13th April 2005, 4:02 PM
(This post was last modified: 13th April 2005, 4:13 PM by Dark Jaguar.)
Hmm, if the XBox ends up being sold in used game stores for $20, then sure, buy a last gen system for one game.
Otherwise, I'd say don't make a decision yet. There's just too much we don't know about the next gen Umaro. I will say exactly what I want from the system. One, don't scrap one of the few reasons to even design a game for that system instead of another, the Hard Drive. The XBox will DIE without some sort of real feature like that (unless it can manage to live on name alone thus attracting developers). I know, they will sell it seperatly, but c'mon, that's pretty much the same thing as far as sales will reflect. They need to bundle a hard drive with all XBox systems.
Anyway, Perfect Dark Zero, that's the game I've been waiting for for years. I've played some FPS games since then, some "decent", some pretty good, but I've yet to play one that compaires with PD. There's the fact that I prefer objective based gameplay to "kill em all and get to the next flag" gameplay of course, but there's also the multiplayer. What I'm hoping is that all the levels from PD will be included (or at least added later on), as well as all the weapons, plus a bunch of improvements. They had pretty much all the basic gametypes you could want already. Some more customizing would be nice, as well as perhaps even combining game types, like for example setting up a "pop a cap" mode so that instead of them being the only one you can kill for a point, they are the only one that can pick up the briefcase. Also, customizing weapons. Nothing major. At the very least, I want to be able to disable and enable the secondary modes of my weaponry. Finally, level editor! If a level is missing, I'll put it in myself. Oh yes, with the ability to store images on the next system, customizable skins, and mebbe more?
I don't know, basically the name of the multiplayer game to me is "customization". Controls, well now that'll be fun won't it? :D Hmm, I wonder if they'll add a jump ability? Hehprobably not....
Level design... Oh yes, some of the built in levels, I want some open spaces with lots of raised and lowered bits as well as high standing areas all around the level. Why? That's the basic concept behind a good sniping level. All good sniping levels do that. Tunnels and boxes are great for close combat, REALLY great, and Rare knew exactly what they were doing there, but if you want to be a sniper, good luck! There were ways yes, but no levels really were designed with sniping in mind. Keep in mind that part of a good sniping level is high places uniformly. It's not a good idea to set up the only possible sniping locations as big beacons that say "I'm here!". The tough thing is balancing the need to make a sniper hidden, and the need to enable the guy being sniped to figure out where it's coming from. Coagulation, a Halo 2 level of all things (they didn't get much right compaired to PD2, oh no, not near it, but when it came to multiplayer level design, they were masters of the open environment) is a perfect example of good sniping. Basically what I'm saying is they should have level designs that are good for close, mid, and long range combat. Hard to mix it all, but ones that specify in one of them would be great.
Let's see, reasons to get an XBox...
*looks at library* As I've said before, the majority of XBox "exclusives" won't be like that but for a few months. As for the actual exclusives? Well, Panzar Dragoon Orta is an awesome game if you like multiform 3D shooter thing on a dragon that will HAND YOU YOUR ARSE. Halo 2... I do play that pretty often in multiplayer, but is it worth getting the system for? No... Still, if you can find it cheap, and you go and get a Live account, it's worth it. Multiplayer is pretty fun, thanks to good multiplayer level design (too bad their whole level design philosophy for the single player doesn't stack up, they actually put the whole "things repeat too much" thing in a good light :D, they say "basically a good game has moments that are about 30 seconds of pure fun, so what we do is basically give you that 30 seconds over and over again"). I have heard great things about Crimson Skies, but I just don't have it yet. As for "the rest" of this stack? Sadly enough, they don't sell the system because, even though they are GOOD games, really good, they aren't exclusives. I got them because I had an XBox and they are the best versions of the games, but I didn't get the XBox because I would get these games... It's sad really, there really are only a small handful of good exclusive games for the XBox. Had I known there would be this few, it's very possible I would never have bought the system. As it is now, I have it already, so I take advantage of the multiple system owning situation I'm in to always buy the best version of whatever game comes out. If it's for all 3, NORMALLY, the best one is the XBox version. Sometimes, it's not, because Link is in the GCN version or something :D.
