Sure, if you want "open world" to mean "open world plus all these fancy graphics". As far as gameplay goes though, open world RPGs are like thirty years old on the computer. Which makes them oldschool

I saw it in Wal-Mart today for about $40 or so. Not that I'd get a 3DS for that game unless it's like Sacred Stones where you can actually do some grinding so you don't totally get your ass kicked.

I think it is interesting to talk about the relationship between "open worlds" and "sandboxes." I find they are often equated, but they can easily be separated. It would be a stretch to call Geometry Wars 2 and open world game, but it has some of the most compelling "sandbox gameplay" of the generation. RTS games in general tend to have a "sand box"y feel, without being open world. In fact recent talk of an 'open world RTS' has left me puzzled as to what that would even mean.

I think open worlds fail when developers think that is the only necessary condition for emergent "sandbox" gameplay. That's when you wind up with boring, desolate worlds. It's also hard to have an open world game that doesn't have at least some sand boxyness to it. Those games always leave me frustrated, like the linear parts are so much more jarring because they happen in what is suppose to be an open experience. The Fable games are really bad about this.

We didn't get it at all in Puerto Rico and the places that did get it have it in very limited quantities. Last I checked, copies could be purchased on eBay for no less than 55 (or so dollars) some auction going over 70 dollars. Also, permanent death is now an option that can be disabled and you can grind. Like Sacred Stones. You might consider saving up for a 3DS...

Dead Space 3 is a piece of shit. I do not recommend, at all.

Maybe. Depends if GameStop will still take trade ins for my DSLite since it's kinda a piece of shit. R button doesn't work, flip-screen is loose, still plays games. Whenever Square Enix stops fucking around and makes Final Fantasy Tactics A3, then I'll definitely get one.

Oh, yes, Final Fantasy Tactics. I agree with that one. The first one was one of my favorite portable games ever, second one was good, but lacked the "power" the first one had. Is this in the works or is it just wishful thinking?

Why would you want that? The talented people who made the good FFT game were really Quest staff members, not Square Enix.

No idea. Knowing Square, they'll announce it one year at E3 and not release it until five years later.

Never played the PS1 game, though I always could considering it's on PSN. But I've played A2: Grimoire of the Rift more than any other game on the DS. So addicting! Sure the story was kinda boring but show me a mainline Final Fantasy game since VI with a better one.

Stopped reading right there.

Well, I'm sorry the Playstation 1 console ran out of gas by the time I reached the age of ten when I got my first own console (shared with the siblings) in the form of a Playstation 2.

Actually, I'm glad I didn't get into Final Fantasy at an early age. I might have actually liked VII.

God forbid you like something that isn't cool to like

I loved 7. Also enjoyed 5 and 6. Tactics is pretty much my favorite single-player game ever.

I had my PSP analog stick repaired today. I'm not sure how well the repair will hold, as sometimes on the world map in Tactics Ogre, the cursor started sliding down on its own, but it was easy to revert it to neutral. It's probably not a very solid fix but at least the game is fully playable now. Yay! So yeah just started on that. It's more fluid than on the PSX that's for sure, the framerate is nice instead of being all jerky.

Are there more voice-overs beyond the title screen intro? I wanna hear more Simon Templeman...

PSP's are still around?

FIGHT IT OUT

That's actually wrong, they are collaborating quite closely with Bethesda for many things. It's a different team developing the game with a different engine (and so will reflect that), but it will feel very close to the rest of the series in many ways.

I repaired a couple PSP's (model 1000) last week, first ones that I've worked on since the company I work for started taking them in. It's kinda the luck-of-the-draw with those, as the actual part is a piece of the front housing that touches a flex cable that sits on top of the motherboard...real tough calibration job and I'm almost convinced that without a machine, a new one will never work 100% correctly. It seems you were one of the luckier repair jobs, though.

Yeah, PS3s are too. Some people keep their consoles for more than 2-3 years. Amazing, I know.

You must've mistaken me for somebody else.

I've had my Xbox 360 ever since the second year of release of the console cycle. PlayStation Portable wasn't exactly a well supported system and was rampant with piracy. The Vita feels a little dead in the water also.

