RF Generation Message Board

PARTICIPANTS:
Boshamp
Disposed Hero
douglie007
Fleach
Grayghost81
MetalFRO
monkees19
Pam
Schlibby
singlebanana

CHECKPOINTS:
Week One: Chapter One
Week Two: Chapter Two
Week Three: Chapters Three and Four
Week Four: Chapter Five

I've had this game to play for a while now (on PS2), and I'm a big Rockstar games fan. So I'll try and join you guys this month.

Although we know it over here by its real title: Canis Canem Edit

Cool, despite being a big fan of most of Rockstar's games, I've never really played this one.  Looking forward to it!

I'll probably be playing on the recently released PS4 version.

I've only managed to get through one Rockstar game (Vice City), but I always eye this game when I see it in stores. Looks like I'll have to pick up a copy.

Im in. I hope I have time to finish it.

I'm going to tentatively say I'm in.  Never played much Rockstar stuff, as I never bought into the GTA hype, though I do have Red Dead Revolver and want to dig into it.  I picked up Bully a year or so ago when I started up PS2 games like they were going out of style, so I might as well have a good excuse like this to play it, right? ;D

I'll be honest. I'm not a big fan of the GTA games either. I've tried them and have no personal hang-ups about the content or anything, they just weren't for me.  However, I played Bully many years ago and really enjoyed it a lot. Hope you'll give it a shot FRO.

Bully is currently 75% off on Steam for the next two days.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/12200/?snr=1_550_552&newsId=21298&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

You can count me in officially. It's 60% off on PSN now through Monday 4/25 at 11am PT. They're ports of the PS2 version, not the Scholarship Edition, but at only $4 on PS3 and $6 on PS4, can't really complain.

As I can only play console games at the weekend due to my job I got started this evening. Although I only had just over half an hour to spare.

Looking very good so far though!

I will participate in this playthrough. Been having the Scholarship Edition for some time now, but haven't made the time to play it yet. Overall, it is a pretty short title, so I can definitely get through it with you all. I would even be able to slow my pace with it to keep the conversation more alive on the forum while I am also working through other stuff on the 360 for my competition and Xbox goals for the year. I look forward to starting this with you guys!

Are people going for 100% or just completing the story missions.

For me it's got to be 100%. Always go for 100% on rockstar's open world games. With all those side missions and the fact typically you can't miss anything I feel I've got to experience everything!

PS - really enjoying this game so far. I'm showing about 25% completion at the moment

OH wow it's May already!

Away we go!

I will certainly not be going for 100%, but it's awesome that open-world games, when done well, can make such an endeavor so enticing!

I haven't played in a few weeks (I put in a about six hours when I first chose the game for this playthrough) so I need to play catch-up with myself! Week one checkpoint coming soon!

ready to GO!

I'm 2.6% done, haha. It's alright so far. I'm not a huge fan of Rockstar, their games seem so mean-spirited, and running around punching people isn't really interesting gameplay for me. I like the mini-games for each class though. I'm going to be the bully with 100% attendance who never gets in trouble.

I can understand as the GTA games don't really appeal to me. However, Bully is a bit different in that while characters are mean-spirited, your character's attempt to aid the school and it's population give it a much more redemptive quality.  Sure, you gotta run around and punch a few people, but sometimes you have to crack a few eggs to make an omelet. ;)

Also, it's been a while since I played it, but I think my attendance was pretty good. ha ha!

Put in some time this morning. I love the GTA feel but without vehicles. Some of that Rockstar humor is a little annoying, but it's a school so at least it feels more appropriate for the setting.

I hate to say that one thing keeping me from playing the game for more than an hour or so at a time is the goddamned four second loops of background music. Doo doo doo doo doo doo.

I have to agree, I think I will have to turn it off soon, what system are you playing it on?  I am using my 360 version

I am also playing on the 360.

There sure are a lot of load screens in this game. Maybe I've just been spoiled by the seamless open worlds on the newest gen of consoles?

I'm in Chapter 2 right now. I'm playing it through without doing too many side quests. I have to ignore all the people running up to me with arrows over their heads just desperate to send me on a fetch quest.

