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What is the best character-action game?

I somewhat consider Kingdom Hearts 2 as a character action game. I know it's an RPG, but it's more action game than RPG unlike the first one.
 
One of my least favorite genres for some reason. Just can't get into them.

At some point I should play the bayonettas. Maybe wonderful 101.

God of war has never held my attention. Madworld was meh. I got through no more hereoes because of wacky story and pretty easy gameplay.
Even viewtiful joe was just rental worthy for me.
Ninja gaiden seems intimidating.
 
DMC3 or Bayonetta. But games like Wonderful 101, God Hand and all the other platinum/clover games come very close. Never played Ninja Gaiden 2.
 
It's Bayonetta.

After that, I'd say the best are:
Bayonetta 2
Devil May Cry 3: Special Edition
Ninja Gaiden Black

If Viewtiful Joe counts, then that's up there too. DMC4SE is just outside of that.
 
I'd probably call Bayonetta the "best" I've played but God of War 2 is my favorite, as is that series as a whole. It's the only one in the genre that's a quality total package in my opinion.
 
I want it to be Ninja Gaiden 2, but the game completely squanders it with straight bullshit enemy design and placement. It comes down to knowing your best iframe moves and UT/ Obliterate everything to dodge, because the actual dodge isn't nearly as good and using moves that don't give you iframes will get you instantly killed by exploding shuriken and disembodied werewolf torsos.
 
Ninja Gaiden Black was probably the most memorable for me.

I thought the prequels were also excellent. It's a shame the series is on ice at the moment.
 
TriAceJP said:
What is the difference between Ninja Gaiden and Ninja Gaiden Black?
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It includes all the "hurricane" packs, that better balance the game, and on higher difficulties changes the enemy placement and types to create a bigger challenge (whiteout the standard giving every existing enemy more HP and/or more damage)
 
sn00zer said:
Yussssss. I was actually going to add that but i feel like liking Nero is sacralige in theae threads. Nero combat is the best hands down.
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I personally had a hard time playing Dante in the second half of DMC4. I just wasn't having as much fun.
 
jett said:
I personally had a hard time playing Dante in the second half of DMC4. I just wasn't having as much fun.
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Dante is definitely weird to play as at first just because he starts with so many tools that the game doesn't really tutorialize or ease you into at all. I think he ends up being more interesting than Nero in the end, though - Nero is fun early on because he's so accessible but he's kind of a limited character.

Spieler Eins said:
Even if you aren't consciously using them, the entire game design is still vastly different between these games. God Hand has 4 like attack prompts for which you assign moves, which are always hand to hand combat without any kind of permanent weapon. Plus it's relatively slow and relying way less on spectacle and "stylish" looks. The other games have a range of weapons with diverse movesets that are all way different than the controls in God Hand.
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I don't really think God Hand is much slower than the other games discussed in this thread. Your movement options are much more limited, but the speed of your attacks and how much time you have to react to enemy actions is really no slower than other action games - it's just not presented as flashily as Bayonetta. I won't argue that God Hand is pretty different from other action games (not being able to jump and having tank controls will do that) but I don't think that changes things to the point where I would put it in a different genre.
 
sn00zer said:
Yussssss. I was actually going to add that but i feel like liking Nero is sacralige in theae threads. Nero combat is the best hands down.
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I'd say Trish and Nero equally, but yes, Nero doesn't get anywhere near enough love. His moveset is absurdly fun, and I'd put MAX Act and the Exceed system above Bayonetta's Dodge Offset as the greatest innovation in combat mechanics since on-the-fly weapon switching. So much awesome stuff can be done with his Devil Bringer too. Have to say, I also like him a hell of a lot more as a character than post-DMC-1-Dante.
 
DMC3: SE.

Try as I may, I can't get into Bayo, and I don't think that highly of NGB. I really liked Metal Gear Rising though.
 
Gotta be DMC3.

Once you really get to the top of the genre, honestly, Bayo and Ninja Gaiden all come close and I feel like it comes down to personal preference for aesthetic. For me, the devil arm loadout was just too fuckin fun in DMC3. I think some other games might have surpassed it in certain aspects - controls in Bayo are just too fuckin good it's like cheating - but DMC 3 struck all the right notes with me.
 
jett said:
I personally had a hard time playing Dante in the second half of DMC4. I just wasn't having as much fun.
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Eeyup.... and honestly Dante's role in DMC4 in not being the main character for the first half was awesome, because he seemed like the all powerful third party you were just not going to beat. And Nero's "simplicity" made me feel like I was in complete control at all times.

Playing Dante felt like starting a new job with no guidance and a list of goals you barely understand.
 
EVO said:
Character action is the dumbest name. When did that catch on? What happened to hack n slash?
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It was an industry term to describe mascot action/platforming games, like Crash, Jak, Spyro, etc.

DMC was described as "hardcore stylish action" upon release, but somehow the former moniker caught on. It was described as "hack n slash" too, but "hack n slash" is kind of broad, referring to anything from Musou to Gauntlet to Diablo to Devil May Cry.
 
