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    •  
      CommentAuthorswenson
    • CommentTimeNov 25th 2013
     

    @sansa – there is literally a posterior slider in the character creation screen. I had to stop to laugh my head off for awhile.

    I dunno, I’ve got a certain amount of respect for a game that lets you make genuinely ugly or fat characters, regardless of gender. Sure, most people probably aren’t going to play like that, but if I want to play as a huge orc lady that looks like she’s old enough to have killed and possibly eaten your great-grandfather, I like a game that lets me do it.

    •  
      CommentAuthorApep
    • CommentTimeNov 25th 2013
     

    I was in there as well, and I kinda get your complaints about the questing issues, swenson. On the one hand, them being so short doesn’t make them feel very epic, but on the other hand, at least it feels like you’re doing something. Plus, none of that ‘gather twenty bear asses’ crap most MMOs pull.

    I got one character up to level 5 (which I think was the max for the beta), and it did open up a little bit in the area after the prologue. I did get to chose which of three quests to do for the main quest giver, and once that was finished I had two options – return to the quest giver and move on to the next area, or complete the other two quests as well as any others I happen to stumble across. I went with the latter, but I retained the option of doing the former.

    But once I got to the next area, that feeling went away, because I felt too rushed to really do any of the side quests. I only got around to those because the game wouldn’t let me progress any further.

    Still, I enjoyed it for the most part.

    •  
      CommentAuthorswenson
    • CommentTimeNov 25th 2013
     

    Yeah, I’m definitely going to play again when the next window opens up, and hopefully that time I’ll actually have enough time to do more than the first couple of quests. I did appreciate that there’s still the impetus to explore the world—you aren’t really restricted in where you can go and there’s some random quests I ran into unintentionally—it’s just the same sort of feeling rushed thing that you mentioned.

    Also, not being able to loot everything I see is saddening, but at least you can still loot some stuff. You’ve gotta do the looting thing in an Elder Scrolls game, though. It’s pretty core to the game, picking up everything you come in contact with and fiddling with your inventory for far too long.

    •  
      CommentAuthorApep
    • CommentTimeNov 25th 2013 edited
     

    I know. All the containers I found were either empty or locked, and the fact that they make you play a little mini-game to unlock stuff just felt stupid. Yes, I know they did the same thing in the non-MMO games, but that doesn’t make it a good idea.

    •  
      CommentAuthorswenson
    • CommentTimeDec 2nd 2013 edited
     

    First I get an iPhone 4, now I’m playing Skyrim. I’m almost caught up to the modern age, u guiz!

    Now to download all the mods. I just feel wrong playing a game like an Elder Scrolls title without survival mods installed…

  1.  

    I was very disappointed when I found out the Dynasty Warriors Gundam 3 was not about the Dynasty Warriors characters using giant robots to wage war across China.

    •  
      CommentAuthorswenson
    • CommentTimeDec 3rd 2013
     

    It’s not?! What else could “Gundam” possibly mean?

  2.  

    It’s the Dynasty Warriors set up with Gundam characters (and robots) slicing through hordes of enemies instead of the usual cast. I prefer my version better.

    •  
      CommentAuthorApep
    • CommentTimeDec 3rd 2013
     

    I think we all do. That’s the one thing the Three Kingdoms era is missing – giant robots.

    •  
      CommentAuthorswenson
    • CommentTimeDec 3rd 2013
     

    Awww…

  3.  

    Someone’s got a Hearthstone beta key.

    •  
      CommentAuthorlilyWhite
    • CommentTimeDec 7th 2013
     

    For anyone who loves to watch playthroughs of hilariously broken games, Mendrinkincoffee’s Let’s Play of Ride to Hell: Retribution is incredible. Hopefully they’ll have the livestream of the game’s DLC on Youtube eventually, because the glitches in that DLC were utterly hysterical.

  4.  
    No love for _Wrath of the Dead Rabbit_?

    I also have both _Digimon World Dawn_ and _Digimon World Dusk_.

    Also, _Pokémon X_ rules. Xerneas is the Cirno of Pokémon.
    •  
      CommentAuthorPuppet
    • CommentTimeDec 14th 2013
     

    Bastion. It was alright. Kinda tedious at times and not very difficult even with all the idols.

    •  
      CommentAuthorswenson
    • CommentTimeDec 14th 2013
     

    D:

    B-b-but music and narrator and prettiness!

    In other news, I spent the entire day playing Skyrim. Day well spent, IMO. Somebody remind me why I didn’t get this thing earlier?

  5.  

    Bastion is a bit more plot driven than gameplay driven. As far as actual gameplay goes, it’s pretty generic and tends to get away with a lot thanks to it’s style. I still adore the game myself but don’t think it’s above criticism. I thought it was kind of meh up until the ending.

    PS: Orcs Must Die, where have you been all my life? I don’t know how challenging you are compared to most third person shooter tower defense games since you are my first in the genre , but you are still very fun to play and I love your soundtrack.

    •  
      CommentAuthorswenson
    • CommentTimeDec 15th 2013
     

    Oh, the ending was pretty great IMO. I was very surprised that they let me do that.

  6.  

    Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance now preselling on Steam. Get the fuck in.

    re: Bastion: soundtrack owns bones, slingers song allday errday

  7.  
    If you don't know what a "Wrong Answer of the Game" is meant to be, get with the times, because-

    (explosion)

    Crowd: _You Don't Know Jack!_
  8.  

