this is going to be a thing for now on when do you ever stop upgrading.

According to the leak the PS4K is going to be priced at what the PS4 was at launch, but if they decide add a better CPU they will price it 100 bucks higher.

I'm not going to leak the games either for sake of wanting to avoid spoiling people, but NeoGAF is in meltdown about this news, which is surprising because I thought they were all Sony lovers.

I guess fanboyism really does have a limit

Jonathan28 wrote:I'm not going to leak the games either for sake of wanting to avoid spoiling people, but NeoGAF is in meltdown about this news, which is surprising because I thought they were all Sony lovers.

I guess fanboyism really does have a limit

Yeah most of them think it will split the userbase, i don't really share that concern personally.

My issue is when do the incremental upgrades stop, but that's a personal problem and not really on the likes of Sony and Microsoft tbh.

It's like when you have a PC when do you know when to stop upgrading lol, not sure i know how to control myself. That's my only concern but we are going to find out anyway.

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:

Jonathan28 wrote:I'm not going to leak the games either for sake of wanting to avoid spoiling people, but NeoGAF is in meltdown about this news, which is surprising because I thought they were all Sony lovers.

I guess fanboyism really does have a limit

Yeah most of them think it will split the userbase, i don't really share that concern personally.

My issue is when do the incremental upgrades stop, but that's a personal problem and not really on the likes of Sony and Microsoft tbh.

It's like when you have a PC when do you know when to stop upgrading lol, not sure i know how to control myself. That's my only concern but we are going to find out anyway.

Tbh I'm fine with the idea, I said it back when Phil Spencer hinted at MS doing something similar, but I can see why people are pissed. Most people have only just bought a PS4 or XB1 in the past 1-2 years after saving up, and now there's strong speculation that that console is about to be made redundant soon and they need to save up again to buy another one if they want to keep up with the tech. This generation of consoles hasn't even hit it's stride yet in the games department and we're already being asked to invest into new consoles.

People try to compare this to the mobile phone model but it's a moronic comparison, mobile phones are an essential part of life, you NEED to have a mobile phone with you to function in today's world, consoles however are a luxury item, you can easily do without one, and asking people to drop £350 every few years on a new console like they would a phone is stupid and honestly very suicidal.

This shit could easily blow up in Sony and MS' faces and honestly I think it will.

Well i can understand why people are pissed tbf, agree with that completely.

Although the people on the internet who are pissed are the same people who are probably going to be waiting in line to buy it

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:Well i can understand why people are pissed tbf, agree with that completely.

Although the people on the internet who are pissed are the same people who are probably going to be waiting in line to buy it

Haha yeah, no doubt the loud hardcore you see online will probably dip in, it's the silent majority of more casual gamers who I worry about. This shit is probably not going to fly with them.