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Essian

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#1 Essian
Member since 2007 • 3444 Posts

The down attack is the real culprit. The controls don't really allow for great control over your down attack, and half the time I ended up doing a forward attack and taking a hit.

I'm on the up side of 50+ heirs, trying to kill the first boss at level 15. It's a pain, it's not fun, and it's largely because of godawful controls. I figured out the pattern of the boss ages ago. You stay on the floor for easier dodging but less damage, and you go in the circle pattern to avoid his rotating attack.

Problem is, the ****ing ceiling is too low to just jump over him (which, by the way, is some really cheap design), so you have to do the down attack to bounce over him. Good. ****ing. Luck.

Up until Khidr, I loved the game. I died frequently, sometimes only got about 10 gold before biting it, but I had a good time. But this? This is just frustrating. It's not fun when the game mechanics are designed with intentional poorness.

Don't understand the hype. Is this one of those "if you hate it, you must be bad" things? Because seriously, even if you love the game you can still admit that the controls ****ing suck

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#2 Essian
Member since 2007 • 3444 Posts

eeeeehhhh...

Seems like an over-hyped high-tech borderlands. I barely have time to play FFXIV as it is. I'm going to keep on with that, and once I get to a point where I feel like throwing something else in the mix... I have about 6,000 other games to play.

Maybe next year... if I get bored

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#3 Essian
Member since 2007 • 3444 Posts

Hi all!

So I wanted to ask about two games that I'm hoping are still active on Vita. The first is Mortal Kombat 9, and the second is Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale.

I enjoyed both of these games on PS3, but they were both quite a while ago. Are these games still active? Also, does Mortal Kombat 9 feature cross-play with PS3 users?

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#4 Essian
Member since 2007 • 3444 Posts

In actuality, what you want is Freedom Wars, which will hopefully be coming to the West soon. In the mean time, I would recommend Soul Sacrifice. Also, it's not quite the same as Monster Hunter, but Dragon's Crown offers some great RPG gameplay for the Vita.

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#5 Essian
Member since 2007 • 3444 Posts

I believe in God, doesn't make him any more real than Heavenly Sword 2...

I joke, it would be fantastic to see this. I played the crap out of the first one. Actually, reading this makes me want to go play the first one again

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#6 Essian
Member since 2007 • 3444 Posts

@theicygrey said:

@mastermetal777:

Thank you for the feedback and all of the great tips, can't wait to put them into action. I'll make sure to make the gameplay more relevant in the next video and to thoroughly practice the commentary beforehand. I think I may have been slightly biased towards the game and overlooked some of the negative aspects, I'll make sure to correct this in my next review. I've been reading reviews in magazines like Sci Fi Now and the Official Xbox Magazine, but I'll spend time watching more video reviews (rather than just Zero Punctuation) as well as reading amateur reviews.

Thanks again!

Jake

Yeah definitely avoid basing your reviews off Zero Punctuation. People have tried, and almost all of them don't recreate the same sense of humor. Find your own voice!

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#7 Essian
Member since 2007 • 3444 Posts

@mastermetal777 said:

It depends. I don't have much of a persona when it comes to being on-screen, so I stick to written reviews. And when it comes to writing reviews or making videos, here's a few tips:

- when making a video review, always show footage of what you're talking about in various segments of the game, especially when describing what the gameplay is like. Using the intro cutscene for most games is usually a good idea for talking about the story, but don't show anything that might be considered spoiler material. Keep all important story bits hidden for when the player decides to actually play. Try that for your next video: record different parts of the game and edit them together as you're talking about the various bits and pieces.

- It's also best to have a script so as to avoid minor speech issues many people have. Having a natural voice is admirable, but few can pull it off without stuttering or pausing. Reading from a script avoids those problems to an extent, and practicing the script over and over usually makes it better.