    I can’t tell if you’re some kind of gimmick or not.

    Steam sale related: I pissed away a bunch of money of course, and I’m trying a little of everything I got to see what sticks with me first.

    So far it’s Valdis Story, a pretty-looking indie Metroidvania with a sprinkle of RPG and fighting game mechanics.

    I want to try 7 Days to Die some more as well. Minecraft+survival+zombies with some silly features.

    •  
      CommentAuthorlilyWhite
    • CommentTimeJan 13th 2014
     

    Welp, I’m currently addicted to Catlateral Damage. Discovered it last night, pledged to beat 250,000 points this morning…got 275,800.

    •  
      CommentAuthorswenson
    • CommentTimeJan 13th 2014
     

    I want to play that game based on the title alone.

  9.  

    Broken Age part 1 is officially out to the backers. This game is hitting so many nostalgia buttons, in the sense of style and whimsey and not in the sense of ‘look, a thing I used to like’.

    Speaking of Kickstarter, the creator of Final Fantasy Tactics has a new Kickstarter here . Most people here have probably already heard about that, but extra publicity never hurts.

    • CommentAuthorRocky
    • CommentTimeJan 16th 2014
     
    bq. Arkham Origins was pretty much just a reskinning for the first two games with. I’d be satisfied if it were DLC or a fan game, but as is it’s too little to really care about. It doesn’t advance the “story”, it doesn’t add in new mechanics and even the boss fights are old and reused. There aren’t even any particularly memorable set pieces. It’s one of the most forgettable things I’ve touched in a while.

    The story was definitely really boilerplate. There were two standout aspects, though. First, I liked the whole scenario with Firefly; even though it seemed crammed into the narrative, I liked the contents of it, especially the boss fight with Firefly (even if it got too repetitive by the end). The other thing I loved was what I'd been waiting to experience: a civilian, vertical Gotham. There may not have been much of it, but it was done very well. Now if they can just make the entire city, populate it with civilian NPCs, and remove the fast travel system in lieu of actually driving the batmobile*, and you'd have me interested.

    •  
      CommentAuthorlilyWhite
    • CommentTimeJan 20th 2014
     

    So there’s this guy who thinks that he can make a better Mass Effect 3 than the people who made Mass Effect. It’s no surprise that his manifesto fanfic is filled with the typical mindless ending-basher vitriol. It’s even less surprising that his “re-write” of ME3 is atrociously shit. James screams “I…am…Vega!” in battle. Khalishah al-Jilani is a love interest. Morinth makes a “heroic last stand”.

    I’m thinking that, one of these days, I should tear through the whole damn thing piece by piece. (Then again, I even told the writer about how stupid a friend of mine thought that bit about Morinth was. He seemed to have completely failed to realize it was criticism.)

    •  
      CommentAuthorswenson
    • CommentTimeJan 21st 2014
     

    Khalishah al-Jilani is a love interest.

    Yep, that right there is enough for me to recognize it’s stupid. Also Morinth is and was always a horrifying serial killer, and any attempts to make her any less of a sociopath are severely disturbing to me. “Oh, but she couldn’t HELP herself!” Yeah, well, you know what? Falere and Rila never went on wild killing sprees, now did they? You can definitely help whether or not you murder people for the sake of getting a rush.

    I think there’s a lot of valid criticisms to be made about ME3’s ending (and the real problems, in my opinion, weren’t really addressed by the Extended Cut), but by and large I don’t have much to complain about the game itself. Sure, there’s parts of it that I wish went differently—but not in the sense of “the writers did it wrong.“ The writers just did it different.

    Minor ME3 spoilers, I guess:

    Man, nearly two years since it came out and I can still rant about ME3 at the drop of a hat. I really like that series, though

    •  
      CommentAuthorlilyWhite
    • CommentTimeJan 22nd 2014
     

    As much as I wanted to do an in-depth spork, I’m beginning to think I don’t want to put myself through the whole damn thing. Not only is it atrocious, but reading only a bit further makes it clear that it’s also painfully misogynistic.

    The highlight of that would be making the turian Primarch a woman…and giving the FemPrimarch a line with FemShep where she abruptly turns a conversation sexual and expresses a desire to have a threesome with FemShep and Garrus.

    •  
      CommentAuthorswenson
    • CommentTimeJan 22nd 2014
     

    The highlight of that would be making the turian Primarch a woman…and giving the FemPrimarch a line with FemShep where she abruptly turns a conversation sexual and expresses a desire to have a threesome with FemShep and Garrus.

    Characters abruptly turning conversations sexual when they have more important things to be doing is never really a good thing, is it? Well, rarely. Definitely not in this case. Especially not when it’s probably just because WOMEN MAKING OUT IS HOT YOU GUIZ. CHARACTER DOESN’T MATTER.

    But I do have to say that having the Primarch be female would’ve been cool. I know, I know, limitations on the number of models and all that sort of thing, but honestly they could’ve easily gotten away with using the same turian body and just throwing in a couple of turian female heads for variety. The whole “waahh we can’t have female characters because we don’t have enough space for the textures :(” is an excuse IMO.

    I’m thinking about trying to skim this thing now, just for the lulz, but I worry that there would be less lulz and more smashing my head into a wall out of overexposure to stupidity.

  10.  

    Got Metal Gear Rising to work with my PS2 controller, and sweet mother of fuck this is the coolest game I’ve ever played and it’s not even close holy shit

  11.  

