Board 8 > transience's top 10 games of the year -- and some other stuff.

(+) Yeah! (+)

There was only one really obtuse room in single player, everyone else was pretty manageable.

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I wish I could wear skirts and dresses :( -GMUN

To the Moon sounds like something I might enjoy. Did it cost anything?

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"When I was a young man, I had liberty, but I did not see it. I had time, but I did not know it."

$12 right now. don't think it's on Steam, though I'm not sure.

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xyzzy

Older game I beat this year: Breath of Death VII (PC/360)



Rating: 5.5/10

This is a Dragon Quest clone with no redeeming qualities whatsoever. It's got a unique battle system where the monsters get more powerful each round and you get fully healed after a battle, but other than that it's standard DQ fare. the plot and progression options are super limited and the difficulty is super unbalanced due to the fact that there's no real run command and you can get over easily if enemies decide to gang up on one character. The story tries to be funny and self-aware but is really just a waste of time.

And yet I found this game pretty addicting and couldn't put it down for some reason. I guess you could say the same thing about DQ games as well. Sometimes I just want to grind and smash the attack buttons in turn based RPGs endlessly. It's stupid and I don't get it either.

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xyzzy

7. The Binding of Isaac (PC)



One thing I've talked about wanting for a long time is a rom hack of Zelda 1. This rom hack would have nothing but rooms of enemies getting progressively harder until you died. It would be a Test Your Might of how good you were at handling the huge rooms in Zelda 1. Everybody else would be tortured by it, but I'd love it - after all, the original Zelda will always be my favourite for its open-ended gameplay and its focus on combat and difficulty.

The Binding of Isaac... isn't that, exactly. Yes, it's a randomly generated Zelda 1 dungeon, but the shooting isn't as good (it feels more like a dual stick shooter than anything resembling Zelda) and the enemies take a ton of hits to kill. It's more a game about survival than it is challenge. After all, it's a roguelike.

Every time you play Isaac, you're writing a story. This is what I like about the game the most. Each time is different and you can always tell a tale of what you did, what you got, how you got it and how you fared. For example, towards the beginning of my attempts to beat it, I had this awesome run where I got all these attack up and life up upgrades, plus a bonus life. I had about 9 hearts going into the 5th floor and I was crushing enemies with my red tears. Then the game decided to not give me a single heart piece for the last 3 or 4 floors until I got to the last boss with no lives and half a heart, not knowing what to expect. I died instantly by being stepped on or something.

Another story is when I was really far and had like 25 coins. I wasn't getting a ton of upgrades but I could buy lots of stuff. I got to a slot machine and lost 25 times in a row, went on to the next floor and just got pummeled. Isaac is a game about torture and I love having a different experience each time. Different bosses, different level design, different enemies, different powerups, everything.

The time that I did beat it involved me with 9 lives, one heart and full stats across the board. I moved so fast that sometimes I would die from running into an enemy. Stuff would just instantly die on the screen because I was so overpowered. I fought the last boss 3 or 4 times with my single heart until I was able to kill it in about 2-3 seconds. I had a great rush after I beat it, watched the credits, went back to the main screen, selected another character and tried again.

I died pretty quickly. Such is the nature of The Binding of Isaac.

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xyzzy

2011 games I didn't play long enough to judge

Ms. Splosion Man - I think Splosion Man is a game that you had to play at the time. Ms. Splosion Man feels like a totally competent game, but the jokes feel very played out and Splosion Man's platforming was always really loose. It's probably a better game and I haven't been able to finish world 1 due to general malaise.

Child of Eden - I played this with Kinect, trying to find a Kinect game worth a damn. Nope! Actually, it's probably just fine but my living room has horrid lighting which makes Kinect kind of a nightmare. I kept dying on the first stage due to the thing being unresponsive. I thought about playing it with a controller, but it just looked like the exact same thing as Rez. If I wanted to do that, I'd play Rez HD.

FF4 Complete - I played through "the interlude", a scenario that Square claimed was like 10-15 hours but is more like 90 minutes. Maybe there's 12 hours of side content. I have played and beaten every version of FF4 in existence up to this one. I just couldn't do it anymore.

3rd Birthday - Hahaha. Parasite Eve 3 looked pretty cool from the trailers but the game is anything but. Aya Brea gets turned from a tough cop to a whiny emo kid. The gunplay is bad. The cutscenes are pretty neat but the actual game is not good.

