Written by : PROJECT AURORA
Original Date: July 5, 2008
radd
Something close to Shyber's heart, MGS4, A new benchmark or the last of its kind?
Shyber
As much as I want to see other games going to the extent of cinematic presentation/story-telling as MGS4, currently besides the JRPGS, I doubt if there's enough talent to bring about something as emotionally striking as MGS4. From the western devs, so far there's only one game that've shaked my emotions and that's Half Life 2 Episode 2. To be honest, am waiting for Episode 3 which as much anticipation as FFXIII.
And MGS4 can't be MGS4 if there weren't three MGSs before it, and I'm not talking about the naming convention.
radd
I would argue that MGS4 is a last of its kind. King of a dying breed. People acquire new tastes and in the case of MGS its not the flavor of the month anymore. I can only criticise so much without having actually played the game on my own but there are things which havent changed since 1997. The game still stop whenever you pick up an item, that jerked me out of the game world real quick. Same things goes for codec conversations, they still stop the game while games have moved past that ages ago. Modern dont take you out of the action for conversations. Games like GTA and Tom Clancy-ies handle this much better.
I'm talking about the design philosophy behind the game, not the game itself. I certainly wouldnt recommend anyone against MGS just because it stops the game everytime you pick up an object! dont PM me about that! I'll have to borrow this from Cliffyb's book, Times have changed and Kojima's brand of a action game is against the wall.
Raptoria
For example, Gears of War 2 introduces a SHUT UP button to get rid of conversations. BTW I dont have any problem with conversations. I love stories.
Shyber
You must have your facts correct radd. The game doesn't stop for every item you pick. This happens mostly in the first act where whenever you pick up something, a hint comes up and tells you about a new item that you've picked up.
Similarly as for codecs, codecs stop the game for important plot related points mostly, think of them as low profile cutscenes. Most of Otacon's messages regarding tips and battle situations come realtime while you're playing.
Thanks to the Microsoft platform dominating this generation, western devs have finally found a haven to deploy their projects in a way they weren't able to before this generation. I think this discussion boils down to East vs West again.
radd
As i said, i havent played the game myself. The vibe i was getting was that this is game made on classical conventions which are quite different from the new standards being set by western developers.
I agree, it all boils down to east vs west but the ballgame has changed. The west has never been as dominant as it is now. Half a decade ago, COD4 on consoles would have struggle to break a million while MGS would have easily set a new record. Times have changes and people's preferences have changed. Even the Japanese market itself has shifted from the Otaku phase to Commuters with DSs.
Original Date: July 5, 2008
radd
Something close to Shyber's heart, MGS4, A new benchmark or the last of its kind?
Shyber
As much as I want to see other games going to the extent of cinematic presentation/story-telling as MGS4, currently besides the JRPGS, I doubt if there's enough talent to bring about something as emotionally striking as MGS4. From the western devs, so far there's only one game that've shaked my emotions and that's Half Life 2 Episode 2. To be honest, am waiting for Episode 3 which as much anticipation as FFXIII.
And MGS4 can't be MGS4 if there weren't three MGSs before it, and I'm not talking about the naming convention.
radd
I would argue that MGS4 is a last of its kind. King of a dying breed. People acquire new tastes and in the case of MGS its not the flavor of the month anymore. I can only criticise so much without having actually played the game on my own but there are things which havent changed since 1997. The game still stop whenever you pick up an item, that jerked me out of the game world real quick. Same things goes for codec conversations, they still stop the game while games have moved past that ages ago. Modern dont take you out of the action for conversations. Games like GTA and Tom Clancy-ies handle this much better.
I'm talking about the design philosophy behind the game, not the game itself. I certainly wouldnt recommend anyone against MGS just because it stops the game everytime you pick up an object! dont PM me about that! I'll have to borrow this from Cliffyb's book, Times have changed and Kojima's brand of a action game is against the wall.
Raptoria
For example, Gears of War 2 introduces a SHUT UP button to get rid of conversations. BTW I dont have any problem with conversations. I love stories.
Shyber
You must have your facts correct radd. The game doesn't stop for every item you pick. This happens mostly in the first act where whenever you pick up something, a hint comes up and tells you about a new item that you've picked up.
Similarly as for codecs, codecs stop the game for important plot related points mostly, think of them as low profile cutscenes. Most of Otacon's messages regarding tips and battle situations come realtime while you're playing.
Thanks to the Microsoft platform dominating this generation, western devs have finally found a haven to deploy their projects in a way they weren't able to before this generation. I think this discussion boils down to East vs West again.
radd
As i said, i havent played the game myself. The vibe i was getting was that this is game made on classical conventions which are quite different from the new standards being set by western developers.
I agree, it all boils down to east vs west but the ballgame has changed. The west has never been as dominant as it is now. Half a decade ago, COD4 on consoles would have struggle to break a million while MGS would have easily set a new record. Times have changes and people's preferences have changed. Even the Japanese market itself has shifted from the Otaku phase to Commuters with DSs.