    So the new Thief game came out today. And, for the first time in a long time, I’m not repulsed by the remake. It’s not perfect and could use more variety in the level design, but ti doesn’t feel like a betrayal of the previous games so far. I’m only on chapter 2, but kind of surprised by this since the last few remakes of games I loved were terrible. I hated Max Payne 3, Tales of Monkey Island and DMC: Devil May Cry. Hoping it remains this good.

  12.  

    DMC: Devil May Cry

    barf

    •  
      CommentAuthorlilyWhite
    • CommentTimeMar 2nd 2014
     

    Lightning Returns is delicioussauce. There’s something just so charming about a game where you can have a stoic solider reluctantly dressed as a cat-girl (with two pairs of cat-ears) saving someone’s soul by going on a date with them, which ends up taking a rather sad turn. That, and committing monster genocide with Behemoths’ swords never gets old.

    I’ve also been playing Breath of Fire II, which is a lot less crap in the GBA version where you have to do far less grinding in order to not die instantly in new dungeons/areas. Still not the greatest game, but hey, it’s got Spar—or at least Spar’s mushroom-girl form. =^_^=

    • CommentAuthorRocky
    • CommentTimeMar 4th 2014
     
    "Batman: Arkham Knight":http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsf78BS9VE0
    •  
      CommentAuthorswenson
    • CommentTimeMar 4th 2014
     

    I started playing Mighty Quest for Epic Loot, and it’s okay, but I can only play for about an hour at a time before I get bored. It has potential to have all of my favorite things in a game (by which I mean endless looting and inventory management), but there’s just… not a lot there. There’s very little character customization (skills automatically unlock or level up based on your level, so your only choice is which skills are on your hotbar) and gear isn’t all that interesting either (it’s not very clear how physical/magic damage and armor interact, and there’s no, like, connection to your gear. It all looks the same, and aside from weapons they all act the same.).

    And designing your own castle… well, it’s okay, but again there just doesn’t seem to be all THAT much customization… maybe I’m just not creative enough, but it’s like, I need to do a lot more grinding before my castle can be any good, and that’s a lot of running through similar-looking rooms fighting similar-looking monsters and avoiding similar-looking traps, just so I can do it all over again. I know that’s literally the point of the game, but… I dunno. I think the game’s just not for me.

  13.  

    Get Metal Gear Rising, swenson. It is the game for you.

    •  
      CommentAuthorApep
    • CommentTimeMar 10th 2014
     

    Picked up the first two episodes of Wold Among Us, the game based on the Fables comic. I’m part way through the second episode now, and it’s pretty fun. I’m already considering a second play through just to check out some of the other potential choices.

  14.  
    •  
      CommentAuthorlilyWhite
    • CommentTimeMar 11th 2014
     

    So with Dark Souls II out, the creators made a “How to Play” video. It’s 40 minutes long. It explains things like how stats work, gameplay elements, and difference between Dark Souls and Dark Souls II. You know, the kind of thing that well-designed games explain in the game itself instead of needing a 40-minute “How to Play” video.

    Then again, given how much people kiss Dark Souls‘s ass for its definition of “difficulty” being “getting fucked over for not playing the game perfectly long before you can actually learn how to play”, I imagine Dark Souls II would get praised for not explaining simple gameplay elements in the game itself.

  15.  

    It’s funny that you pull the “not designed for you” card to excuse broad-audience Bioware turds, but when a different game makes an a legit artistic choice with its design specifically intended to appeal to a consumer niche, suddenly it’s bad design.

    But I agree, Souls games would be totes better if the game would just play itself in the same 3 caves and then let you pick which of several hawt space elves you want to have your character fuck and you can feel powerful and good about yourself while you watch two barbie dolls mash together on screen while exchanging subpar Whedonisms.

    •  
      CommentAuthorswenson
    • CommentTimeMar 12th 2014
     

    Eh. Games are an interactive medium. Any game which can’t teach you how to play by actually playing the game has some problems, in my book. Unless that’s literally the point of the game, as with something like Nethack.

    I mean, you take something like Minecraft, a game I’d hold up as one of the best games developed in the last ten years, and I think the lack of in-game recipes is a problem. You can learn most of Minecraft’s mechanics from playing, but crafting, one of the central parts of the game? Unless you’re playing on the 360, the wiki’s the only place to learn recipes. That’s not good.

  16.  

    Eh. Games are an interactive medium. Any game which can’t teach you how to play by actually playing the game has some problems, in my book. Unless that’s literally the point of the game, as with something like Nethack.

    I can’t speak to Dark Souls 2 because I haven’t played it yet(didn’t even know it was out), but by and large Dark 1 and Demons do this, so long as you can keep yourself from being a baby and throwing your controller when you die a couple of times. If you’re looking to get the “complete Souls experience” or whatever, it’s actually pretty integral that they do it this way.

    The point, generally, is to make you feel alone and vulnerable in a foreboding, dangerous environment. Not having a magic fairy swoop in to tell you “hey greatest hero ever, press B+X to do a rad kickflip” or dropping giant glowing arrows over your next destination is a huge part of that. The game wants you to do your own exploring, both of the environments and the gameplay systems. That’s even how it approaches the plot for the most part. To get a clear picture of what’s going on in either game, you can suss it out through lots of totally optional conversations with NPCs.

