The Third Annual Coint and Plick Poll: ILG’s Best Video Games of 2009 - Part Three: #21 through #51

it's my PSN tag!

i've never even played the game - i guess we were talking about something else?

re:BF1943 bnw is a fun poster but too limited and repetitive

Assassin's Creed 2 looks like a really cool game. I'm going to get it when I've beat the unplayed games in my pile and my other commitments slow down, in approx 2071. Will M did you actually attempt any of those Scribblenauts challenge modes?

lolling @ "krangor elicits respect from all" -- slocki on the borderlands thread you pointed that out as a truth bomb so it must have seemed extra important to the discussion of the game

same here re. Assassin's Creed 2. Was the first one really that boring? B/c I prefer its milieu.

Glad to see Borderlands placed high. I tend to wait for games to come down in price before buying them, so only just got it a couple of weeks ago, but it would definitely have been top 3 for me if I had played it before the ballot.

Seems a mixed bag of recommendations for WoW. My big concern is I just wouldn't put the time in or find a group to play with. Looks hella dull as a single player experience.

Blizzard has done a lot to address some of these issues; they've added in an automatic dungeon-queuing system that lets you continue questing while the game builds a dungeon group for you, something that helps you meet ppl and teaches you more about how group dynamics work as well as greatly reducing the amount of time it takes to level a character. Also, depending on which server you pick, there is likely a guild out there that matches your gaming goals who would be more than happy to accept you and help you level, or at least distract you with goofy guild chat as you grind levels/gold.

i played an hour of assassin's creed 2 and i know it gets better but the beginning is so, so bad. like in every way. also i really resent that you have to hold down TWO buttons to run/parkour. it's like the most important control element of the game and they can't even map a single button to it?!?

AC2 is on my eventual list of games to pick up. Also I am totally jumping the gun but I just ordered Arkham Asylum from Amazon (thankig u, gift certificates!)

or at least distract you with goofy guild chat as you grind levels/gold.

See, this is a game where you need something to distract you from the tedium of playing the game. Goofy guild chat could do that, sure. But so could playing a different game.

also i really resent that you have to hold down TWO buttons to run/parkour.

yeh i rented the first game & only played for a couple of hours, but seem to remember you had to hold down two buttons and move the analog stick just to move through a crowd? seemed so stupid.

xp lol!

Please note that said tedium only really sets in if you can't get into dungeons, which used to be a huge problem but has (in my experience) gone away with the most recent update. I used to spool up side characters and then abandon them because finding other people to play with while leveling was a soul-crushing chore; I've since leveled two side characters and am well on my way to a third.

Not claiming WoW is for everyone but they've certainly fixed a lot of what made it only cool for people willing to devote their lives to it.

(lol making it easier to devote your life to it, um)

I dunno, I think there's something to be said for soul-crushing tedium in gaming.

Persona 4 is pretty much the only thing that stops me packing my ps2 away into a cupboard. The whole tv world, psychology thing is far superior to traditional JRPG save the world fantasy nonsense and the social link / life simulator bit is an excellent mechanic fr jrpgs. More games should be like princess maker.

Also wow placing started my withdrawal symptoms again. I really wish i had the time to play it again.

The storytelling conceit in both Assassin's Creeds that you're a future guy embodying a guy in the past really annoys the shit out of me. Also, the voice work is pretty hackneyed. But some of the gameplay is quite fun, and climbing around is bitchin'. Mixed bag.

I HATE the framing device

why could they not just like, make a game set in old timey times

I always figured the framing device was something which allowed them to wall off sections from the player. does the new one work like that?

if so that's the most contrived, time-wastey thing ever

like, people are used to conventions like that in video games. you don't need to build a giant apparatus that's just as unbelievable as "a big wall you can't climb" to get around it

the travels-thru-time stuff gets more fleshed out in ac2, so the device at least seems to have a point, even if it is an utterly retarded one, and there is some fun with it along the way. the future sequences are fewer but just as terrible. it does all come off as a convoluted excuse to make a series of sequels in different eras, tho, and they didn't really need an excuse, cos that would've been okay on its own.

and in terms of directing the character's experiences and walling areas off, they could've used the 'memories' device on its own and that would've been kinda cool.

i hate the idea that you're just in a big training device in your head

I LOVE the idea that you're just in a big training device in your head!

I always figured the framing device was something which allowed them to wall off sections from the player. does the new one work like that?

This is exactly what happens.

You'll be on one building, and there'll be another building near you, and it's like "NOT DOWNLOADED YET" or some shit.

The sandboxy stuff in AC2 is a nice diversion but pointless. Once I realized there was no benefit or achievements for doing the races, etc I stopped doing all of them. It would make more sense if your villa didnt give you 50 g's for dicking around every 30 minutes in the game.

Concluding The Third Annual Coint and Plick Poll: ILG’s Best Video Games of 2009 - Part Four: #1 through #20

the races are fun tho? isn't that the point of the game, to have fun? have we disappeared so far down the tawdry path of trophies and achievements that etc etc etc. you get my point. fun. the nice diversion is the point. have fun.

I wasnt having fun because I kept accidentally climbing up something that wasnt en route and had to stare at a loading screen over and over when I failed.

I think all but one of my votes has charted

style savvy had a sequel last year?????

can i get some achievements for reading these threads cuz if not, then i aint gunna

Will M did you actually attempt any of those Scribblenauts challenge modes?

Fuck no, I used jetpacks and weapons all the time. No zombies though so I guess there's that. I still maintain that Phi-life cypher's abc's is better than blackalicious's alphabet aerobics though.