The Old Sony Megathread

[TKz]

So I'm playing Metal Gear 4 through for the first time after getting a PS3 and MGS4 for Xmas and jesus christ, this takes the whole 'lol metal gear has long cutscenes' to a new limit. Don't get me wrong, I fucking love the game and the cutscenes are great, but I swear this game is litteraly 60% cutscene, 40% gameplay. The one at the end of Act 3 was ATLEAST half an hour.

I've just reached ACT 4 and...

Spoiler: Click here to view

Holy shit! Shadow Moses! Awesome upon Awesome! Not only that, but the flashback where you play MGS1 is so fun. All the little audio flashbacks are great as well. It's insanely cool being back here, but the lil' Sensors that move around and stuff were fucking annoying. ¬_¬ in the end I just went batshit insane with my Grenade Launcher, ran around until I found the crawlspace and ran. Just reached the part where you go to Otacons former work station and the GEKKO appears.

Also, MGS1 Polygon Camo = Great.

[TheArsenal]

I just played to the start of Act 4 the other day, and I've gotta say that cutscene your talking about was definately in excess of 45 minutes.

[TKz]

I will admit, the RAGING RAVEN fight and the sequences before it, coupled with the awesomeness that was "BANG BANG" made it acceptable. But jesus, 45 minitues? This is the only game where I don't play all the time for fear that I won't be able to stop because of the half hour long cutscenes.

Also, regaring pre-Act 4 stuff...

Spoiler: Click here to view

The boss fights are suprisingly freaky. ¬_¬ Laughing Octupus had me jumping all over the place and Laughing Beauty just plain scared me. I quite like the Drebins Points system, it makes running out of ammo in the middle of a gunfight much less annoying. Also my mate told me about a code that you enter instead of the actual code (when Otacon asks you for the code) that get's you a 20% discount.

Raiden versus Vamp was all kinds of awesome if for no reason other than they made Raiden cool. And last of all, Naomi is all kinds of confusing with her betrayel shit. What I got from the cutscene was that she wants to see her research complete? I'm 80% certain she's not just a bad guy, just the usual scientist 'THINK OF HOW MANY PEOPLE WE CAN HELP' type. Still, her heel turn was a shocker.

[AJ]

I've ordered myself a 320gb hard drive. I'll report back on how installing it into the PS3 went later in the week if anyone's interested.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

MGS4...

Spoiler: Click here to view

Yeah there are a couple of 45+ minute cutscenes but I found myself watching them totally spellbound. Better than MGS3 which slipped too often into old photos of the cold war etc which wasn't so interesting but MGS4 has some heart-jerking moments and it has the added bonus that it's tying all the lose ends together.

Going back to Shadow Moses was utterly incredible. The snow storm amazed me more than any other game in total I think. The boss fight is a little easy though if you lie under the truck and remain patient.

I agree about freaky bosses though. Octopus really freaked me out and Mantis is just creepy.

These are good things though. Alongside Pro Evo, now I've finished the magnificent Mirror's Edge I think I just need to return to Fallout 3 and put in some more hours there and then I can finally return to MGS4 and play through again. Whooo!

[TheArsenal]

Hamster.... I've heard totally differing opinions on Mirror's Edge. Gimme a review, Japanese GameStation stylee.....

[Baddar]

Colourful.

I've heard it's good but repetitive. I'm not really interested in it to be honest, so I won't be buying it.

[Liam]

Chapter 7 in Valkyria Chronicles can suck my fucking cock.

If thats the one with the big tank and such. Yeah....yes it is.

Was one of the first levels I really struggled on, but there are tactics that work if you follow them. Most importantly, try and move your squad back towards the home base in the first couple of turns, outside of tanks/lancers, always have a scout about for radiator damage, don't deploy anyone in the first base (as it gets destroyed in Turn 1) and primarily keep on the right of the big tank, so that when Selvaria comes to attack, you should be out of her eyeline and be in a position to destroy the tank before she does any serious damage. That, and with the people back at homebase (a mix of shocktroopers and lancers will do you good), you can also take out a lot of the back-up with Selveria and blow up the tank, with help from the Edelweiss.

[TKz]

MGS4...

Spoiler: Click here to view

Yeah there are a couple of 45+ minute cutscenes but I found myself watching them totally spellbound. Better than MGS3 which slipped too often into old photos of the cold war etc which wasn't so interesting but MGS4 has some heart-jerking moments and it has the added bonus that it's tying all the lose ends together.

Going back to Shadow Moses was utterly incredible. The snow storm amazed me more than any other game in total I think. The boss fight is a little easy though if you lie under the truck and remain patient.

I agree about freaky bosses though. Octopus really freaked me out and Mantis is just creepy.

These are good things though. Alongside Pro Evo, now I've finished the magnificent Mirror's Edge I think I just need to return to Fallout 3 and put in some more hours there and then I can finally return to MGS4 and play through again. Whooo!

Yeah, I can understand taking a break from Metal Gear, I've been dedicating some time to getting futher in GTA4 because I feel like I'll completely burn myself out if I keep playing it all the time.

