Um…I wasn’t bemoaning any Xbox failures. I was simply agreeing that for someone buying a console to get a console game experience for the first time in years, Xbox is the last choice I’d tell them to pick. I think that’s a very reasonable addition to this thread. The biggest games are either on or coming to the PC so what do you gain?
–Dave
Interestingly, I am also a longtime PC gamer who hasn’t played a console since the early 80s, and I also got an XBox this year. Your reasoning is correct IF I was buying a console to get a different gaming experience than the PC. If I wanted to play game types that I haven’t played, especially the arcade stuff then the XBox is the last choice and the Gamecube is the best choice.
But I bought an XBox for a different reason: basically it was Tom’s “get a console so you can play more A-Ticket releases” thoery. I got it initially to play KOTOR, and I intend to try out True Crime, Fable, Jade Empires and other big ticket stuff not on the PC.
I guess its like buying a hardback book - yeah it costs more but I often do it if I want the book NOW. So I got an XBox to play stuff that will probably end up on the PC, but I can play it now.
For me, I stopped playing pure arcade games a couple decades ago. I didn’t buy an XBox to change back to playing arcade games. I still want to play the strategy/adventure/rpg/action stuff I like on PC but I know there will be a few releases a year I can get first or exclusively on the XBox. That’s why I bought it.
Now having the XBox, there is one thing that surprised me: there is a genre I do like on the console that just doesnt exist on the PC: fighting games. I plan on trying more of those.
Dan
If you want fighting games, you should go buy a PS2 since that’s where most all of the good ones are at.
That’s the point though. You’re not broadening your gaming experience with Xbox, just getting more of the same for the most part. I guess that’s fine if you want to play the same kinds of games again and again. For me, the reason I’ve always bought consoles is to play the games they’re best for and can’t play anywhere else. Exclusives drive the systems and the Xbox has the least exclusive games if you have a PC of the three competing console systems.
In your case I guess it was worth the extra hardware investment. I think it can be easily argued that for most folks looking for something that the PC doesn’t offer, PS2 or Gamecube are much better choices.
–Dave
You crazy kids and your console debates. :)
I’m not offended by any of the comments. I’ve been reading Qt3 for longer than I have been posting or have been registered, so I’m familiar with the arguments on the various consoles.
For me, the Xbox was the one I went with because, on balance, it seemed to best fit my needs. I do not buy a ton of games, so the size of the library is irrelevant. I don’t segregate console and PC games. To me, a good game is a good game. While the controls (mouse/keyboard vs. gamepad) might be better-suited for a specific genre, that’s largely taken care of already by which platform said games appear on. Example: fighting games play better with a gamepad. Not a problem since fighters are virtually non-existent on the PC.
Every console has games that are worth picking up. You can argue that System X has more of these games than System Y, but really, it’s irrelevant to me, I don’t have the time to play them all, anyway. And I’m not turning my PC into a web-surfing machine, either. :)
I will probably get a GC at some point, especially after the price drop, just to grab some of the marquee titles that won’t appear anywhere else, but I’ll pass on the PS2. It may still have some great, exclusive games but I can only play so much before my digits fall off and my eyeballs pop out of my head.
Thanks all for the suggestions. There’s already more than I can manage as it is but keep 'em coming.
Unlike two certain people, I will stick to what the thread asked for. Everyone else listed all the games I’d recommend and so I’ll fill in the gaps (I hope.)
DOA: Online is coming, if you’re interested in fighting games. Among others in the future that have my attention are Painkiller, Full Spectrum Warrior, Deus Ex 2: Invisible War, Steel Battalion – Line of Contact, Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow, and Deadman’s Hand. (That’s all I can think of at the moment.)
Try out Metal Arms, Return to Castle Wolfenstein: Tides of War, or Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee, if you haven’t already.
Did anyone else think Baldur’s Gate DA was a tedious pile of poo? I mean yes action rpg, yes look-elsewhere-for-originality/voiceacting/level design, yes probably more fun multiplayer, but did they?
Note that I love Diablo, and its whack baddies/go up levels/buy cool stuff gameplay mechanism. I should also say that I never played multi, which would probably up the fun. And that, at first, I loved the single player. The sound and graphics are superb not to mention the best Breast Physics Engine this side of DOA SUPER BOOB BALL ZERO ALPHA.
But I’ve seen surveying lasers that are wiggly spaghetti by comparison with BGDA’s relentless linearity. And the way you can just run through the levels without fighting? And the bit where you fight the powerful boss, having fought your way through an army of monsters which don’t drop treasure/healing potions? Then beat him (using a cheat) and get faced with another boss about twice as powerful? Meaning that there is no way you can legally defeat him, and you need to start again, this time shepherding your potions like little fluid-filled lambs? That, to me, = TEH SUCK.
What am I missing?
In relation to the XBox/PC debate, I have a p3 450, and the 'Box is the best way of keeping up with new games cheaply. It means I can hire (say) Silent Hill 2 for a week and finish it without having to keep my PC up to spec. Works for me. Also, the hard drive is genuinely brilliant (especially for the morrowinds/KOTOR’s of the world) and if you want to mod, the possibilities are endless.
Creole Ned, I’d grab the Simpsons Crazy Taxi (not the right name) game and/or Simpsons Hit and Run if you like The Simpsons. The Crazy Taxi rippoff is $20 now.
Creole Ned <-- sounds like this should be a Simpsons character.