    And as long as you’re not being sloppy, stubborn, or directly retarded, neither of the first two games will prevent you from progressing even if you’re not playing at maximum efficiency. Even this guy beat both games.

    It’s an artistic choice, and it’s produced two really cool and popular games, and possibly a third. I wish more studios would be a little braver in trusting their audience.

    • CommentAuthorRocky
    • CommentTimeMar 12th 2014
     
    Spent the last few days reacquainting myself with the reasons _Medal of Honor: Warfighter_ was a colossal failure. Not even sure where to start, and this is just the multiplayer side of things. We might as well be wielding airsoft guns for all the damage these "bullets" do; I really don't care if the mode's hardcore or not, when I snipe someone and the only possible body part to have possibly hit was the head, I should be seeing a kill tally, not just a hit marker. And that's exactly what I was expecting from a shooter touting "authentic, gritty action". Fortunately, EA and Danger Close have also decided to neuter sniping through map design (a la Call of the Modern Black Ops: Duty Free) and bullet damage, so it's a pointless exercise on all counts and therefore one to be immediately ignored. When I pump an entire magazine into an enemy player, it probably shouldn't result in my death and subsequently learning I only chipped off 40% his overall health. And when I do slay my erstwhile antagonist and am reduced to a mighty 4% health, I should be able to encounter another enemy and, if skill is properly applied, take him down, not accept the fact I'm already dead since I have to shoot him with 600% more rounds than he does by that point. Hit detection is possibly worse than its predecessor; I do love soaking up some bullets and darting behind solid cover just to be finished off two seconds later from through said cover. The developers, quite stupidly, decided no one would want to sprint and then crouch to a stop, we obviously want to _skid_, which works great when you want to reach an overwatch perch and then go sliding off the cliff. Everyone had to be loaded with multiple grenades, explosives, remote charges, and noob tubes, because why should I have to _shoot_ anybody? And I can choose to spawn "back at base", which I assumed meant I could spawn away from a crossfire rather than directly—yes, I do literally mean _directly_ —in another player's crosshairs.

    It's not often I feel this way, but I sincerely hope those responsible are out flipping burgers over this mess. Even the menu interface is nonsensical. "Push B button to go back, unless you'd rather press one of the bumpers to navigate laterally, or just navigate freeform with the control stick. And we put ALL these options onscreen, too. Because we're all left-handed except when we use our right hands. Or feet."
    •  
      CommentAuthorlilyWhite
    • CommentTimeMar 12th 2014
     

    But I agree, Souls games would be totes better if the game would just play itself in the same 3 caves and then let you pick which of several hawt space elves you want to have your character fuck and you can feel powerful and good about yourself while you watch two barbie dolls mash together on screen while exchanging subpar Whedonisms.

    Holy passive-aggressiveness, Batman!

    I can’t speak to Dark Souls 2 because I haven’t played it yet(didn’t even know it was out), but by and large Dark 1 and Demons do this, so long as you can keep yourself from being a baby and throwing your controller when you die a couple of times.

    And of course, that’s the problem. You have no idea how to overcome enemies or obstacles until you die repeatedly from them in order to know what not to do, in a game with harsh penalties for dying repeatedly. (Like Dark Souls II reducing your max HP every time you die, because being weaker for subsequent attempts is a great idea. Or Dark Souls‘s “You die instantly. Also your health is now halved. And you need a stupidly-difficult-to-obtain item to cure this effect. Have fun!”)

    It’s entirely possible to make a difficult, challenging game that requires the player to learn the gameplay systems in order to defeat enemies while being fair to the player. Dark Souls‘s style of “difficulty” is little more than trial-and-error, where you’re given no information and get the middle finger every time you encounter an obstacle you don’t already know how to overcome.

    And at the very least, I’m sure you could see that not adequately explaining what your freaking stats do in the actual game is just plain stupid.

    Any game which can’t teach you how to play by actually playing the game has some problems, in my book. Unless that’s literally the point of the game, as with something like Nethack.

    I wouldn’t say that NetHack is a well-designed game either. It too has the element of “difficulty through being obtuse”, but it’s more that the randomly-generated nature of the game creates lethal hazards that you have no way to see coming (“You fall into a pit! You land on a set of sharp iron spikes! The spikes were poisoned! The poison was deadly… Do you want your possessions identified?”) and/or are reliant on random chance to have the means to protect yourself against.

    •  
      CommentAuthororganiclead
    • CommentTimeMar 13th 2014 edited
     

    I wouldn’t say that NetHack is a well-designed game either. It too has the element of “difficulty through being obtuse”, but it’s more that the randomly-generated nature of the game creates lethal hazards that you have no way to see coming (“You fall into a pit! You land on a set of sharp iron spikes! The spikes were poisoned! The poison was deadly… Do you want your possessions identified?”) and/or are reliant on random chance to have the means to protect yourself against.

    I think that’s part of the appeal of rogue-likes. They’re very Gygaxian and help you get that old dungeon crawler feeling you just don’t see in game design nor tabletop design anymore. There’s probably a good reason the design philosophy has gone the way of the dodo but there will always be a niche market for masochists.

    On one hand, I liked Dark Souls. On the other hand, I don’t blame people for hating it. (I hate Sierra adventure games for the same reasons a lot of people hate Dark Souls.)