It is quite surprising that they managed to make the PSP such a failure, its technically amazing, and allowed for such a higher standard of games, but it was just overpriced I guess. Because being against the DS meant its up against like, 20 good games total and it still failed.

I would still play my PSP if I still had it, but it got stolen or lost (I'm still not entirely sure) a few months after I bought it and I gave all my games to one of my cousins. I've been eyeing a new handheld, but the Vita's game selection looks pretty lacking.

The PSP wasn't a "failure". While it lost the war to the DS, that doesn't mean 70+ million worldwide sales is a "failure". Obviously the PSP couldn't compete with a handheld that had backward compatibility with the Gameboy Advance and first-party Nintendo titles like Pokémon, Mario and Zelda. In fact Nintendo can (and still does) carry a console by their first-party titles alone. I don't think Sony really aimed at beating the DS in sales, but rather just grabbing a piece of the market pie.

The Vita is kind of sad so far, though. It's very powerful but utterly lacking in exclusives. Maybe it'll be solid in 2-3 years though. The PSP racked up a nice selection of games overtime. If the PS1 emulation becomes 100% (I'm not sure if it can play all the PS1 games yet) it'll be quite the nice machine. So far, though, I'd only get one to replace my PSP and play my ripped PSP UMD ISOs on it.

I loved the fuck out of my PSP (especially since I'm a Square-Enix fanboy), but my Vita just doesn't seem to have as many games to choose from.

But oh well. It still has Persona 4 Golden, and that is worth the price of admission alone for me.

I'm disappointed they didn't add second L and R buttons to the Vita, it was my only complaint with the PSP's design. If it gets full PS1 emulation though that would be a big plus, my favourite thing about the DS is playing all the old SNES games haha.

PSP has a lot of good stuff.

In Japan.

People just stopped caring about the PSP. Myself included.
I don't really know why its appeal wore off. Perhaps because the current gen console games are far more technically advanced, or because they have far greater depth to them than your average psp game? When the PSP first came out it boasted bringing the console experience into a handheld device, but that couldn't be farther from the truth; most games (even the highly acclaimed ones like the God of War PSP games) were just watered down versions of their console counterparts. Plus that screen is fucking tiny compared to iPads and whatever else you've got these days.

EDIT: Mind you, you can do MIRACLES with a hacked PSP.

I think they just needed developers willing to put in the time effort making whole new games using their old engines. Like whole new GTA game world using the PS2 engine, or a new final fantasy using the old PS1 rendered backgrounds and fixed cameras. But I can see why that wouldn't be the best use of company funds though haha.

Once you've played it a bit, be sure to say what you think of it! It'll be neat to know how you think it compares to FFT.

That's true and a good point.

Little Big Planet is a good sandbox but it's not open world. You can make custom levels and just mess with the physics and your own creations, see what other people made, just be goofy and hang out, and just play the game however you want.

Open world but not sandbox would be Dragon's Dogma. The focus is on combat so it doesn't let you just mess around in the world. And that's a fun open world game that isn't a sandbox.

If it is open world it has to offer a lot of variety of gameplay. Dragon's Dogma and if Dark Souls is considered open world, both have good combat. Being a mage, knight, or rogue in both games feel very different.

Or combat aside, Fallout or Red Dead Redemption is good at open world. I played Fallout as a smooth talking character, with a grease monkey character, and as a scientist. They were all fun and unique. If I feel like playing poker, hunting animals, or enjoying a Western story, Red Dead Redemption is great.

Assassin's Creed is one that fails. It's just assassinating in the same style but traveling quite a bit to do so. That's not to say that Venice or colonial Boston isn't fun to explore, but if you're not in an exploring mood the game is boring. Dead Island is pretty much the same thing. You melee attack, kick if you're out of stamina, or throw your weapon. The different characters don't have very different styles to them.



Good open world games have you pick up the controller and make you think "How do I feel like playing this time?"

