Shelved games?

[Segaholic2]

Four Swords is awesome. Get some better friends. :P

[Trog13]

They should have done the Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles thing, unplug a gameboy and it ask you to reconnect. Instead it just says, going back to title screen, and you have to redo the level. I had a friend unplug on purpose during a boss fight because we took some of his force pieces.

[Segaholic2]

That's pretty gay. I don't understand why Four Swords is retarded in that aspect. Everything else about the game is like a billion times better than FF:CC.

[G.Silver]

Re: Sonic 3 Barrels

I can top that: I was 13. Took me a whole day to figure it out, but otherwise I'd have beaten the game in one sitting.

I was 13, but must have been like two months from 14. I don't remember how long I was stuck, but I solved the problem by plugging in a turbo controller and using the bubble shield to bounce the barrel all the way down to the bottom. I didn't find out how to do it correctly until months later.

[Light Speed]

Odd, for some reason me and my friend both just had the instinct to just press up and down until it moved enough. You guys are talking about those red and white things that spun Sonic around their circumference, right? Hell, I was only probably 8 or 9 then too. I dunno if that is the proper way, but it always worked for us and that level was the least of our problems. For some reason beating Launch Base Zone act 2 always had us racing against the clock near the end (even though we cheaply beat the bowling ball boss by using Tails). Also for some reason we always got a Time Over during Sandopolis Zone act 2. To this day I still can't beat that damn level in under 10 minutes, if I can even beat it at all.

[Green Gibbon!]

Also for some reason we always got a Time Over during Sandopolis Zone act 2. To this day I still can't beat that damn level in under 10 minutes, if I can even beat it at all.

Sandopolis is a time-consumer. I'd say it's the longest level of the entire 2D crop. I don't remember my record, but I'm positive I got the point where I could beat it within 5-6 minutes.

[Bo]

I was 11, and it took me most of an afternoon to pass the red barrel. I actually made it through the wrong way, jumping like mad, before I figured out you had to press up and down.

[aso]

Sonic & Knuckles was fillrd with long levels...

A few more games!

Warcraft III. Never even played it, really. Installed it, months went by, never played, uninstalled. And there it still sits on my shelf.

Parasite Eve II. I'm intent to finish the first PE, but the first PE bugs me for some unknown reason. So this may take a while...

Ghen War. Could never figure out how to get out on Spaceship level 2 with the switches at the beginning.

[Esrever]

I think Casino Night Act 2 still takes me the longest to beat, even knowing how to get passed those damn rotating cylinders. I don't think it's actually as long as Sandopolis Act 2, but there are so few places where you can get up to full speed... it's a slow slog.

edit: Er, yes, I DO mean Carnival Night. :)

[Spazz]

I think Casino Night Act 2 still takes me the longest to beat, even knowing how to get passed those damn rotating cylinders.

Don't you mean Carnival Night Zone?

[Popcorn]

Those damned cylinders were apparently a common problem for many, but I don't remember ever having a problem with them. I do remember, though, an awful lot of letters in Sonic the Comic about it.

I shelve a lot of games. There's a lot of games out there I really, really want to like, so I devote a lot of effort trying to; I really wish I liked Final Fantasy because I just dig all that character art and stuff, but in practice I always find FF (like most RPGs) to be a complete farce of a game and I just don't understand its mass appeal. I mean, FF7 supposedly has the best game plot ever or some shit, but if you wrote it down in a novel you'd get mocked to high fucking hell; and since a hell of a lot of people claim they only play FF for the stories... I think the universe is under some kind of mass delusion. FF7, 8, 9 and 10 are all on my shelf in varying stages of completion. Meanwhile, Sukoden III just sucks.

Other games I eventually give up on due to a mysterious lack of motivation-- Gregory Horror Show and Disgaea are both titles I enjoy when I play but can't really be fucked with. Thinking about it, it's been a really damn long time since I played a game and really totally fucking adored it... the last example I think I can give is Ico. There've been others I've liked and really liked since, but rare is it that something completely blows me away like Ico and Shenmue did.

I want Shenmue III.

[Ngangbius]

I hardly ever shelved games because they're too hard. I usually do it because I buy a new game and start playing that one instead.

Heh heh, I'm mostly in the same situation. There always a game that I'm in the middle of playing and then I find out that a game I've had in pre-order for a while has just came out so I play the instead. Most of the games I've get are RPGs so it's a little bit tougher to get back into them than other games since by the time I do get into them, I've forgotten some of the storyline.

Also, I seem to enjoy the internet much more than video games so it steals my precious game time.

Games I've shelved as of now:

~~Final Fantasy VIII(and I will most likely won't bother to complete it either)
~~Star Ocean 2: Second Story(meh, it's probably better to start a whole new game anyway since I had it in '99)
~~Pokemon: Gold
~~Suikoden II
~~Grandia Xtreme
~~Super Mario Sunshine
~~Klonoa: Door Into Phantomile(though this is more of my PS2's fault)
~~Suikoden III
~~Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga(the final boss was getting on my nerves with this one tricky jumping manuver)
~~Xenosaga

[-wyvern]

I can understand you shelving final fantasy 8. The draw system is beyond tedious.