    EDIT: Finally finished Thief. I’m disappointed. It started off alright, but it just kind of kept going down hill as the game went on. I was excited to see any sort of new lore but this one’s just kind of generic steampunk with mystic elements. It looked like it could have gone in interesting directions but it was pretty disappointing. I’m not going to call it the utter betrayal of the originals a lot of people seem to think it is, but it turned out less than stellar.

    •  
      CommentAuthorswenson
    • CommentTimeMar 17th 2014
     

    I’ve wanted to play LA Noire for ages, but there used to be an issue with 64-bit Windows 7 where the game was stuttery and laggy, and it was just flat-out unplayable for me. But I decided to try it again today to see if maybe there’d been an update or something to fix it, and whaddaya know? It worked just fine!

    So that’s quite delightful to discover. :)

  17.  

    Seeing someone talk about how choosing to put tutorials on the ground as optional messages that you can skip at anytime instead of an obnoxious popup that forces you to do it every time you restart the game is like watching someone talk about how great youtube ads are.

    Dark Souls and Dark Souls 2 are EASY to learn how to play if you read the messages that the developers put directly in front of you in the beginning. inb4 “Why not put them more obviously” Because it allows experienced players to skip it while still providing the information to people who actually…read. You literally just have to put forth the tiniest bit of effort to see what the stats do and how the controls work. They put out a 40 minute video because people expect to be directly shown what to do instead of having to stop and think for just a second, such as “I don’t know what agility is, maybe I should hover over it and…oh! It says what right there!”

    Dark Souls is all about rewarding effort. You die, you learn a lesson, and you move to the point you just died at CAUTIOUSLY by using the tips and skills you’ve picked up from other deaths. Then you’re rewarded with a boss, that you can beat after you watch his patterns, learn his visual and audio cues, and learn when to attack and when not to be greedy. Caution and Effort are the watchwords of a souls fan. You put forth effort to gain ground, using caution to avoid mistakes and carelessness. It requires attention.

    The tutorial emphasizes this by making you put forth a little effort to learn the controls. You have to read. You have to look. But you’re rewarded with everything you need in a way that’s unobtrusive.

    •  
      CommentAuthorlilyWhite
    • CommentTimeApr 7th 2014
     

    So…the developers think that there are two types of players:

    • those who will play their game “as intended”, making their way through by pure trial and error persistence and effort; and
    • those who are too stupid to read in-game descriptions of stats and need everything spoonfed to them?
  18.  

    Pretty much.

    In the same vein, I miss optional tutorial levels. They make replaying games much more bearable.

    •  
      CommentAuthorTakuGifian
    • CommentTimeApr 8th 2014
     

    My brother just hired Dead Island for his holidays.

    Start-to-crate ratio, not counting lengthy cutscenes, is about 2 seconds.

    5 minutes in, the most horrific fake Australian accent I’ve ever heard starts narrating what to do.

    Back to the hire place it goes.

  19.  

    Not stupid. Lazy. But yes. Those are the two types of people who play games. The people who get way into any particular game (Bioware, FromSoft, Square, CoD fanboy/girls) and everyone else, who plays a game as in “Ugh, just tell me what to do. I’m trying to relax”.

    When I play a bioware game, I don’t care about min/maxing damage or even getting every dialogue or every quest or every party member. When I play Dark Souls 1 or 2, I (and a LOT of people who play it) get way into it and pay a ton of attention.

  20.  

    I watched a friend play Titanfall. I think the biggest downfall of this game is the fact that more often than not you are not in a giant robot.

    •  
      CommentAuthorswenson
    • CommentTimeApr 9th 2014
     

    Heh. If the game didn’t cost so much, I’d try it out. From what I’ve seen, though, at least between Titans there’s still things to do, like taking Titans down directly?

  21.  

    There is, but it’s usually fighting to get inside a giant robot or try to hold off the enemy until your own giant robot can appear or running away because the other team blew up your giant robot. It’s an interesting mechanic, but I’m the sort of person who sees a giant robot on the cover of a game and wants to be the person in the giant robot.

  22.  

    The parts outside the robot seem the coolest to me, freerunning etc. . . But no way I am paying $60 for a game with that little content that almost certainly with DLC on the way.

  23.  

    So, I just finished Bioshock Infinite. Uh. I’m gonna need a bit.

  24.  

    Dark Souls 2 finally on my PC. I managed to avoid pretty much all the prerelease info too. This is gonna be so much fucking fun.

    •  
      CommentAuthorRandomX2
    • CommentTimeApr 25th 2014
     

    Souls games can be trial and error, depending on your play-style. I find they largely aren’t. The only unreasonable trial-and-error moments I can think of in the series are in the DeS’ Tower of Latria with an Iron Maiden trap, and DS’s Seath. Other than that, you’re well rewarded for cautious play and observation.

  25.  

    I have one final today and then I can PC it as well Sansa.

    • CommentAuthorTim
    • CommentTimeMay 22nd 2014
     

    Everyone needs to get Earth Defence Force 2025 immediately if not a great deal sooner.

    • CommentAuthorTim
    • CommentTimeMay 26th 2014
     

    Been playing the new Wolfenstein, and though it’s a little confused as to whether it wants to be serious or not (serious Nazi atrocities to shooting doofy robot dogs is a little much of a tonal lurch sometimes) it does play nicely like an old-school shooter, complete with only having to use the iron sights if you actually want to.

