To be perfectly honest, I hated FFX, and never even bothered to give FFX-2 a shot, because I already couldn't stand the characters, and the only redeeming factor from FFX was the fact that I enjoyed Blitz Ball, and that was about it. I just might have to try FFX-2 and see if my bias towards the 16 bit FF games can be put on hold just long enough to get something out of it! Great read by the way!
I just recently played through all 3 games again, and it was yet again, an absolutely incredible experience. I was not one of the people that didn't like the ending of ME:3, and I thoroughly enjoyed the entire journey from Saren all the way to the battle on Earth. When I first played Mass Effect - the first game - I beat it 3 times in a row, consecutively, in a matter of days. I was so impressed with the storytelling and compelling characters, that I couldn't stop. Now I own all 3 games, all single player DLC, and don't regret a single one of them. Mass Effect is easily my favorite series of this generation, and will probably continue to be as long as there are ME games to play.
Yeah, it's saying "Look, you've been at this for hours. We know it's difficult, and we want you to see the end. Here, enjoy these infinite continues. -Love, Treasure"
Treasure just makes fucking AMAZING games: Gunstar Heroes, Dynamite Headdy, Alien Soldier, Guardian Heroes, Mischief Makers, Radiant Silvergun, Silpheed: TLP, Ikaruga (duh), Gradius 5, are all great games!
Thank you for the warm welcome, it wasn't easy for us 1uppers to say goodbye to our second home, but to know that you here at PixlBit appreciate user generated content as they did over there makes me feel a whole lot better. I'd have to thank Aaron B and of course my co-host JoeyG329 for telling me about the exodus, and I'm looking forward to filling your "Latest User Blogs" feed with my gloriously sarcastic sense of humor!
Yeah, I can understand what you mean there - I'm able to differentiate everything purely because I played the game so much that I just know from experience, but it can be a pain for a newcomer to the game. I would absolutely love to see Square make an HD remake, or better yet, as the point of this post, make a sequel with some on screen multiplayer!
It's a really great shmup, and like I mentioned in a comment above, the learning curve may seem steep, but your work is well rewarded with a great shooter experience. And if you have Xbox Live, you can get it on XBLA for 800 microsoft points, and while it's not the most perfect port, it's a great way to play it on the cheap!
I'm glad you enjoy the series, I have a bunch more coming out in the coming days and weeks, as well as random ramblings of mine, of course :P
There is an XBLA version (not HD to my knowledge) here, but sadly, it doesn't really live up to the Dreamcast and GameCube versions (at least for more serious players), but it's definitely a good option for the casual player, as it's easy to access and it's only 800 Microsoft points!
Like most shmups - it comes down to memorization and pattern recognition, so it takes multiple plays to really get a solid grasp on it, but the music is absolutely astounding, and the polarity swithching mechanic adds so much to the game. The ability to absorb same-colored bullets to charge your special attack and the ability to deal double damage to different-colored enemies makes boss rush mode a complete blast! I was able to pick up the GameCube version for about 18 dollars complete in box, shipped, so it's worth it if you've got a few dollars laying around. For people who don't normally play shmups, the learning curve may seem a bit steep at first, but once you get to the point where you can slaughter half of the game with no issue, it's extremely fun!
Yes, it was a mass exodus, and more of us keep popping up every day, but it's nice to know that we've got a nice group here that we already know of what kind of content they're capable of :D
