What are you playing, stupid?

[max_cady]

I just started playin' Enslaved: Odyssey to the West. About 40 minutes in. So far, it's pretty good. The game engine in particular is pretty stunning. Even by 2010 standards.

[SOUP]

Ninja Theory make some pretty nice looking games for sure.
Enslaved has a few glitches here and there, but the overall game makes up for it .

I'm still playing through that final chapter of Yakuza: Dead Souls. It was getting a bit late last night, and I wanted to make sure I could enjoy the ending to the fullest, so I took a break at the save point.

[max_cady]

I found some screwball glitches here and there on Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, but nothing too serious.

I've been playin' a lot of Urban Terror lately... I suck as a sniper.

[CrazyT]

I had started Batman Arkham Asylum since a while ago. Bought it during the steam summer sales and yeah, amazing game.

Also recently bought Tales of abyss on the 3ds. I'm a big Tales of series fan and I am really satisfied with this port.

[max_cady]

It's been a bit weird.

I put Enslaved on hold very briefly to play a bit of Resonance of Fate. Just to remind myself to do one last complete playthrough next week. My characters are pretty beefed up and if all goes well I can do the entire Story in 10 hours... or maybe less.

After that I got back to Enslaved. I'm already at chapter 9, I don't know how long I got left to finish, but hopefully all should go well from here on end. These last chapters have been pretty good. Some pretty clever puzzles all around, I took down one major boss and it felt really good. I don't want to give much of the plot away, but early on I had a sinkin' feeling in my gut that something was going to go terribly wrong in this quest. Now I've talked about the graphics, but one thing that gets to me, is the facial expressions, Monkey is decentely animated enough, but Trip is the real eye-catcher. It's not on the same level as LA Noire, but it's almost as good. Kudos to whoever was in charge of animating the actress's facial expressions. Everything from the eyes, to even minor lip movement.

[SOUP]

@Max Cady: You should definitely check out the facial animations they pulled off in Heavenly Sword.  Ninja Theory knows how to pull off performance capture.

Since I've beaten Yakuza: Dead Souls, I've been playing more on the portable side of things. Mostly Super Princess Peach on the DS, and Final Fantasy VIII on the PSP.

I also gave Sound Shapes a try on the PS3.

[CrazyT]

So how are you enjoying final fantasy VIII thus far? Not gonna lie and say that I think it's the worst in the series. Everything about it was great from the story to the visuals to the music, but the gameplay felt tedious to me personally. I remember really trying to love it, but when I finished it, I felt that I enjoyed the game way too little. I don't know whether I played it wrong, but I would use summons most of the time because they were the most effective, the button mashing part only made it worse 

[Kori-Maru]

Playing some Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing. Then I'm off to play some Sakura Wars: So Long My Love. So far I'm on Chapter 3 where you meet Rosita and fight this Jason Voorhees lookin dude with a sword in his head. He's a bit slow because of that and when Suburu mocked his intelligences, he bonks his head on the screen. Nobody can stop his thick brain lol.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGgAODwJS6g[/youtube]

[SOUP]

So how are you enjoying final fantasy VIII thus far? Not gonna lie and say that I think it's the worst in the series. Everything about it was great from the story to the visuals to the music, but the gameplay felt tedious to me personally. I remember really trying to love it, but when I finished it, I felt that I enjoyed the game way too little. I don't know whether I played it wrong, but I would use summons most of the time because they were the most effective, the button mashing part only made it worse 

I'm not too sure what I think of it honestly. I'm 4 hours in, and the Junction system still doesn't make a ton of sense to me. It's pretty nice looking for a PSOne game though, and the story seems interesting so far. I've got some pretty low expectations, but we'll see how it goes.

[max_cady]

Almost done with Enslaved: Odyssey to the West.

I met a new character, [spoiler]Pigsy, who is this obese sharpshooter that has a fetish with pig puns. I met him shortly after getting into this lair. And in these last two chapters he has been bizarelly convinced that Trip and Monkey are in love or something. To the point of not even registering the simple fact that Monkey is only doing all of this because of the slave headband.

Now, here's the funny thing, you guys, this is a western take on the classic Chinese story, but as much as I can't look away, the similarities with Dragon Ball are just borderline insane. Some of those energy orbs that you find are in the shape of a ring of beads and spin around just like... The Dragon Balls from the cartoon.
[/spoiler]

[CosmicCastaway]

Well, Dragon Ball was also inspired by Journey to the West. That's why you are seeing some similarities max_cady. 

[CrazyT]

I'm not too sure what I think of it honestly. I'm 4 hours in, and the Junction system still doesn't make a ton of sense to me. It's pretty nice looking for a PSOne game though, and the story seems interesting so far. I've got some pretty low expectations, but we'll see how it goes.

Haha well good luck with that. Looking forward to your impressions once close or passed the end.

[SOUP]

@Max_Cady: Yeah, just like CosmicCastaway says, they're both inspired by the same source material.

@CrazyTails: I'll be sure to let you know. I made a bit more progress last night, and things are picking up story-wise.

[max_cady]

And that's a wrap. I finished Enslaved: Odyssey of the West a few minutes ago. It was a very fun ride. Many things can be said 'bout it, one of them is: "One of the most criminally overlooked games ever."

It does everything right. Not too complex with platforming, puzzles are just right, characters are great, even featuring such a small cast. Excellent set-pieces all around. Graphics are amazing, even by 2010 standards. It loses a few points for being a bit repetitive and some weird bugs, but it does everything right!

[SOUP]

There've been a few of those games this generation.
Shadows of the Damned, Mirror's Edge, Child of Eden, Sin & Punishment 2, and Ivy the Kiwi pop into mind right away.

That's not even going into a lot of the portable releases.