Radiant Historia - I played a good chunk of this actually, maybe 4 or 5 hours. The game has an interesting time travel system but there is no permanence - you change one thing in the past, go back to the present and play on a little bit until you hit a roadblock, go back to the past a little, etc etc. It isn't like Chrono Trigger where you've got set characters in a set time period. This probably gets better as you go but I just didn't get into it. The plot or characters didn't grab me at all either.

You Don't Know Jack - Man, I kinda love this game. Smartly written trivia game that would be fun to play along with a friend once and then never again. I haven't found the person to play it with yet.

Corpse Party - I only got about 90 minutes into this. It's an RPG Maker game that looks 20 years old, the game has annoying japanese voices and the music isn't very good. But it does look like there's a very disturbing survival horror kind of visual novel in there somewhere if you're willing to deal with the low quality aesthetics.

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xyzzy

worst part of Radiant Historia is cruising through a section, then running into a boss that absolutely massacres you and having to go grind for an hour

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thelefty for analysis crew 2008 imo -tranny
I have a third degree burn in flame-o-nomics -Sir Chris

From: th3l3fty | #057
worst part of Radiant Historia is cruising through a section, then running into a boss that absolutely massacres you and having to go grind for an hour

I never beat the game because of the 3rd of those 3 shadow bosses right at the end :<

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http://myanimelist.net/profile/applekidjosh
<Die the death>! <Sentence to death>! <Great equalizer is the death>!!

From: th3l3fty | #057
worst part of Radiant Historia is cruising through a section, then running into a boss that absolutely massacres you and having to go grind for an hour

except for the bonus boss, this rarely happened to me.

also, haha FF4 interlude, what a waste of time

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2011 Rivalry Rumble Contest - i am too lazy to edit this every day
http://backloggery.com/articuno2001/sig.gif

Gotta play To The Moon sometime.

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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

I had to look up solutions a couple of times for Portal 1, but I think I managed to figure out everything in Portal 2 without looking anything up.

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6. Half Minute Hero: Super Mega Neo Climax (360)



Yeah, maybe it shouldn't be on here since it's a port -- and an inferior port at that. The PSP version is definitely a better version with more modes and better controls. The one major difference - the cartoony graphics filter - is a total turnoff and takes away from the 8 bit aesthetic of the game. Fortunately you can turn it off.

But I actually prefer the 360 version. Why? Online leaderboards. I love racing my online friends. Me, Kleenex, Icehawk, SmartGuy, Nee - everyone has said to me "how the christ did you beat level xx in 7 seconds?". I've said the same to them too. seeing ghosts and trying to better your times has real meaning now. Achievements add to it too.

HMH isn't an RPG, exactly. It's an action puzzle game like Punch-Out. It's all about figuring out what you can do on a level and then performing it flawlessly. That's a lot more fun than just beating each level, which isn't hard at all.

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xyzzy

Shame you didn't get into Child of Eden!

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"When I was a young man, I had liberty, but I did not see it. I had time, but I did not know it."

Ghost Trick too low. I'm not sure if it should be number one but definitively top 3.

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Black Turtle showed once again why you always bet on the turtle and not on the hare by winning the guru contest. Well done Guru Champ.

tag

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http://img.imgcake.com/fitgirljpgta.jpg

2011 Game I liked but didn't beat #3: Hero 30 Second (Half-Minute Hero 2) (PSP)



After playing this for 4-5 hours, I can safely say that this game will be better than the original. It's got so many improvements over the original. It's kind of a Portal/Portal 2 situation where the sequel has some improvements whereas the first one has the novelty, but in this case I like all the improvements. You've got a much more in-depth battle system, on-screen enemies, enemies that will insta-die if you're high enough in level, much more ridiculous scenarios and a persistent world where you can walk around the world map and level up on random enemies. You can then start from your base level whenever you start a new mission instead of going back to level 1 each time.

I stopped playing HMH2 because I still have hope it'll make its way here, either on 360 or on Vita. I really hope it happens because this game seems awesome. It would probably have been #3 at the worst had I played through it. A lack of novelty doesn't hurt this game because the gameplay is a lot of fun.

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xyzzy

5. Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet (360)



ITSP is a beautiful, beautiful game. The game has absolutely beautiful animation and the world is beautifully crafted. ITSP has some smart bosses and feels like a generally smart game. There is no repetition in this game and it has a fair difficulty level throughout. The game acts as a silent film - there is no text, no explanation, no HUD, not even a help screen. The world of ITSP has an isolated, terrifying feel that matches what you would want for a Metroid game.