[Squirrelknight]

Games I have "shelved":

- Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: I'm right at the point before the final dungeon... I'm just too lazy to go through with it.
- Prince of Persia: Sands of Time: At the light puzzle. Never tried it yet, I'm just not in the mood to play it.
- Splinter Cell: Got it free with PoP, played a couple of levels and never touched the thing again. Oh well.
- Megaman Network Transmission: FUCKING GUTSMAN GO TO HELL

That's pretty much it... I just managed to track down a copy of Zelda: Collector's Edition, and having beaten all of those games in the past, I don't think I'll be playing the disc much outside of nostalgia purposes.

[Green Gibbon!]

Meanwhile, Sukoden III just sucks.

That's just a plain incorrect statement.

[Light Speed]

Games I have "shelved":

- Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: I'm right at the point before the final dungeon... I'm just too lazy to go through with it.
- Prince of Persia: Sands of Time: At the light puzzle. Never tried it yet, I'm just not in the mood to play it.

Me and my friend got to the final dungeon then stopped playing the game for about a month. When we finally got around to playing it again we realized how retardly difficult the ending was in comparison to the rest of the game. The first area was ok, but the second part of the last dungeon had these things that broke your crystal. I dunno who here played FFCC, but if your crystal wasn't repelling the miasma you were fucked. So instead of fighting we just ran through the dungeon dodging everything we could. Then we get to the boss and I know this game isn't very challenging, but I'll be damned if that wasn't an intense ten minute boss battle. We were equipping shit during the fight which is a bitch with the gameboy cause you were vunerable. Anyway after that died we had to get quizzed on our memories from the game. If we answered wrong we had to fight the memories. Anyway, we hadn't played in a month so we were lucky to get 3 out of 5. Then we fogutht he first form and killed him, pretty easy. Then the last form for some stupid ass reason could kill me in one hit, all 7 hearts even though my friend with maybe 5 more defense lost only 3.5 hearts. Basically I couldnt stop moving to do anything (I was specialized for magic) I couldn't cure or do anything or I'd die. Of course after dying the first time all our pheonix downs were gone and we didn't get them back the second time. We tried maybe 10 or 15 times and said fuck it. So SquirrellKnight you definately made the right choice.

As for Prince of Persia, I rank that in my top 5 if not my number 1. I had such a great time playing that game. I dunno what light puzzle you are talking about, but none of them are that hard.

[Squirrelknight]

Yeah, after the first few years (gameplay time) of FFCC, it starts to get boring... I have to force myself to play it now, even for half an hour or less.

The light puzzle I speak of is in that libraby-ish looking place. You have to reallign the mirrors to reflect the beams of light. It's a very Zelda-ish puzzle. I say that because that puzzle has been in the last two Zelda games :P, and probably every adventure game since. Still, PoP is an awesome game, and I always enjoy myself when I play it, but I'm rarely in the mood to play it.

I've fallen into another rut where all I feel like doing is playing PSO and sleeping. This happens from time to time.

[Green Gibbon!]

I think a much better topic of discussion would be: what games have you finished recently? I think by and large the majority of gamers only finish a fraction of what they start, I think it's always been that way, and people always treat it like it's a revelation.

The only game I've actually finished this year (aside from Sonic) was Maximo 2, which really isn't that great, it's just the easiest one to pick up and finish. I think I read a review somewhere that said something very similar about it.

Before that, the last game I'd finished was Sly Cooper. Before that, it was Arc the Lad Twilight.

[Light Speed]

I usually finish all my games. This year however I haven't finished many. I'm about 2 hours away from completing Ninja Gaiden, but for some reason I can only play that game in hour intervals, give or take a bit. I finished Sonic Heroes, against my will. Prince of Persia and Star Wars: Jedi Academy. I bought Beyond Good and Evil several months ago and have yet to start it, same with Rainbow Six 3 (I played it online a lot thought) and I just got XIII and played the first three levels. I also bought Splinter Cell 2, but only for the online play. I have no intention of even starting the single player campaign. Basically the only game I've started this year and haven't finished or intend on finishing is Crystal Chronicles. You guys already know why.

[Trog13]

Games I've completely finished this year would be:

- Sly Cooper, 100% finished this one, but some of the extras freeze when I watch them.
- Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles, we played for like, 4 straight days and went through a million batteries. Game's only fun with 3 or more players.
- Mario Kart Double Dash, got all the characters and stuff.
- Metal Gear Solid 2 Substance, I've beaten the game, just not all the extra stuff.

I'm getting close to the end of Splinter cell and a few other games. I guess I'll go work on that.

[Popcorn]

Okay, y'know, I really want to like Suikoden III. You gotta help me like it. The potential is there for me to like it. I hardly got any distance into it at all, but I'm so crap at RPGs and menus and bollocks I just can't progress. Go on, give me advice. Make me bleed. I did get my PS2 chipped especially for it, so that's £75 gone to waste if you can't.

[Green Gibbon!]