    •  
      CommentAuthorApep
    • CommentTimeMay 29th 2014
     

    I figure this is the most appropriate place to ask this:

    Anyone here on Storium? I’ve been playing around with starting a campaign/game there, and I figured I should try recruiting some players before opening up for anyone to apply.

    Also, if you’re interested but don’t have an account, I can still send you an email and you can create your own account. You will have to pay to get in to the beta, but it’s only $10.

    • CommentAuthorRocky
    • CommentTimeMay 29th 2014
     
    I can't believe _Splinter Cell: Blacklist_ ever saw the light of day. What a slap in the face to the franchise and its fans. As Ned Stark would say: brace yourself, a rant is coming (but hidden for those who don't care).

    •  
      CommentAuthorswenson
    • CommentTimeMay 29th 2014
     

    The tears of people who are disappointed by Watch Dogs are as sweet nectar to my tongue.

    Not that I particularly wanted the game to fail or anything, but let’s be real, people, there is no way it could ever live up to the expectations. People were acting like it was the second coming, but… you guiz. It was never going to be the second coming. It’s just a videogame.

    The best are when people complain about extremely common and ordinary limitations such as limited AI, imperfect physics engine, etc. etc. because it’s like, really, everyone else is complaining about the story and setting, and you’re getting upset because the pathfinding isn’t good enough?

    If you can sit back and watch from an objective position, it’s just adorable and hilarious. :)

    • CommentAuthorRocky
    • CommentTimeMay 30th 2014
     
    The flipside is watching gamers rip into everything Call of Duty, especially since the trailer released for the upcoming _Advanced Warfare_.

    "The last time Call of Duty promised to usher in a 'new age', we got fish swimming out of the way."

    bq. The best are when people complain about extremely common and ordinary limitations...

    Gamers are a pretty selfish breed on the larger scale, you have to admit.
    •  
      CommentAuthorswenson
    • CommentTimeMay 30th 2014
     

    Yeah… we kind of are.

  26.  

    So what makes Storium any different than a standard narrativist tabletop game? What are the mechanics that make this stand out? The website tells me nothing about how actual play works.

    Also, Earth Defence Force 2025 has been the best investment I’ve made all year. I regret nothing.

  27.  

    Gamers are a pretty selfish breed on the larger scale, you have to admit.

    Gamers are the worst IMO.

    •  
      CommentAuthorApep
    • CommentTimeMay 30th 2014
     

    So what makes Storium any different than a standard narrativist tabletop game? What are the mechanics that make this stand out? The website tells me nothing about how actual play works.

    Well, the players get cards (strengths, weaknesses, subplots, goals, etc.). The narrator sets a challenge for the players, and decides how many cards they need to play to complete it. While the players can post whatever they want on their move, when they play a card to complete a challenge and move the plot forward, they need to somehow work that into their move.

    There’s also some pre-built wolds, so anyone building a game doesn’t have to make everything from scratch.

    There is a “how to play” section, but you do need to be in the beta to read it. Hopefully they’ll make some of that stuff publicly available once they’re out of beta.

    •  
      CommentAuthororganiclead
    • CommentTimeMay 30th 2014 edited
     

    Eh, what the hey, count me in. Username is organiclead.

    •  
      CommentAuthorApep
    • CommentTimeMay 31st 2014
     

    Cool. Anyone else interested?

    • CommentAuthorTim
    • CommentTimeJun 1st 2014
     

    Not that I particularly wanted the game to fail or anything, but let’s be real, people, there is no way it could ever live up to the expectations. People were acting like it was the second coming, but… you guiz. It was never going to be the second coming. It’s just a videogame.

    I’ve never really bought that line of argument because it’s basically saying that if you believe in something and you’re let down, it’s your fault for believing in it. Ubisoft were the ones who fostered these expectations and built up the hype, they’re the ones who deserve the blame if people feel disappointed by such honest-John tactics as lying that the E3 video wasn’t pre-rendered or calling a game next-gen when it doesn’t have water impact effects for guns (which Quake managed).

    • CommentAuthorRocky
    • CommentTimeJun 1st 2014 edited
     
    bq. I’ve never really bought that line of argument because it’s basically saying that if you believe in something and you’re let down, it’s your fault for believing in it.

    Shame on the developer for promising a false revolution, shame on the player for biting into the hype-bait hook, line, and sinker. Gamers so, so often get into the habit of expecting the next big game to rewrite the rules. Sometimes that's a perspective publishers and developers love to feed, and sometimes gamers just don't understand the term "realistic expectations". Swenson's referring to the gamers who expected _Watch Dogs_ to rewrite the rules.

    It also has to do with the fact gamers, while selfish, are also quite largely spoiled.
    • CommentAuthorTim
    • CommentTimeJun 2nd 2014
     

    You can hardly accuse people of being spoiled when you’re also saying they should accept constantly being let down and lied to. The games industry wants a relationship when they can shovel shit down people’s throats, tell them it’s candy and then call them fat slobs for eating so much candy.

    •  
      CommentAuthorTakuGifian
    • CommentTimeJun 2nd 2014 edited
     

    To be fair to the game companies, historically speaking, predictable shit sells better than innovation, and the demands of consumers for impossibly high graphics does tend to skew the budget away from storytelling and mechanics in favour of rendering and polish. It’s hard to get the right balance of factors when 80-90% of the budget is on the final stage of graphics and textures.