JustSomeone said:
Dark souls
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I am the biggest Dark Souls fan and my reaction upon seeing this post was like

nH7qg1z.gif
 
Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. Besides Resident Evil, Metal Gear is probably my favorite series and Revengeance is just as good as any of that franchise's best
 
Ninja Gaiden 2. The dismemberment of enemies tied with the quick surgical heavy attack fatalities made the action a dance of death. Best variety of weapons in a action game as well.
 
Imo, it's a difficult choice tbh...I'm tempted to list my favorite one, DMC1...but for the purposes of this thread...I'll stick to my 2nd favorite...Bayonetta 1. It's a nearly perfect package overall imo...so many reasons but too lazy to type out here...it's nearly close to character-action perfection imo.
 
It's been about 10 years since I played either of the NG games, I need to replay them.

Just wanted to say that I like Transformers more than Bayonetta even though it's basically them same combat but a little bit simpler with a few tweaks. The repetitive soundtrack in Bayo annoys the hell out of me while Transformers has one of the best OSTs. I also prefer the boss fights (less qte) and the shorter campaign (Bayo is a little bit long has a lot of boring cutscenes). The loot system does suck but overall I just prefer Transformers.
 
humansarehorses said:
Furi is what I want out of character action games. The fights take priority, not the amount of combos you can pull off. There are way too many trash mobs in combo-based action games.
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I think that's because those enemies, more often than not, are the easiest to style on...for example in Bayonetta 1, I feel those are the best enemies to do extended, sytlish, varied combos on...they're the ones I feel who react to most of your moveset the most
 
Either Bayonetta 2 or Metal Gear Rising.

I think MGR has by far the simpler system, but it also means that the game is a whole lot easier to pick up and play. I loved MGR as soon as I picked it up, while Bayonetta games tend to make me feel like a clumsy moron for pretty much the entire first playthrough, and then some.
 
DMC4. Nero all day every day.

I love these types of games, but I'm really bad at them. Like, I can't play them above normal difficulty and I avoid all the extra game modes.
 
I played Ninja Gaiden Black after playing Razor's Edge and a bit of 2, so it's difficult for me to get into. The combat is much more deliberate than the clusterfuck of 2, but it comes from that era where every game had to have platforming/ action-adventure elements with searching for keys and backtracking across a level 3 times per mission. Often it feels like there just isn't enough combat. And then that horrible military base section where you have to use the bow for everything.
 
Bayonetta 2 is by far my favorite, followed by Metal Gear Rising and then the original Bayonetta. Ninja Gaiden Sigma (no, I did not have access to Black when I was interested in playing NG1) and Transformers Devastation get honorable mentions.
 
humansarehorses said:
Furi is what I want out of character action games. The fights take priority, not the amount of combos you can pull off. There are way too many trash mobs in combo-based action games.
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well it's not like bayo has THAT many trash mobs. harder enemies like grace and glory show up pretty often in the second half and all the time on hard diff and higher.

dmc 4 tho is punching bags the game
 
It's hard to decide between DMC3 and DMC4. 3 does almost everything better than 4 but 4 has much more fluid controls and combat, also Dante has way more options in 4 and that makes him so much fun to play as. The improved graphics in 4 help too.

MGR is up there too.
 
hydrophilic attack said:
the guitar hero puzzle in 3 was bloody stupid

my favourite puzzles in the series were probably the light beam puzzles in chains of olympus
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I'm playing through 3 right now for the first time and while the timing is a bit off it still only took me 3 tries

The puzzles are very simple overall though, I hate to admit it but darksiders 1 tripped me up more
 
I wish they'd do a NG collection, with both Sigma/Original versions of the 2 NG games... suck that those games are stuck on xbox/ps3
 
Favourite weapon in a character action game?

I'm so tempted to say Red Queen, but for me, it's totally Ifrit. Rolling Blaze was genius, especially when deftly repelling Nightmare's homing missiles; and few things feel as good as an Inferno in a tight corridor full of Blades, or a Kick13 combo to a Nightmare core. Then there's knocking Virgil 3 out of the sky with a fully charged Meteor. Subsequent gauntlets in DMC games had their charms, but never came close to Ifrit.

Alastor was also infinitely more fun than Rebellion. Yes, Rebellion's movesets in 3 and 4 are far superior, but Alastor lets you fly around and shoot lightning bolts. I have been doing this in my more awesome dreams since 2001. DMC 3's version of Air Raid is lousy by comparison. Also Rebellion's design is goofy as hell.

The claws in NG 2 will always be right up there though. So are the tonfas. And as behated as it was by many, Nevan is by far my favourite weapon in DMC 3. Such a great design with such creative moves.

I will also say you haven't truly lived until you've played with a fully-loaded Trish wielding the mighty Sparda in DMC 4 SE.
 
I'd probably choose The Wonderful 101 as the overall best, but it's not the easiest game to get into.

Beyond that, my other favourites, in no particular order, would be:
Bayonetta
Bayonetta 2
Transformers Devastation
Furi
 
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