Xbox 360 Console Discussion

[Chuck]

infinate undiscovery got a 7.1 from ign. Not very good at all.

[Sheikah]

Eternal sonata has its flaws, bad writing, slow cutscenes, but I like it. I never actually got round to finishing it now that I think about it, I got to the ice level, I guess I'll do it soon.

 

Definitely not bad writing. As far as the story goes, it's better than most out there. The story and visuals would be some of its stronger points, while dungeon design, voice acting (English), repetition etc would be its drawbacks.

[Sanchez]

Definitely not bad writing.

 

(spoilers for about half way through the game)

[Hero-of-Time]

infinate undiscovery got a 7.1 from ign. Not very good at all.

 

Yeah, I seen that. Thing is Lost Odyssey and Blue Dragon arent thought highly of either yet I loved them to bits so im still looking forward to IU. Methinks I will start Viva Pinata 2 first though seeing as they arrive on the same day

[Sheikah]

(spoilers for about half way through the game)

Hang on, I've just seen that bit in the game...what's wrong with that?

 

Edit: Do NOT use English voices for this, they are terrible, as they are with many games. That scene is actually pretty epic with the Japanese voices.

[Dan_Dare]

only because you can't understand them, and presume they're better.

[Guest Jordan]

English voice acting sounds... so bad in many games because it just lacks all emotion. In Japanese, even if i can't understand it the emotion comes across quite well.

[Guest Stefkov]

The english voice acting just plain sucked throughout that game.

Even if you don't want to play the game with the Japanese voices that's just a massive mistake, the Japanese voices express the characters a whole lot better.

Can't really be said for the characters models; Polka gravity defying arms, throughout the whole game.

[Sanchez]

Hang on, I've just seen that bit in the game...what's wrong with that?

 

Edit: Do NOT use English voices for this, they are terrible, as they are with many games. That scene is actually pretty epic with the Japanese voices.

 

I don't, this was the only clip I could find of the scene, if you like you can turn audio off and read just the subtitles. Do you seriously not see why this is bad writing, the cliche's? The sprawling monologue which could be reduced to about 10 lines and actually retain some of the impact?

[Sheikah]

only because you can't understand them, and presume they're better.

 

Err...that's what the English subtitles are for. :p

 

Even if you can't understand the actual speech, only a silly nanny would listen to both the English and Japanese voices and come to the conclusion that they were probably the same in quality. You don't need to understand a language to tell if a) the voice does actually sound quite cool, and b) there's a depth of emotion being channeled into the voice.

 

It's like people who listen to music from another language. Because they don't understand it, do they just presume it sounds good? I think that was a bit of a weird comment to make. :p

 

The English voices in this game particularly are performed by some bad voice actors. Some are ok, but the majority aren't.

 

 

I don't, this was the only clip I could find of the scene, if you like you can turn audio off and read just the subtitles. Do you seriously not see why this is bad writing, the cliche's? The sprawling monologue which could be reduced to about 10 lines and actually retain some of the impact?

 

You could probably turn audio off for a lot of things and the subtitles wouldn't sound right. Generally speaking, games that are more cinematic have pauses or are crafted in a way that doesn't always seem normal when simply reading the subtitles with no sound. I guess a great example of this would be the highly cinematic MGS4. Yes, ES has some cliches, but compared to many RPGs it comes off lightly.

 

The story (which is the most important thing when evaluating the writing) follows Chopin who is drifting between death (this is written on the back of the game box, so not a spoiler), certainly not a cliche by anyone's books. And I take my hat off to the game for that. It's not just some half-arsed Tales series story approach.

[Dan_Dare]

ok having watched that clip the writing is utter, utter shit. If you disagree, you really, really need to stop playing games and read a book.

[Gizmo]

Colin, that's me got my Fable Pub Games code just now.

[Sheikah]

ok having watched that clip the writing is utter, utter shit. If you disagree, you really, really need to stop playing games and read a book.

With Japanese voices it seriously isn't that bad. Plus, you haven't been with the story up to that point.