    And then the marketing side have to get enough people interested to make some of the tens of millions of dollars sunk into development back, so they go with what seems obvious: The development team spent 15 million on rendering and textures? Obviously that’s a major selling point of the game! Regardless of how much 15M actually achieved, they see the figures and expect something worthwhile.

    I’m not saying the game corps are faultless or blameless, OR that consumers have unrealistic expectations. It’s a broken system based on a faulty marketing feedback loop between consumer and developer, and it’s very hard to produce a winning game (or to market it honestly) in such a fragmented system.

    •  
      CommentAuthorswenson
    • CommentTimeJun 2nd 2014
     

    Yep. I’m not saying gamers should just accept terrible stuff, and I’m not saying that people can’t get let down. I am saying that people should have realistic expectations. Watch Dogs literally could not live up to the expectations some people had. Not because of money or developers but because of stuff like hardware and software limitations. If an expectation for a game is literally impossible, it’s not the developers’ fault when the expectation isn’t met.

    You could blame the marketing—and you probably should, marketers often don’t seem to have much interaction with the people actually making the game… or with reality in general—but you can’t entirely excuse the gamers who should’ve known better. At the end of the day, it is a still just a piece of software that is subject to hardware and software limitations, no matter what marketers try to tell you. You don’t expect that drinking Pepsi will instantly make you a successful and popular person or that wearing Axe will instantly attract women to you like iron filings to a magnet, right? Because you know that’s not how the real world works. You should have a similar view toward videogame marketing, keeping in mind what’s actually possible in the real world.

    Also what Taku said, predictable is always going to beat out innovative because there’s less risk. You know there’s a market for predictable, you don’t know if there’s a market for innovative. And it’s a lot easier to sell graphics than it is to sell story or gameplay—in the case of gameplay, you really can’t market gameplay until the game is more or less done, but you’ve got to start marketing it before that point, so you need to show off the pretty pictures instead, so that means you’d better make sure the graphics look great… and so on. Doesn’t make me happy, but this seems to be how it goes of late.

    (also—complaining about the story being bad is 100% okay in my book. Story and character are not really limited by hardware. It’s when people get so wildly upset over things like imperfect AI that I start mocking them.)

  28.  

    that wearing Axe will instantly attract women to you like iron filings to a magnet, right? Because you know that’s not how the real world works.

    wait are you serious

    brb reevaluating a few life choices

    ...In all seriousness though I think gaming(and entertainment media in general) became a lot more fun for me when I stopped following release schedules and trade shows and trailers and all of that other shit that serves no purpose other than to get you to make what are essentially blind buys. I don’t even know what the fuck a Watch Dogs is other than I’ve seen it pop up on the Steam frontpage recently, but now I know I should apparently steer clear.

    •  
      CommentAuthorTheArmourer
    • CommentTimeJun 2nd 2014 edited
     

    Watch Dogs seems to be a great idea that is let down by it’s below modern visual fidelity. At E3, there was some footage shown of “Gameplay.” It was promised that PC was the lead platform, implying that it would be created for modern hardware, which is capable of delivering the high level of graphical performance that was shown, and can be seen in other games like Crysis 3.

    Here’s a video comparing the E3 footage to Ultra quality ingame footage. . . which, according to TotalBiscuit, is running at less that 60fps.

    Crysis 3 screenshot for reference.

    EDIT: And for PC only quibbles, the game is clearly not even ported to mouse control well, let alone designed for it.

    •  
      CommentAuthorswenson
    • CommentTimeJun 23rd 2014
     

    Best purchase of the Steam Summer Sale so far? Epic Battle Fantasy 4. I love this series (the Flash versions online), so yeah, I was willing to pay a couple of bucks for the desktop version! So oddly addictive. It hits all the right buttons for me, the obsessive item hoarding, the snarkiness, the elaborate strategizing with elements and attacks that make zero sense in the real world… it’s just such a fun game.

  29.  

    While I adore the fan game Off, it really does high light some of the more annoying factors of JRPGs. I hate it when you’re trying to do a puzzle and keep running into random encounters and the equipment upgrading process feels kind of tedious.

  30.  

    Caved into peer pressure and started playing the Old Republic. Only one thought has been going through my mind the entire time.

    Dear Games Workshop/Fantasy Flight:
    For the love of god, give Bioware the rights to the Dark Heresy game they’ve been so desperately wanting to make. They’re getting more obvious with it by the day. I just ran into a mission where a group believe Revan is the true Emperor and is imprisoned in the throne room by the dark council. The phrase “thank the Emperor” has been uttered. No one is fooled by this charade.

    •  
      CommentAuthorlilyWhite
    • CommentTimeAug 10th 2014
     

    Lagoon just might be, without any doubt in my mind, the worst SNES game I’ve ever played, but the intro music is incredible. Not that it fits the game or even the intro in the slightest, but who cares?

    And now I’‘ve just started Faria: A World of Mystery and Danger on the NES. So far, there’s a princess who needs to be rescued and a promise that whoever saves her can marry her.

    The player character is a female soldier.

    The princess is a giant caterpillar.

    I am stoked beyond words for this one.

    • CommentAuthorDave
    • CommentTimeAug 11th 2014
     

    So I really enjoyed Farcry 3, but I felt like the last villain was a weak follow up compared to his predecessor.

    •  
      CommentAuthorpugbutter
    • CommentTimeAug 11th 2014
     

    Jedi Outcast isn’t nearly as great as my niggas have tried to convince me it is.

