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Offline Particle Person

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Re: Now Playing (the Video Game Version)
« Reply #660 on: August 14, 2015, 12:52:39 PM »
I tried playing AssCreed because it was free on the Xbone. My character felt like he was stuck in quicksand with the way he moved and the sluggish controls. How is this series so popular? I suppose they made it that way to make it seem like your character has a weightier presence in the game world, but wow, it's just not a very good mesh with the whole "super sneaky and deft assassin" role you're supposed to be playing.

You aren't really supposed to be super sneaky. Most of the assassinations are carried out in very public, very visible places.
Your mom is when your mom and you arent your mom.

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Offline juner

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Re: Now Playing (the Video Game Version)
« Reply #661 on: October 26, 2015, 12:42:21 AM »
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of time.

Feeling all nostalgic, got it on the Wii U Virtual Console (which sucks, overall).

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Offline Snupes

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Re: Now Playing (the Video Game Version)
« Reply #662 on: November 24, 2015, 11:13:28 AM »
Today marks the seventh time I've quit playing Fallout 4 because of getting stuck in some dumbass crevice. This time I had the gall to jump up onto a desk to shoot someone and ended up getting permanently stuck between the desk and a stool. Nice.
There are cigarettes in joints. You don't smoke it by itself.

Re: Now Playing (the Video Game Version)
« Reply #663 on: January 05, 2016, 03:00:09 AM »
School and shit has been keeping me busy but I've been slowly working through A Wolf Among Us with Trekky. It's like a much, much, much less disappointing and more noir version of Once Upon a Time.

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Offline rooster

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Re: Now Playing (the Video Game Version)
« Reply #664 on: January 05, 2016, 01:22:03 PM »
It's like a much, much, much less disappointing and more noir version of Once Upon a Time.
Oooh, that sounds delightful. I may have to look into this game.

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Offline beardo

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Re: Now Playing (the Video Game Version)
« Reply #665 on: January 05, 2016, 02:25:44 PM »
Today marks the seventh time I've quit playing Fallout 4 because of getting stuck in some dumbass crevice. This time I had the gall to jump up onto a desk to shoot someone and ended up getting permanently stuck between the desk and a stool. Nice.
That's it. We need to buy Snupes a gaming rig and a PC copy of Fallout 4 so she can noclip away from them damn crevices. Everyone pitch in!
The Mastery.

Offline Blanko

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Re: Now Playing (the Video Game Version)
« Reply #666 on: January 05, 2016, 02:37:21 PM »
Or she could just play better games

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Offline beardo

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Re: Now Playing (the Video Game Version)
« Reply #667 on: January 05, 2016, 03:14:22 PM »
But she clearly wants to play Fallout 4. Why else would she come back to it again and again after ragequitting so many times?
The Mastery.

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Offline Crudblud

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Re: Now Playing (the Video Game Version)
« Reply #668 on: January 05, 2016, 07:45:46 PM »
We need to buy her a PC and a second copy of the game so she can use console commands to escape from things that shouldn't even be in the game. This is so bethdrone I can't even.

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Online Rushy

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Re: Now Playing (the Video Game Version)
« Reply #669 on: January 05, 2016, 08:24:11 PM »
Why would anyone play a game that's so broken the dev console has to be used to make it playable?

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Offline Snupes

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Re: Now Playing (the Video Game Version)
« Reply #670 on: January 06, 2016, 04:59:07 AM »
Yeah, after beating that trash, I'm completely done. I don't have even the slightest urge to ever open it up again.

Thats said, I won't stop you from buying me a gaming PC
There are cigarettes in joints. You don't smoke it by itself.

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Offline beardo

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Re: Now Playing (the Video Game Version)
« Reply #671 on: January 06, 2016, 11:17:26 AM »
I've gotten stuck literally once.
The Mastery.

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Offline Snupes

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Re: Now Playing (the Video Game Version)
« Reply #672 on: January 06, 2016, 12:33:29 PM »
That's good 
There are cigarettes in joints. You don't smoke it by itself.

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Offline Ghost Spaghetti

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Re: Now Playing (the Video Game Version)
« Reply #673 on: February 14, 2016, 12:55:55 AM »
Finally finished AssCreed: Rogue.  Considering it was basically a minor game in the series, playing second fiddle to Unity to lap up the last gen payers, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it.

The game plays like a smaller AC:4 With the ship-based game taking precedence, but Rogue does what 4 couldn't and actually add variety to its seas, from the river delta, to the iceberg-strewn North Atlantic, to the pack-ice snarled far north. The setting even adds to the strategy of sea battles, giving you the option to hide behind icebergs or shatter them to batter enemies with the waves as the ice crashes into the water.