It's too bad that the game sometimes devolves into the worst form of puzzles. They slow down the pace and ruin the fun of the game - exploring, getting new upgrades and playing with your surroundings. The game also sells itself so hard as a Metroid game but is ultimately a very linear experience. There are tons of one-way passages that you still can't get around at the end of the game. That's inexcusable.

Can't say enough about how gorgeous this game is and how cool it is to move around this alien planet, though. Design flaws aside, this really is a damn cool game to play.

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xyzzy

You should go back to Radiant Historia if the characters/story didn't drive you, it gets much better later. None of the problems you cited were ones I had with the game; the only ones that bugged me were how stupid it could be to find the right places to turn in side-quests later on in the game when movement between certain places was more restricted. Also the obligatory grinding before the final section and the epic albeit way too needlessly long final boss, which is a shame since it has a really great ending. On the other hand, Stocke is an amazing damn character, though the rest of the class is more stereotypical/less deep.

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http://www.nbc.com/parks-and-recreation/exclusives/ron-dancing-animated.gif

yeah, I imagine it does get better. I just didn't like what I had played enough to push through. actually, reading the posts in this topic has made me feel better about dropping it!

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add the c and back away
iphonesience

Tag

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It's iubaris, not Lubaris.

2011 game I liked but didn't beat #4: Catherine (360/PS3)



I was interested in Catherine based on its subject matter -- no, not the sexiness of the game, but the fact that it was about a 30 year old guy torn between marriage and one night stands. That's a huge step up from playing another idealistic 18 year old out to save the world.

And it's an interesting take... but Atlus handles it poorly. Vincent is a mess, a guy saying uhhh and not doing anything about anything and having no thoughts of his own for 80% of the game. You can blame that on the fact that you're free to choose how he reacts, but even that is handled poorly. The game handles moral decisions by giving you an out-of-context question and then shows your progress on a dumb good-evil meter. It's the worst way to handle moral choices.

I haven't mentioned Catherine's gameplay yet, and that part is actually fine. There are lots of complaints about it and it gets a little ridiculous towards the end, but I kind of enjoy climbing so long as it's a speed race and not a puzzle room, because trying to figure out how to climb a messy tower is no fun. The plot also has some genuinely cool parts, especially the Catherine/Katherine showdown. That scene is crazy and kind of makes the game. Too bad the game keeps on going after that!

Catherine's a game I kinda admire, but I wish it were executed on better than it was.

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xyzzy

update

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FF fans don't hang around the internet on a monday morning they are out doing shopping or asleep hungover from parties. They got lives. -The_Djoker

I disagree with you on Catherine, sort of. I loved every part of the gameplay - block puzzles too good. I agree that the storyline has some failings, but not for the reasons you said. You didn't even get to the part where the storyline torpedoes itself!

What I'm trying to say is that even if I agree with you, I don't agree with you. Also expecting Outland on this list and Outland sucks OLOLOL

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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

I feel pretty much exactly the same way about Breath of Death. Most of the time it's not fun, but I have to keep playing it. I get what they were trying with the battles getting harder the longer they go, but thanks to the turn-based battles and the high number of enemies per battle it just gets stupid. Oh whoops, every single enemy targeted the only character who can let me escape the battle, now I have to fight them all a person down AND they're stronger now. I wonder if they got the balance right in Cthulhu Saves the World.

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The Temple of Kraden, a forum for fans of Golden Sun:
http://z9.invisionfree.com/The_Temple_of_Kraden/index.php?act=site

I've seen all of Catherine! I know how it spirals into disaster.

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add the c and back away
iphonesience

Ah, okay. Yeah, the ending parts of Catherine were really disappointing to me. Soon after that confrontation you mentioned every scene turns into "This is kind of dumb" right up until the end of the game. Sux.

But hey, block puzzles set to remixed classical music are pro, so I'll probably play it again anyway.

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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

Wouldn't have been an Atlus game if it hadn't spiraled into some direction near the end.

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SomeC - sheer explosives since meeting that crazy hobo.
BlAcK TuRtLe grabbed the Guru victory, slow but steady.

I haven't played *that* many Atlus games, but the only other one with a questionable ending I played was Persona 4, and that was for the way it played out and not specifically the content. Persona 3, Devil Survivor, Digital Devil Saga, and Radiant Historia all had awesome endings.

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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

This is the most hipster Top Ten Games of 2011 I've ever seen. Its the Pitchfork of 2011 gaming lists.

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http://www.yourgamercards.net/trophy/a/NathanDrake90.png

My Top 10 would have Umineko Episode 8 on it. I win.