    While the lightsaber battles are pretty good (especially when g_saberrealisticcombat is set to 1), it took way too long to get the lightsaber in the first place, and, moreover, fighting the same enemies gets tedious. Once I figured out that they didn’t stand a chance against a Speed trick combined with the Fast saber style, these battles became really easy and not that tense at all. From that point, the most fun came from trying to be as “cinematic” as possible, doing cool flips and combos and shit.

    Overall score: Republic Commando is better out of ten.

    •  
      CommentAuthorTakuGifian
    • CommentTimeAug 12th 2014
     

    From that point, the most fun came from trying to be as “cinematic” as possible, doing cool flips and combos and shit.

    Sorry, I seem to be missing your criticism. Is that not what lightsaber battles are about?

    •  
      CommentAuthorpugbutter
    • CommentTimeAug 12th 2014
     

    Games aren’t fun if they’re not challenging.

    unless you’re a skrub

  31.  

    Looks like you’re more annoyed by the simplicity over the difficulty.

    I dislike the idea that difficulty alone = quality. By that definition, ET for the Atari is a masterpiece.

    •  
      CommentAuthorpugbutter
    • CommentTimeAug 12th 2014 edited
     

    Difficulty is what gives me the sense of accomplishment after beating a game. I can like a plotline, I can like art direction, but without difficulty, I’ll only play it once and move on.

    There was no satisfaction at all when I beat Dark Messiah, for example. But even a game with a stupid childish plotline like Superstar Saga has replay value because it’s difficult and fulfilling. (Though that game is pretty funny and well-written at times anyway.)

    Jedi Outcast managed to be more boring than Republic Commando despite the latter’s heavy linearity.

  32.  

    And I’m one of those people who rage quits if a game gets too hard and/or repetitive. I admit I’ve never beaten I Want To Be The Guy and I really got annoyed with Bayonetta. I’ve just noticed that people seem to complain about things being too easy because they’ve found one thing that works and they keep using that thing. While that contributes to a game being too easy, I don’t think keeping the repetitive gameplay but ramming up the difficulty would improve anything.

    I can’t say anything for Jedi Outcast since I’ve never played it. Or Republic Commando. Or any Star Wars games beyond Tie Fighter, Knights of the Old Republic and The Force Unleashed.

    •  
      CommentAuthorlilyWhite
    • CommentTimeAug 13th 2014
     

    Having played Jedi Academy, I thought that all lightsaber duels boiled down to “roll forward and crotch-stab”.

    •  
      CommentAuthorApep
    • CommentTimeAug 13th 2014
     

    While I can see your point, pugbutter – not much point playing a game if there’s no challenge at all – I kinda lean more toward organiclead’s side. I’d rather a game not be fun because it’s too easy than too hard.

    •  
      CommentAuthorswenson
    • CommentTimeAug 13th 2014
     

    @lily – having only played KotOR, I thought all you did was flail wildly in the general direction of your opponent until they stopped moving.

    •  
      CommentAuthorpugbutter
    • CommentTimeAug 13th 2014
     

    I highly recommend Republic Commando. Although, as I mentioned, it’s quite linear, it’s got just about everything else going for it.

    Characters are well-written; you really do start to bond with your teammates. Combat, though against copy-paste enemies (what did you expect when they’re mostly droid armies?), is satisfying and, at times, very difficult. The final hallway on the Prosecutor comes to mind. The three settings are unique.

    It even manages to craft a decent story out of the irreparable dog-shit that are the prequel films.

    • CommentAuthorRocky
    • CommentTimeAug 13th 2014
     
    Having now seen footage from _Assassin's Creed: Rogue_, I have to say I'm disappointed. While I find the idea of a rogue assassin fighting for the Templars intriguing, I would've wanted something more unique. I don't know if they should've just avoided the story of a turncoat or just given the team more time, but I'm not interested in playing as an assassin turned Templar with only a few new tools and weapons to show for it. I've played as an assassin across six games now. If you're going to stick me in the boots of a Templar, let me do something different.

    Also, nice job giving us an _Irish_ character and putting us all the way back in the US. If you were so desperate for more naval stuff, Ubisoft, we could've had the North Sea as our stomping grounds, with Norway, Denmark, the UK, and even Iceland within reach. I mean, come on: we could've had _assassins in kilts_.
    •  
      CommentAuthorswenson
    • CommentTimeAug 14th 2014 edited
     

    assassins in kilts

    Well, I’m sold.

    •  
      CommentAuthorpugbutter
    • CommentTimeAug 14th 2014
     

    Unless they’re willing to give the game an X rating, they might have to redesign rooftop climbing and the camera controls.

    •  
      CommentAuthorswenson
    • CommentTimeAug 14th 2014
     

    Petticoats, man. Kilts with petticoats.

    •  
      CommentAuthorpugbutter
    • CommentTimeAug 14th 2014
     

    But petticoats are a women’s garment. I’m not on board with a transromantic polysexual etherkin checking my privilege. Not until we reach y2k in the Assassins Creed chronology.

  33.  

    At times like this I really miss City of Heroes, because I could have made one of those in that game.

    •  
      CommentAuthorpugbutter
    • CommentTimeSep 17th 2014
     

    After trying to play The Witcher, I can finally say I’ve played a game whose actual gameplay (ie. combat) is so bad that I cannot endure it for the sake of the good writing and atmosphere.

    10/10 it’s shit

  34.  

    The Witcher 2 is good.