Yeah I'm not sure what I'd even call Assassin's Creed. I enjoyed some of the games, but still. Somewhat sandbox I guess. The first game being pointless-sandbox, man the first was completely awful and boring. I didn't get around to Revelations or III and by the time I possibly would 24 sequels will probably be out anyways, so I probably don't care about the series anymore. Franchise burnout quickie!

I've replayed all three of them (currently playing 3 again) and yes they're all sandbox. I stupidly purchased the first one again to get the "completeness" of the series and I pretty much rushed through it. Sometimes I wish developers went back to fix their games tremendously. As I'm playing the third I'm beginning to appreciate it a lot more than when I first played it (much like Revelations) but it still got hiccups that I wish weren't used (like the having to unlock fast travel underground) / were fixed (the monstrous amount of glitches).

If anything I'll probably get around to III sometime since my roommate has a copy... I really don't know if I'll bother with Revelations though, even if Ezio was cool. Just sounded really tacked on.

For the moment I'm honestly really digging Dead Space 3. Way better than 2 I'd say, the music, environments, and just everything about it feels better. It has its movie moments but it doesn't feel like the control is being completely taken away from me and whatnot, so it's not that obnoxious, in fact I almost think some of the crazier moments are an accomplishment, it's incredibly impressive how seamless the entire game is. Though I still prefer the subtlety the first game had with its design and it'll probably still be my favorite of the series. I'll probably replay 2 again soon though, maybe my thoughts on it will change. Either way I'd say it's been one of the better franchises this gen and at least this is the third game, not the 20th like CoD, AC, etc. A decent replacement for Resident Evil I guess, because anything past RE4 is a lie. Thank goodness Dante's Inferno bombed (I hope) and Visceral didn't do anymore with that, I love how the level design was just made up of walls of dicks, vaginas, and explosive diarrhea everywhere, because that sums up what the game was. Smeared poop.

Also finally hitting up the Devil May Cry HD collection since I never completed the original three, I loved 4 though. So far I cleared the first game (so worth it for this alone) which was freaking awesome and I'm a chunk into 2... yeah, maybe not straight up terrible like some people say, but ... who am I kidding, it is kind of hilariously bad. A race to finish it. I might take a little break before hitting up 3 though, but I'm stoked. I beat DMC4 on every difficulty, conquered the first game... can't wait to tackle 3.

Pretty stoked for Metal Gear Rising too actually. I was hesitant up until playing the demo and yeah... I'm not even going to bother with "DmC", Rising feels like the true answer to the void we've had with Japanese action games this gen.

I suspect Bioshock Infinite being my GOTY though.

I'm really skeptical about Aliens Colonial Marines. I don't know why, I just have a bad feeling. AvP was one of the shittiest games I played this gen for sure so it'll probably beat that, but yeah... at least this is Gearbox. Though I'm sick of them exploiting the hell out of DLC (just announced plans for four packs for this game already or something), and every video I've seen of the game has been... totally average at best. Plus it's going up against Dead Space 3, so good luck. Guess we'll see.

I only played the first AC game, the open world was completely needless and it was only half a game.Countering broke the combat gameplay too. I haven't touched a single game after it.

You're missing out, I'd pick up the 2nd game and see if you like it. It really is much better than the first game, which I felt was a glorified tech demo with some bad gameplay attached. I never even finished that one. The games following 2 are pretty damn good, although I haven't played 3 yet.

Did you take that glorified tech demo line from a gamefaqs review?

@Xeogred: If DMC 4 had the unlockable Dante Must Die difficulty where the enemies are ridiculous and you die in one hit, I doubt you beat that

Well, Mass Effect completely owns my soul. Haven't been this addicted to a video game since Skyrim last winter (these days I tend to alternate between 3-month periods of playing games all the time or not playing at all.) Looks it had a fairly polarized reaction from people here, but I haven't found a thing to complain about other than the Mako-driving segments - Flat, monotonous planets with pallet-swaps does not equal "open-world side quests," and I usually love open-world games with endless side quests. Been sticking to the main quest and more interesting side quests so far.

I already know the plot of 3 and how everything ends since I wasn't interested in playing the series when it came out and read up on the ending to see what the brouhaha was about, but I'm still planning on playing all the way through.

Nah, he's really not.