Bite the bullet, you big pussy. You're too smart to be afraid of menus. It isn't like that "semi realtime" Final Fantasy shit, these enemies will sit and wait for you to plan and execute your attack. The combat in Suikoden honestly isn't that deep, you can compose a party of pretty much whoever you want and go anywhere with it. In all three games I made a habit of forming an all-girl entourage and I only ever had trouble when they forced party members who I hadn't used in six dungeons onto my team, and they stopped doing that in Suikoden 3.

Suikoden honestly does have the most sophisticated, intelligent storyline of any game I've ever played. That's really the driving factor. There are no heroes and villains, the antagonists in Suikoden are the very believable conflicts between people. This works especially well in Suikoden 3, where you get to see different chunks of story through the eyes of three different people. You'll play a chapter as one side and absolutely view the other side as your enemy, then you play through the other side and then you're all like: "Oh, so that's why they did that. But those other guys still have reason to be angry, so... well fuck, they're both right."

The politics and characters are complex and expertly weaved together. It absolutely blows my mind, I can't even begin to imagine how you tie such a deep world with so many different factions and characters into a congruent story. It's masterfully done.

The way I see it, if you have the patience for Shenmue (and just because it requires patience doesn't make it a bad game), you should have the patience for Suikoden.

[Esrever]

I think Pop might be a lost cause. I know I am. I have about zero patience for RPGs, no matter how brilliant they are, no matter how good the story is. If you find the gameplay boring, you find the gameplay boring, and I don't understand people who play games where they have to endure the gameplay, rather than enjoy it. Of course, if you LIKE turn based combat then that's not going to be a problem! But I don't, and there isn't any story compelling enough to make me wade through it. I get the impression that Pop is in the same boat.

The last game I finished was Sonic Advance 3. Since December, I've completed I-Ninja, Sonic Heroes, Mario Kart: Double Dash, Beyond Good and Evil, Splinter Cell and Mario Sunshine. In that same period, I have started playing (but not completed) SSX3, Metroid Prime (almost done though!), Burnout 2, Billy Hatcher, Sonic Battle, Metal Arms, and F-Zero.

Except for Hatcher and Battle, I really like all of those games and will probably finish them someday, but when you have so many different games going simultaneously, you don't progress in any one very fast.

[Ngangbius]

Since the past two years, the only games I've bothered/had the motivation of finishing from the earliest to latest.

~~Final Fantsy X
~~Kingdom Hearts
~~LoZ: Wind Waker
~~Wild Arms 3
~~ICO
~~Jak & Daxter

Seems pretty weak compared to how many games I've completed ten years ago. But that was a different time period when I had more free time and hardly any 'net access.

Suikoden honestly does have the most sophisticated, intelligent storyline of any game I've ever played. That's really the driving factor. There are no heroes and villains, the antagonists in Suikoden are the very believable conflicts between people. This works especially well in Suikoden 3, where you get to see different chunks of story through the eyes of three different people. You'll play a chapter as one side and absolutely view the other side as your enemy, then you play through the other side and then you're all like: "Oh, so that's why they did that. But those other guys still have reason to be angry, so... well fuck, they're both right."

The politics and characters are complex and expertly weaved together. It absolutely blows my mind, I can't even begin to imagine how you tie such a deep world with so many different factions and characters into a congruent story. It's masterfully done.

Which makes me wonder why Konami hardly advertised this franchise in the West. I mean Squenix and Namco advertised Final Fantasy and Xenosaga respectively. Konami also heavliy advertise there other franchise like MGS and Castlevania, but there is hardly a peep on the Suikoden series.

[Popcorn]

It's not so much that I'm 'afraid' of menus, it's just I find navigating through them to do stuff to generally be a really bizarre and alienating experience. I mean, sticking a menu in there is like the exact opposite of intuitive control... you might as well phone your character up and tell him to use the Super Potion for all the sense it makes.

Basically I really have no idea what's really going on Suikoden's combat at any given time... or what any of the items are supposed to fucking do. Every RPG has this problem; the same damn items are all called different (and increasingly stupid) names in every different RPG in a really lame attempt differentiate themselves from other titles. The first few minutes of most RPGs I play are spent exclusively trying to work out what this particular game's version of a Potion is or whatever, but in Suikoden the problem's further compounded by the fact that the only explanation for items you get is shit like "Improves equipped STD but lowers BSE, CNN and HIV"... and, well-- what you have to understand here is that the majority of these games seem to have been built on the assumption that the average player will have played thousands of identical games of this genre in the past, so as someone who took until the age of 15 before he could stop himself imupulse vomiting at the term "ATP", they don't make it easy for me. It's a very difficult genre to break into if you're new at this stuff, and I still say this genre needs to fucking grow up.

But I try harder.

Suikoden honestly does have the most sophisticated, intelligent storyline of any game I've ever played.

This may well be true, but I'd probably need to get more than an hour into it to find out. However, the dialogue displayed by those kids in the attic alone does make your claims rather unbelievable.

And Shenmue didn't require patience 'cause it was LOVELY.