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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

TheKoolAidShoto posted...
This is the most hipster Top Ten Games of 2011 I've ever seen. Its the Pitchfork of 2011 gaming lists.

And I'm guessing Xenoblade will appear on here somewhere, a game that wasn't even released in tranny's country!

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http://img.imgcake.com/fitgirljpgta.jpg

He already listed a game that didn't come out in his country.

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4. Batman: Arkham City (360/PS3/PC)



The Batman games are the one AAA franchise from this gen that I really, really like. I think it’s because of its focus on gameplay. There’s not a lot of setpiece moments and there are literally dozens of ways to take on opponents. Batman is a beat-em-up, a stealth game and an open world game all mixed into one – and managed to be better at each than pretty much any game this gen. Batman’s combat has been raved about enough – I seriously cannot play Assassin’s Creed for months afterwards because of how much better Batman is. I have to reset my memory in order to lower my standards for multi-enemy combat. Batman’s stealth is unlike most other stealth games: instead of being a weak character, you’re a god damned stalker. Instead of the enemy being in control, you are. And then the open world stuff is done much better because you can fly around like the god damned Batman. There’s no driving for 5-10 minutes or running around on the tops of buildings trying to get from point A to point B. You just zip up to the top and fly over the damn city. Much better than any other game.

Arkham City isn’t super fresh like Asylum was, but it does add enough stuff to not make it feel derivative. The open world, the sidequests, the variety – all upgrades from Asylum. It manages to wed the tight combat rooms of Asylum and the open world feel of a GTA or an Assassin’s Creed pretty well. It’s definitely an upgrade in every reasonable way.

But I ended up liking Asylum more. Why? Well, for one, the Scarecrow segments are so much better than anything else in Asylum. But the bigger reason is the ending – City ends on such an anticlimactic note that it actually kind of ruined the rest of the game for me. Yes, Asylum didn’t end the greatest either, but at least the ending had some weight to it and you knew you were ramping up to the ending. City’s ending is so anticlimactic that you don’t even know you’re fighting the final boss. It’s got a cool ending scene, but after spending ten hours in Arkham City, you expect a much more fitting end. I thought City was a better game until I saw the credits.

But you get to shoryuken a shark in City, so it’s tough to hate on it too much.

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iphonesience

oh cool a list!

quick comments on some of the stuff I played...

-I guess you could say it's not as fresh, but PERSONALLY I really liked the new mechanics of Portal 2. I think the coolest thing about them all is that there is always 1-2 ways in which they just totally surprise you. Like using the funnels to transport goo, or using the light bridge to block a companion cube so it lands in the right spot. Also I think having a legitimate story and better dialogue kept me going a lot more than Portal 1 did. In fact, I really didn't care for the Portal 2 co-op tons because A. the dialogue is way inferior, and it doesn't have any story. B. the sense of discovery with the new mechanics is completely gone, you mostly just use the same tricks you learned in 1P, just adapted to 2 people.

-I agree that the key to "To the Moon" is the music, it is awesome throughout, it adds weight to every moment, and keeps you going during the slow parts. I could name tons of flaws, but like you, once I got into it, I couldn't stop.

-Breath of Death VII is pretty cool, but yeah, not that great. I think it had some really good ideas in terms of JRPGs (like making it so encounters stop after so long, increasing enemy strength in battles adds some urgency), but in the end, it's just another JRPG for the most part. Cthulu Saves the world is waaay better in terms of humor and story, and it is way more polished in general, especially visually. I think you should give it a try if you haven't yet.

-Binding of Isaac is... interesting. Luck is definitely a huge element of the game, which can "tell a story" as you say, but it can also be annoying after a while. I think the thing I liked most about the game is how it constantly surprises you. In terms of Isaac's appearance with different items, the way some enemies interact with you and the environment differently (like those guys that become stronger if they happen to hit fire). Gameplay is pretty solid, but I definitely got tired of it after like 10-15 playthroughs. For the price though, thats not too much to complain about.

-Ms Splosion man is A+. The humor sucks, but I like to compare it to Portal 2 in terms of taking a unique mechanic, and adding a lot of new stuff to it, which ends up making it better than before (less repetitive environments and such also helps). Then again, you didn't even like Portal 2 that much, so that might not be a good comparison to give you!

-Based on what I've read about HMH 2, I really do hope it comes to the Xbox. The leaderboard racing on HMH was a lot of fun, but it's just a shame it got kind of repetitive after a while.

-ITSP might be the one game this year I recommend based on visuals alone, really something else.