- No matter how big a fan you are of a game, don't just simply ignore the bad parts of a game, as no game is perfect. If something bothers you about it, mention it. It could be a minor annoyance or a major issue with the game. This could be a gameplay mistake(s), design oversights, bad characterization, or even major plot holes in the story if the game has one. It might be a good game overall, but it's somewhat cathartic to admit when your favorite things aren't exactly perfect. When there's a bad game to be reviewed, at least try to find something good about it, because some bad games have good things about them too, unless they're absolutely irredeemable in quality (it has happened).

- For written reviews, the obvious stuff comes to mind: have good grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc. But also try to write a review the way you see the game. Try to come up with a voice that's yours alone. It's easy to tell when someone is copying another's style. Granted, I'm still trying to find my voice when it comes to written reviews, but just be yourself and you'll be fine.

- And finally, watch other video reviews and read written reviews, both professional and user, as they can provide some insight as to how to make an effective review.

I hope that helped. I've written many reviews on this site before, and I hope to see one of yours someday. If you want, you can read some of mine to help you out, and read some of the pro reviews on this site and other sites such as Giant Bomb, IGN, Game Informer, Joystiq, and others.

Be careful of IGN reviews. They often feature amateur reviews from "partners" and they frequently lack polish

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#8  Edited By Essian
Member since 2007 • 3444 Posts

@theicygrey:

Hi there! I have a bachelor's degree in professional writing, and have spent the last 8 years writing game reviews. You can see some of my amateur work on my Gamespot profile. Some of it is from high school, so please forgive any mistakes.

I don't have time to watch your review right now (at work), but here is my best advice: you need to ensure your review isn't fluffy. Many writers make the mistake of thinking they need to address every pixel of every screen during the course of their review, leading to 2,000 words or more.

That's a lot of text, and you want to avoid it. So my best advice is to write about things that stand out. You want to be sure and touch on all of the basic categories (graphics, story, gameplay, music, mutliplayer), but in those categories only discuss things if they are particularly relevant. Is the music just a simple backdrop to the game as a whole? Give it one or two sentences. Is the story a toss-away, with 2-dimensional characters? Give it a paragraph with a brief synopsis.

When something stands out, be sure to describe it in further detail. Use metaphors when appropriate, and don't be afraid of comparisons to other similar games to help make your point.

Writing style and voice will develop as you spend more time writing, but in that time you can work on getting your basics down. Ensure that you use commas correctly (as I'm sure I haven't in this reply), and follow the basic rules of grammar and syntax. If you ever want me to take a look at your reviews, don't hesitate to send them along! I've always considered myself a far better editor than writer.

Small note: I can't watch your video, but my biggest tip on that is keeping your clips short. Never allow a single clip to be more than 10-20 seconds long, and try to show a diverse collection of gameplay moments. Good on ya for getting into the reviewing seen, and I look forward to seeing your work in the future!

Best,

Alvas

Edit: would like to give a major thumbs up to MasterMetals suggestion of having a script on hand. You won't realize how much you fumble and make awkward pauses/stutters without a script handy. Write it out and practice it once or twice in prep for the review

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Essian

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#9  Edited By Essian
Member since 2007 • 3444 Posts

oh boy that's a toughie... too many to pick a single favorite, but I can list some of my favorites:

Final Fantasy X (as someone above said, so bittersweet... f**k them ruining it in FFX-2)

Mass Effect 3 (though the star-child wasn't my favorite plot twist, the music and feeling that sense of finality was absolutely stunning... plus my choice felt epic)

Metal Gear Solid 4 (this was the first MG game I played, and therefore understood about 40% of the plot... but damn if that last fight wasn't epic)

Demon's Souls (never have I felt such a sense of accomplishment)

Red Dead Redemption

The Last of US

Dead Space (especially realizing that the chapter titles gave away nicole being dead)

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#10 Essian
Member since 2007 • 3444 Posts

Hey guys!

So I ordered this game from amazon, and I want to find the best (see: most active) forums to discuss the game. Can anyone direct me? The official SE forums looked pretty dead...

Thank,

Alvas