Same here! Also ignoring all the fools who want to fight me constantly. I don't even have time to lay your ass out!

Weird. Apart from when I start the game I'm not getting any load screens on my slim PS2

What is the main Quests? I seem to be doing 2 or 3 side quests maybe. 

Spoiler (hover to show)

do I have to help the guy from the library that needs to Pee when something bad happens or can I ignore him.

You probably have to do pretty much all the missions (shown by a yellow star)

Yeah, haven't finished the game yet but that's how it is.

I finish this weekend at just over 50% in game competition.

I was focusing more on the side quests to start with (I'll be 100%-ing the game). However I've switched to focusing on the story missions to try and get the game story-completed during May.

Damn time got away from me over the last month or so...but I did start this one up last night so I could get some last minute points in for the GTASC...and I needed them. (I stayed up until the cut-off playing this game, finishing 10 people above the cut-off and only a few TA points away from elimination)

I have pretty much finished the 2nd chapter at the time of this posting. I have spent a lot of time with the mini-games at the carnival and out in the world as well as finishing most of the level 2 classes. Game completion sits at 18% and I must say that so far I am not impressed. I know it is an older title comparatively, but it seems to be a lot of repeating the same actions. I gave playing with sound a shot while my kids were still awake, and after hearing the soundtrack, I had no problem turning the sound off once they went to bed.

The go-karts were pretty fun though, and I have been enjoying the classes most of everything, but the repetition of so much really bothers me. I understand using the same animation for the same action within games is very common, but it feels worse in this title because it seems as though the game revolves solely around completing these types of actions repeatedly. If there was something else to draw our focus away from doing the same thing over and over again, it probably wouldn't be as noticeable. Plus, some of them haven't come with instructions before being given. (How do you stuff kids in lockers?)

The feel of the game is all right to me though. Wedgies and fistfights and stink-bombs and such remind me a lot of my childhood, before everyone became politically correct digital zombies and overreacted to seeing these types of things on the Internet happening hundreds of miles away from them and their children. I just wish it was longer or had more to do. This entire game feels like it could be a side-quest chain within a GTA game.

Finished this weekend at about 72%. Should be able to finish the story missions next weekend and meet the end of May deadline. Probably just 1 more weekend then to get the 100%

I played for a couple hours today. I feel like I've been in chapter 3 forever. I'm at 20% completion now, and the quests are wearing out their welcome.

I was finally able to pick up this game yesterday and worked my way to Chapter 3 last night.  I am playing this game on my PS2 and logged on to discover that my 92% file from several years ago was still on my card.  However, I started a new file for the playthrough of course.

I have to disagree about the repetitiveness of this game.  I think there are tons of things to do, especially after you hit Chapter 2 and get to go into the city. There are your standard fare of school, fetch quests for sure, but there are protection missions, bike races, carnival games, vandalism, boxing, and even special holiday themed quests (and this barely scratches the surface through Chapter 2).  To tell you the truth, compared to GTA games I played around the same time, the story and extras in this game helped propel me to the end. I can't say the same for those GTA games where I just put the controller down.  I think that the quests in Bully aren't as difficult as they are in GTA, and I believe this is a much welcome change (at least for me).

I love the various collection aspects of this game which includes not only items found all over the place (like the G&G cards and rubberbands), but also stuff like the transistor radios that you take to the homeless guy who teaches you how to fight.  Classes are pretty fun for the most part and I quite enjoy the mini games throughout.

I even think that the story is pretty good. Sure, the stereotypes in this game are to the extreme, but I think that watering them down would make them seem "too real" if that makes sense.  Having them over-the-top and ridiculous makes them much more comical. Even so, I think the strength of the message in Bully still holds true and that the developers to a great job of toting this line.  I played this game long ago, and I find that it still has some great charm.

Between work commitments, stuff at home, and an impromptu vacation we took (and are still on), I've not been able to touch this game at all.  I have it sitting out on the PS2, though, so maybe I'll check it out next month.  Sigh.