Hope I didn't help!
Otherwise, I'd say don't make a decision yet. There's just too much we don't know about the next gen Umaro. I will say exactly what I want from the system. One, don't scrap one of the few reasons to even design a game for that system instead of another, the Hard Drive. The XBox will DIE without some sort of real feature like that (unless it can manage to live on name alone thus attracting developers). I know, they will sell it seperatly, but c'mon, that's pretty much the same thing as far as sales will reflect. They need to bundle a hard drive with all XBox systems.
Anyway, Perfect Dark Zero, that's the game I've been waiting for for years. I've played some FPS games since then, some "decent", some pretty good, but I've yet to play one that compaires with PD. There's the fact that I prefer objective based gameplay to "kill em all and get to the next flag" gameplay of course, but there's also the multiplayer. What I'm hoping is that all the levels from PD will be included (or at least added later on), as well as all the weapons, plus a bunch of improvements. They had pretty much all the basic gametypes you could want already. Some more customizing would be nice, as well as perhaps even combining game types, like for example setting up a "pop a cap" mode so that instead of them being the only one you can kill for a point, they are the only one that can pick up the briefcase. Also, customizing weapons. Nothing major. At the very least, I want to be able to disable and enable the secondary modes of my weaponry. Finally, level editor! If a level is missing, I'll put it in myself. Oh yes, with the ability to store images on the next system, customizable skins, and mebbe more?
I don't know, basically the name of the multiplayer game to me is "customization". Controls, well now that'll be fun won't it? :D Hmm, I wonder if they'll add a jump ability? Hehprobably not....
Level design... Oh yes, some of the built in levels, I want some open spaces with lots of raised and lowered bits as well as high standing areas all around the level. Why? That's the basic concept behind a good sniping level. All good sniping levels do that. Tunnels and boxes are great for close combat, REALLY great, and Rare knew exactly what they were doing there, but if you want to be a sniper, good luck! There were ways yes, but no levels really were designed with sniping in mind. Keep in mind that part of a good sniping level is high places uniformly. It's not a good idea to set up the only possible sniping locations as big beacons that say "I'm here!". The tough thing is balancing the need to make a sniper hidden, and the need to enable the guy being sniped to figure out where it's coming from. Coagulation, a Halo 2 level of all things (they didn't get much right compaired to PD2, oh no, not near it, but when it came to multiplayer level design, they were masters of the open environment) is a perfect example of good sniping. Basically what I'm saying is they should have level designs that are good for close, mid, and long range combat. Hard to mix it all, but ones that specify in one of them would be great.
Let's see, reasons to get an XBox...
*looks at library* As I've said before, the majority of XBox "exclusives" won't be like that but for a few months. As for the actual exclusives? Well, Panzar Dragoon Orta is an awesome game if you like multiform 3D shooter thing on a dragon that will HAND YOU YOUR ARSE. Halo 2... I do play that pretty often in multiplayer, but is it worth getting the system for? No... Still, if you can find it cheap, and you go and get a Live account, it's worth it. Multiplayer is pretty fun, thanks to good multiplayer level design (too bad their whole level design philosophy for the single player doesn't stack up, they actually put the whole "things repeat too much" thing in a good light :D, they say "basically a good game has moments that are about 30 seconds of pure fun, so what we do is basically give you that 30 seconds over and over again"). I have heard great things about Crimson Skies, but I just don't have it yet. As for "the rest" of this stack? Sadly enough, they don't sell the system because, even though they are GOOD games, really good, they aren't exclusives. I got them because I had an XBox and they are the best versions of the games, but I didn't get the XBox because I would get these games... It's sad really, there really are only a small handful of good exclusive games for the XBox. Had I known there would be this few, it's very possible I would never have bought the system. As it is now, I have it already, so I take advantage of the multiple system owning situation I'm in to always buy the best version of whatever game comes out. If it's for all 3, NORMALLY, the best one is the XBox version. Sometimes, it's not, because Link is in the GCN version or something :D.
Hope I didn't help!
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)