Simpsons Road Rage, and I wouldn’t grab it, even for $20. $10 maybe…
Well, it’s an action RPG. The later levels were underdone (little or no story) but the linearity was to be expected.
And the way you can just run through the levels without fighting?
You’re supposed to want to fight the mobs because that’ll get you XP and items and besides it’s, like, the whole point of the game… I’m not sure why you’d even want to try getting through a level without fighting.
And the bit where you fight the powerful boss, having fought your way through an army of monsters which don’t drop treasure/healing potions? Then beat him (using a cheat) and get faced with another boss about twice as powerful? Meaning that there is no way you can legally defeat him, and you need to start again, this time shepherding your potions like little fluid-filled lambs? That, to me, = TEH SUCK.
What powerful boss? I’m not some kind of über l33t d3wd but I beat the final boss on my second attempt, without cheating. Didn’t the game have difficulty levels? If not it was pretty easy by default.
Then again, that’s the PS2 version… maybe the Xbox version is different, or maybe it’s the character you’re playing (I only played the sorceress).
The only thing driving me to finish BGDA was unlocking Drizzt, and by the time I did, I was so bored with the game that I only used him for one or two levels before retiring it permenantly. Frankly, the incredibly stupid female characters with attendant boob-physics really bugged me. If they’d spent as much time on the combat engine as they did making sure that the tits wiggled right, it might have been a more compelling game. I’m enjoying D&D Heroes much more.
Boo to everyone who’s forgotten about Dynasty FUCKING Warriors 3 and/or 4. I personally think 3 is the better of the two games, but it’s hard to overlook some of the cool additions 4 brought to the series, even if it is way too easy. The only problem most people seem to have with it is that, being a beat-em-up title first and foremost, the action can get pretty repetitive after a while.
And not to discount Sebmolo’s complaints out of hand, but he’s quite clearly insane for hating on Baldur’s Gate:DA. I will admit that the sorceress is probably the most powerful character if you spend your skill points wisely, and maybe that’s why I don’t get his complaints about the game’s difficulty. Maybe I just got lucky and guessed exactly what skills she would benefit from the most, since on my first try she smoked almost everything in her path without too much effort. Having said that, BG:DA is the only action-RPG I can stand to play anymore, although admittedly that kind of game isn’t my cup of tea. Hopefully the sequel will arrive soon.
Soul Calibur 2 is also pretty much a must-have, and Silent Hill 2 is - well, it’s not quite a must-have but it IS definitely intriguing, assuming you haven’t played the PC version already. Every Silent Hill has disappointed me in one area (with SH2, I found it too easy as a game because combat was so uninteresting), but excelled in others (SH2’s story is bizarre and cool, plus the atmosphere is extremely well done).
Finally, the new NHL Hockey game by Sega is excellent on the PS2. The only complaint I have, aside from the crowd that doesn’t seem to know when to make some noise and when to act lifeless, is that it’s cockpunchingly tough unless you play on the all-too-easy Rookie setting. The AI will pounce on every little mistake you make.
Okay, sebmolo is gaming feeb, point taken. The bosses I had difficulty with was one of the early ones - the thief guy and the beholder. I think my problems were that I was trying a bunch of different spells for the sorc, rather than pumping one or two right up. And I wasn’t hoarding potions.
BUT STILL - yeah, sure linarity - Diablo is linear, but it at least has wide open fields of carnage and a million different bits of cool crap to pick up. BGDA is, near as a could pick it, a single long corridor full of baddies.
Meh, probably just high expectations, curse them. Will rent the sequel. And curst, yes, DW3 is great demented fun.
Yay! :)
(Sorry for the shameless self-promotion. We’re in a nasty crunch and hearing that folks are looking forward to the game is like a light at the end of the tunnel.)
I really am. Have one of those Valve-style written-in-stone release dates for us yet?
Yay! :)
(Sorry for the shameless self-promotion. We’re in a nasty crunch and hearing that folks are looking forward to the game is like a light at the end of the tunnel.)[/quote]
Hey, no problem! I’m happy to help pimp your game. I’ve been impressed with the previews and whatnot. I’ve mentioned it to several people in the past month and they’ve asked me for more details, so I give them what I have. I read your informative thread the other month, so.
Do me a favor, though. Don’t let them release it until it’s polished! It’ll do everyone justice. Good luck to you.
Dude, I am so looking forward to your game that I can’t even LOOK at Rainbow Six or Ghost Recon or Operation Flashpoint or ANY of the competition. I WANT YOUR SQUAD INTERFACE! And I want it… well… AS SOON AS YOU CAN POLISH IT UP TO THE POINT OF FINGER-LICKING GAMING PERFECTION!
Suffice to say we are all pulling for you and I plan to buy the sucker the day it hits the streets!
No kidding, I was reviewing Ghost Recon: Island Thunder on Xbox and I was thinking, “I’d rather watch the demo of FSW again than play this.”
Yay! :)
(Sorry for the shameless self-promotion. We’re in a nasty crunch and hearing that folks are looking forward to the game is like a light at the end of the tunnel.)[/quote]
Definitely. I was really impressed with the E3 demo. So impressed I may just pick it up for the Xbox although only if it is out first.
– Xaroc
Add me to the list of people ANXIOUSLY awaiting Full Spectrum Warrior. Is it coming for the PC and XBox? Are there significant differences?
I really am. Have one of those Valve-style written-in-stone release dates for us yet?[/quote]
Nope. It’s still early 2004. :)