As for Fallout 3, I think I'm the only PS3 owner in the world that doesn't find it that great. I dunno, maybe I was just expecting more but after buying it and clocking a few hours on the game, I just didn't really find myself having much fun. Which is odd because I love Oblivion. (I actually went out and bought a PS3 copy even though I've beaten it on PC) I dunno, maybe I didn't invest enough time into it but it just didn't seem to keep my interest. The graphic were a suprising let down as well thinking about it, I was expecting a lot more but it's true that the PS3 version is really a let down in the 'Oooh, Pretty' department. Maybe that's just because I've not got a HD TV, but all my other games still look great regardless of that fact.

Speaking of Oblivion, can anyone remind me where the hell all the side-quests went? I seem to remember there being a shitload in the main city, but I've talked to loads of people and can't find any of them. :z I've got a feeling I've got to do the fighters guild/mage guild/thief guild/dark brotherhood stuff before more quests open up but I'm sure that's not right.

EDIT: More MGS4, I fucking love Otacon.

Spoiler: Click here to view

"Alright snake, time to change disk! do you see the disk labelled, 2?"

"...No?"

"Oh, right we're on PS3! What an age we live in, huh?"

"Dammit Otacton, get a grip!"

Edited January 5, 2009 by TKz

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Fallout 3 is great, but it's not as good as Oblivion. I like the theme, I like the vibe but it's not as interesting or full of life.

Of course both games have got totally different histories, the only link is the developer. If they werent developed by the same company there would be nothing to link 'em really.

And as for a review of Mirror's Edge - behind MGS4, for me it is the best game of the year.

It's utterly stunning and the cleanliness of the graphics is a refreshing change from the usual grimy stuff. You feel like you're athletic but fragile - perfect.

The first person mode is excellent and it helps you feel the flow really well as you run, make jumps and fight.

My heart rate went up so often while I was playing it. You're cruising along well and then UGH! Here come the cops! Then it goes all frantic, the music picks up, glass shatters as five heavily armed SWAT types open fire on you with their assault rifles as you run and jump to grab onto a ledge.

When you string a run together perfectly it's just brilliant, especially when under fire. Indeed there's a part where these ninja cops appear and start to chase you when you have to climb all these blocks to higher ground. The standard cops can't follow you so you can take your time between each jump but these guys are even more athletic than you and so you've just got to keep moving, jumping, running, higher and higher. Really stomach-churning stuff.

So you're running around outside and there's a red door and you have to go through it and you don't know what's on the other side but still you charge into it, kick it or shoulder barge it open, the camera jolts back so for a second you can't see where you're going but you keep running and you're in a stark, clean office block corridor then you run some more in peace and then another door and crash, you're back outside with a helicopter circling overhead and more SWAT waiting for you.

Seriously it's a special special game.

My only gripes - firstly the fiddlier parts where you're in a smaller area and have to make intricate jumps and leaps to get to where you need to go.

Secondly there's a "boss" fight. Fighting works well when you're just charging someone, ducking, grabbing the gun, knocking them out and then dropping their gun before running again....But when you have to participate in fisticuffs for more than a few seconds it's not so slick...Still it's only one part of a level so it's not too bad.

It's massively trial and error so if you hate that then it's not so good but I'm fine with that cos it makes success all the sweeter.

As a warning I must remind you that this is coming from someone who really likes Assassin's Creed, owns a game about taking photos of animals in Africa, enjoys Bladestorm, the Way of the Samurai series and thinks that Heavenly Sword is brilliant. Also I play Cycling MANAGEMENT games, love Persona 3, have a cricket management game for my PSP and love Locoroco and Patapon.

I'm not always particularly mainstream in my gaming tastes (although looking at the games in Japan I'm as straight down the middle as it comes!)

[Liam]

Was Bladestorm any good? I thought it was just basically Dynasty Warriors in a different setting?

Persona 3 is one of the main reasons I wish I had a backwards compatible PS3.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

What Bladestorm has going for it (apart from being able to be the English and fight the French all day long) is that you can run around yourself or control squads of men with different weaponry and unit skills such as swordsmen, cavalry, longbowmen, crossbows, claymores, pikemen etc etc and control them as well as yourself, getting them to charge, retreat, attack etc and there's battles going on everywhere so you can join in fights as you see fit.

It's not gonna win any awards and doesn't deserve to but it's loads of fun for a burst here and there.

[Toe]

Am I the only person who cannot get into Metal Gear Solid 4?

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Am I the only person who cannot get into Metal Gear Solid 4?

What? Are you gay or something?!

[Liam]

I didn't buy it, because I don't like it.

What have you got to say about that, Hammy?!

[Dan]

Metal Gear Solid 4 was awesome.

[TheArsenal]

MGS4 is the most awesome thing since awesome. And Naomi is pretty damn hot for a lady who ain't real. There, I said it.

[King Ellis]

I didn't buy it, because I don't like it.

What have you got to say about that, Hammy?!

You're not allowed your own opinion, clearly.

[Liam]

MGS for me is like GTA (outside of GTA 1 and 2), in that all the pieces are there for me, but I just don't like the whole for whatever reason.

[Toe]

Actually, maybe it is just me. I find it hard to get into any game that isn't a sports game with the only exception being Left 4 Dead. The real reason I bought the PS3 was to be able to play MLB: The Show.

Edited January 5, 2009 by Toe