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omg did u red text from last night dats so me LMAO : )
im not a slut i jus liek 2 haev fun LOL : )

oh on a side note, 360 did get a HMH patch like a month ago. it supposedly improved controls

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omg did u red text from last night dats so me LMAO : )
im not a slut i jus liek 2 haev fun LOL : )

I play with my sf4 fight pad which I'm sure is much better anyway. either way I'm done with HMH for a good long while unless I want to try for achievements (I won't)

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iphonesience

MK9 was a neat MK game, a great update to bring the series into modern times while maintaining old elements. I kinda think they could have done away with some of the old school stuff, though - like Shao Kahn. That's just not a fun fight. The multi feels the same - everyone finds a teleport move that they can spam and that's about it. I feel like casual level SF4 is no different and probably worse in this regard, but still, it keeps MK9 from being something I bury myself into. I also feel like the presentation of the Koin Krypt thing was woeful.

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Donny: Are they gonna hurt us, Walter?
Walter: No, Donny. These men are cowards.

Are there scenes in the Batman games where someone is talking to you, and they look away for a moment, and you can just run jump off a building so you can avoid listening to their gibbering?

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Donny: Are they gonna hurt us, Walter?
Walter: No, Donny. These men are cowards.

But I ended up liking Asylum more. Why? Well, for one, the Scarecrow segments are so much better than anything else in Asylum. But the bigger reason is the ending – City ends on such an anticlimactic note that it actually kind of ruined the rest of the game for me. Yes, Asylum didn’t end the greatest either, but at least the ending had some weight to it and you knew you were ramping up to the ending. City’s ending is so anticlimactic that you don’t even know you’re fighting the final boss. It’s got a cool ending scene, but after spending ten hours in Arkham City, you expect a much more fitting end. I thought City was a better game until I saw the credits.


I'll agree the Scarecrow segments are better than anything in City. I still like City's ending better though, just because it is an awesome scene, even if it does come out of nowhere. Asylum's final boss and ending I was just like "OK".

I will say though, City actually had some of the best boss fights of the year, which came out of nowhere, considering asylum just had awful boss fights (not including scarecrow)

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omg did u red text from last night dats so me LMAO : )
im not a slut i jus liek 2 haev fun LOL : )

nah. there is chatter that you can ignore and stuff, but there are still cutscenes and a linear narrative. you just aren't chasing some guy while a bus is exploding or anything. it's all 'natural' gameplay and not something built in.

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iphonesience

yeah Mr. Freeze might be the highlight of the year for video games. kinda wish they had gone all the way though and made you use everything instead of just 9 different attacks. I think it was 9.

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iphonesience

Freeze was an A+ boss fight. I thought Ras Al Gul was fun as hell too

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omg did u red text from last night dats so me LMAO : )
im not a slut i jus liek 2 haev fun LOL : )

I think the beautiful thing about the freeze fight is how naturally it fits in with Arkham City's regular gameplay too.

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omg did u red text from last night dats so me LMAO : )
im not a slut i jus liek 2 haev fun LOL : )

I think you have to use all strategies on Freeze in Hard mode. Haven't tested yet.

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SomeC - sheer explosives since meeting that crazy hobo.
BlAcK TuRtLe grabbed the Guru victory, slow but steady.

Hmm, Xenoblade, Outland.

I'm missing something obvious here.

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FF fans don't hang around the internet on a monday morning they are out doing shopping or asleep hungover from parties. They got lives. -The_Djoker

transcience posted...
nah. there is chatter that you can ignore and stuff, but there are still cutscenes and a linear narrative. you just aren't chasing some guy while a bus is exploding or anything. it's all 'natural' gameplay and not something built in.

damn. that's the real power of Batman that we need to experience! We always see what it's like when someone looks away wistfully while rambling, then looks back and Batman is gone. We need to play that! and game over if you fail

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Donny: Are they gonna hurt us, Walter?
Walter: No, Donny. These men are cowards.

#1 will be having a family which is much better than games kleenex. duh

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omg did u red text from last night dats so me LMAO : )
im not a slut i jus liek 2 haev fun LOL : )

Still waiting on Xenoblade's EXCLUSIVE GAMESTOP RELEASE aw yeah

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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.

I enjoyed Arkham Asylum. It wasn't the best game, but it was better than I expected from a licensed game. Haven't had much interest in trying Arkham City. I feel like one go through was enough for me.

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"When I was a young man, I had liberty, but I did not see it. I had time, but I did not know it."

Arkham fails the top 3 huh.

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