Just finished the story missions. Now got a couple of side missions left to do and all the little extras that make up 100%

Nice!  Just hit Chapter 5 last night, so should be wrapping it up soon.

I finish this long weekend on just over 90% completion. Should finish it early next weekend if I don't have too much trouble tracking down the last of those damn rubber bands.

As I've now finished the story and May is about over its about time to give my final thoughts:

I really enjoyed the game. I didn't find it as repetitive as others seemed to. The extremely cliched cliques and characters were great. I don't think the game would have been half as interesting if the characters were more realistic.

I also like the attention to detail they put into the game. All the extra little things you can do like give wedgies and swirlies, slide down banisters, start food fights etc. None of these had to be included in the game but they put them in anyway.

I did miss the vehicles from GTA. Constantly tapping X on the skateboard or bike got a bit tiring. It was also a shame not to have the brilliant rock stations you get in GTA games (but this was understandable as you don't get cars). I can see why others would find the game music annoying and repetitive. While I'm not going to say it's anywhere close to a masterpiece I isn't find the music annoying though.

Camera could be a bit slow following you and not very easy to manage yourself but I've known worse. Controls other than that were good.

The lesson mini games were fun while they lasted. Man did I suck at the English mini game though!

The repeating day cycle was very majoras mask. Sometimes it seemed a little short but overall not a problem.

One final thing I would like to bring up is the title of the game you got over there in America. I can see why people would be concerned about a game called Bully made by the people behind GTA. I can see why it was changed over here in Europe. I was expecting to play this game as a horrible thug who does go around bullying people for fun. But the title is actually hiding a game where you go around stopping the bullies and standing up for the nerds and nice kids. Sure Jimmy ain't the best behaved kid but he's got a heart of gold really. I think naming this game Bully was probably a pretty bad move!

Thanks for the thoughts on the game Schlibby and especially thanks for playing.  I agree with a lot of what you have to say about the game and that should come across in the podcast.  I finished with a 65% completion percentage. I know that the game can be done in less, but I elected to do a few side quests and purchase a few unnecessary items as I felt it added more to the enjoyment of the game for me.  I beat the game several years ago and have a save file with just over 92%.  Ironically, I sucked at English too....and I went to school for my MA in it!

My only disagreement with you above comments might be the naming of this game. While "Bully" might be a controversial title, let's face it, controversy sales.  I think using this as a title creates this mystic and of course Rock Star is no stranger to using propaganda and defiling what is socially acceptable to sell games.  However, I think that the title has much more significance than what is on the surface.  As we play through the story, we see that Bullworth Academy is overrun with bullies (usually denoted by their white shirts). Within the various social cliques, the heads dominate their peers and also have bullying personas. After dominating these cliques, Jimmy is high on himself and has pretty much unseated everyone through violence and taken over as the head of the school (ironically, through bullying, but with good intentions). It's not until the end that we are able to defeat the supreme bully, Gary, that peace returns to the school and city.  I think the title is pretty apropos. 

I agree it's a good marketing move in terms of creating controversy to generate interest. And bullying is obviously a key theme of the game. I guess it's a good surprise for people when they discover they aren't the bully.

On a related topic, if anyone was wondering what the Euro title of Canis Canem Edit means; apparently it's dog eat dog. Although google translate doesn't seem to detect it's Latin

Yep, on you mentioning that the title was different in Europe (and Australia also), I looked it up for the podcast. Doesn't want to translate well with online translators though. Now they've offended the canine population!

 :laugh:

I finally finished the chapter I felt like I had been on forever. It was chapter 2, not chapter 3 ><

I decided to retire from the game after that.

I liked the school mini-games the best. Naming US states in geography was a bit tough for me, but what I really sucked at was the art game.

Loved the art game....QIX!!!!!!!   I didn't have Geography in my game. You must be playing the Scholarship Edition.

We are recording the Bully podcast tonight.  Anything any of you would like us to discuss, or any questions for our hosts?

Got my 100% :-)

That's amazing Schlibby, congrats!

The new Playcast episode is out today. If you played Bully with us, check it out.