As in Ac:4 you play in the present as an anonymous Abstergo employee, but the ancillary information you find lying around is nicely self-deprecating to the series, mocking Connor's crap characterisation and suggesting that Washington should have been the main character, and the like.

It isn't perfect and it shares its faults about controls and mission design with most of the later AssCreeds, but it's a solid game well worth looking into if you enjoyed AC:4.

7/10

Saddam Hussein

Re: Now Playing (the Video Game Version)
« Reply #674 on: February 17, 2016, 06:13:51 AM »
I have now played BioShock, the first one.  On the whole, I enjoyed it a lot more than Infinite.  The sheer attention to detail and creativity in the setting make for a remarkably immersive and creepy atmosphere, the commentary on Objectivism versus altruism, while heavy-handed, is interesting, and messing around with the different weapons and plasmids in combat is a ton of fun.  Speaking of which, it's odd how the combat was so much worse in Infinite.  Usually, combat is one of the few things you can almost always count on being better in a sequel.  But for some reason, they decided to trade the tense, claustrophobic hunting for enemies that can leap through the air, latch onto the ceiling, and creep up behind you for wide-open areas where you pick off bullet sponges that come charging blindly at you.  Not a good decision.  By contrast, the voice acting is really bad.  It's way too hammy and over-the-top, especially when the actors are trying to put on a foreign accent.  The Asian guy in particular always sounded like he was on the verge of something like this.

And then we get to the story.  For the first two-thirds, three-fourths of the game, the basic plot of the game is to help Atlas, some guy you neither know nor care about, try to protect his family, and then avenge the family of the guy you neither know nor care about.  That's not a good story.  It's as dull and uninteresting as it is tired and clichéd.  Eventually, you discover that Atlas isn't on the level at all, and his sob-story was all a ruse to trick you into helping him.  And he had you programmed to obey his commands when you were a baby.  Wait, he had you programmed?  You have to do whatever he tells you, from murder to silly acrobatics, as long as he mentions the code phrase?  Then what the hell was the point of his tricking you in the first place?  Why bother with the silly accent, the story of a family, the theatrics at the submarine where his family was supposedly hiding - hold on, how could that scene have been some plan of his?  Ryan was the one who attacked the submarine with the splicers and blew it up, not Atlas.  He even taunts you about what he's doing, and refers to Atlas as "your friend."  But Ryan knew who Atlas was.  In fact, he could have told you what was going on at any point.  Why didn't he?  Surely nothing was more important to him than losing control of Rapture.  And speaking of controlling Rapture, why would Atlas be interested in that?  The city is a ramshackle mess full of splicers and only a few human survivors.  If he just wanted to get his hands on all the ADAM, I'd understand, but his dialogue indicates that he expects Rapture to be thriving under his control.

I could go on, but I think I've made my point by now that the story is sloppy and full of holes.  It feels like they just made it up as they went along.  I appreciate the obvious ambition behind it, but just like with Infinite, the devs tried to take on too much and ended up outsmarting themselves.  I liked BioShock, but I don't understand why the games in this series are hailed as storytelling masterpieces, and I don't think I ever will.

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Re: Now Playing (the Video Game Version)
« Reply #675 on: March 05, 2016, 03:21:41 AM »
I just finished Realm of Legends in Marvel Contest of Champions.  It was a test of mental endurance as I had to concentrate on tapping and swiping my iPhone screen for about 12 hours, but man was it worth it.

Saddam Hussein

Re: Now Playing (the Video Game Version)
« Reply #676 on: March 12, 2016, 03:59:08 AM »
I've beaten Mass Effect 2 on the PC, after beating the first one for a second time, as my first playthrough was on the 360.  All in all, it's a pretty big improvement on the first game.  The most obvious example of this is the combat, which is much, much better.  Regarding the major streamlining of the leveling and item management systems...I'm going to say that I'm okay with it.  I understand the concerns of "This is how it starts!" with dumbing-down and casualizing, but I honestly do think that this is one of those cases where some simplification was called for.  Deciding which assault rifles I was going to equip my squad with and which ones I was going to convert into omni-gel gets dull really, really fast.  And thankfully, they got rid of the tedious, clunky vehicle sections and the ridiculous elevator rides.