 

Obviously the story of a game isn't going to rival a book, but it this scene with Japanese voices is nothing to sniff at when compared to other games.

[Dan_Dare]

I said writing, not voice acting.

 

Terrible. Utterly terrible.

[Sheikah]

I said writing, not voice acting.

 

Terrible. Utterly terrible.

The voice acting changes the way you perceive the scene.

 

If you watched anime you'd know long, drawn out scenes are nothing out of the ordinary. The writing isn't all that bad for a game.

[Dan_Dare]

The voice acting changes the way you perceive the scene.[/Quote]

 

It doesn't matter. As has been said, the scene could be mute snd it'd still show the script, which was dreadful.

 

If you watched anime you'd know long, drawn out scenes are nothing out of the ordinary.[/Quote]

So? That just means more shit. There's no such thing as safety in numbers with artistic quality.

 

The writing isn't all that bad for a game.

 

Again: no excuse. Just because it's a game, it doesn't excuse bad work. Bad writing will be bad writing, regardless of form. And wrong. The writing is bad for a game because it's overblown, passive exposition. Good story telling in games is about using the medium to tell a story, not cramming it in to preposterous cut scenes where the notion of it being a game in the first place is ignored.

[Colin]

Colin, that's me got my Fable Pub Games code just now.

Awesomeness. Just checked my mail, and got it as well. Cheers for letting me know on here, as I may not of checked my mail till Monday.

[Sheikah]

It doesn't matter. As has been said, the scene could be mute snd it'd still show the script, which was dreadful.

 

 

So? That just means more shit. There's no such thing as safety in numbers with artistic quality.

 

 

 

Again: no excuse. Just because it's a game, it doesn't excuse bad work. Bad writing will be bad writing, regardless of form. And wrong. The writing is bad for a game because it's overblown, passive exposition. Good story telling in games is about using the medium to tell a story, not cramming it in to preposterous cut scenes where the notion of it being a game in the first place is ignored.

 

Show me a game with good storytelling and quote some in-game words. As far as I can see just about every game is full of cliches, and will never be on a par with books. That's why I'm talking about the story in comparison to other games.

 

The script really isn't that bad. I think you are just too overly critical.

[gaggle64]

I agree with Dan Dare, the writing is just awful. I sincerely believe writing in games can, and in some cases is, as good as any other piece of literature. "I went and fell in love... with the target!" however isn't exactly busting the JRPG cliche's which severely hinder the genre. It's just naff.

[Sheikah]

Oh well each to their own, I still think all games have a long way to go with storytelling and they don't match books.

 

On another note I got my Fable 2 pub games code today. Time to try them out.

[Gizmo]

Show me a game with good storytelling and quote some in-game words. As far as I can see just about every game is full of cliches, and will never be on a par with books. That's why I'm talking about the story in comparison to other games.

 

The script really isn't that bad. I think you are just too overly critical.

 

"The Iceman cometh Sander baby...the Iceman fucking cometh"

[Haden]

I said writing, not voice acting.

 

Terrible. Utterly terrible.

 

shes been oddly..... combative

 

lmao

[Guest Stefkov]

I would have thought that with Eternal Sonata being a Japanese game, and that Japanese to English translation isn't perfect the script would be oddly worded/a bit strange. It's written for the Japanese, if you ever watch an anime translated to English it would probably be exactly the same as this game.

When I was listening to the Japanese voice with the English subtitles over it, some of what was said wasn't the same as what was written. (Using my little knowledge of Japanese that is.)

[Jimmy3000]

i'm playing through eternal sonata for the first time at the moment, i'm on chapter 6 and am really enjoying it to be honest. As already stated the voice acting is a bit crap i places but the music is great! I dont like having to play as kids in rpg's though and a couple of the main chars in this are >.<

[Goron_3]

I love Sonata but haven't played it much. I got to a point early on where i entered a village Inn and was told i needed to find some kid; I looked around a bit, couldn't find him, and haven't played it since