My one issue with this game is the main story.  It's not bad, but I wish it had focused on the Collectors a lot more, rather than the far less interesting Cerberus.  I feel like there was so much untapped potential with them - their relation to the Protheans and the Reapers, their creepy plans, how their Harbinger works, etc.  Also, the two-year time skip at the start felt like a really lazy way to sort of undo the high point that Mass Effect ended on and start you off in an underdog position.  It's a shame to make these criticisms, because these writers are very talented, and the effort they put into developing the characters and expanding the lore of the universe clearly shows.  My favorite part of the game was easily the loyalty missions - hell, I'd love a game in which you play as some kind of weird life coach who flies around the galaxy helping everyone work through their problems.

Offline Blanko

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Re: Now Playing (the Video Game Version)
« Reply #677 on: April 16, 2016, 04:58:04 PM »
Dark Souls III (From Software, 2016)

The long-awaited sequel to my favourite game of all time (that's Dark Souls 1, not 2) is here, and after having beaten it and spent a fair share of time on PvP, I thought I'd share my thoughts with the game so far.

The first thing you'll likely notice about the game is how much faster the core gameplay is than in the previous games. Nearly everything about the gameplay is modelled after DS1, but with generally faster animations and recovery times, and lower stamina costs for rolling and sprinting. It also takes some much needed mechanics from DS2, such as the ability to roll and sprint in any direction while locked on, increasing the level of mobility immensely. But while in DS2 locking on essentially meant just removing the necessity of controlling the camera manually, DS3 on the other hand takes the design approach of DS1 by having two separate types of movement between locked-on and unlocked play, making it much more ideal for advanced players and combining the best of both games. DS3 also has the addition of weapon arts, special moves that are consumed by a new resource shared with spellcasting. These moves range from short self-buffs to massive wombo-combos, and they can potentially change the dynamic of combat significantly as well as encourage a higher variety of weapon use.

One thing I'm sad is missing however is the ability to properly dual wield. In DS2 weapons held in the left hand had their full movesets enabled, and dual wielding certain combinations of weapons enabled "powerstancing", unlocking new special moves. Powerstancing was a very hit-or-miss mechanic, with most moves being effectively useless - and that has been replaced in DS3 with special dual-wielding weapons that are much better designed. Still, dual wielding was not limited to powerstancing, and in my mind the best part about it was the ability to mix and match different weapon types, complementing the weaknesses of one weapon with the strengths of another. DS3 goes back to the DS1 approach of only allowing left hand weapons to block and do normal attacks, severely limiting the usefulness dual wielding can have. It still remains to be seen how badly this missing feature will impact the variety of playstyles the game can offer, but even with it missing, DS3 does still have the best gameplay mechanics in the series overall.

Fans of DS1 will be pleased to know that the quality of world design is once again very good. One of the things DS1 was most praised for was how its world evoked a great sense of scale and connectivity by having essentially the entire game world laid out in front of your eyes - structures that you can see from a vast distance that you will in fact access later in the game, and a heavy focus on verticality that makes the world seem multidimensional. One of the things DS2 was most criticized for was how badly it dropped the ball on that - the game was riddled impossible geometry, poor sense of scale, nonsensical area connections and an overall very flat world design. DS3, it seems, has made a very deliberate point of rectifying all the mistakes DS2 made with world design and more. The game's progression essentially has you start off in a city at the top of a valley, venturing downwards to another city at the bottom of the valley. At the beginning, you can look down into the valley and see all the landmarks you'll get to visit, and in many points of the game there are vantage points that let you see just how far you've come down. All the geometry in the game is, as far as I can tell, very accurate and realistic, not pulling any tricks like DS2 did. Nowhere is the consistency of this game world exemplified better as with a recurring interaction with a giant that shoots down massive javelin-like arrows wherever there is a white birch. These birches can be several areas away from where you initially encounter the giant, but sure enough, where there is one, there's also a tower visible in the distance that you visited hours of gameplay ago. DS3 also makes a point of enforcing the rule of "if you can see it, you can visit it", often surprising me with having areas that I thought were mere background decoration be actual visitable areas in the game.

It goes without saying that a next-gen title will have much better graphics than games from the previous generation, and that is certainly true with this game. But From goes above and beyond with the level of environmental design, taking full advantage of the increased memory pools of current range of hardware by filling every nook and cranny with extremely detailed geometry, resulting in a world that looks realistically lived in and worn out over the millennia. Combined with the creativity of Miyazaki, the areas in this game are very visually pleasing - and very cleverly designed, too. Despite having very similar world design to DS1, DS3 takes quite a different approach in terms of level design. In DS1, and to some extent DS2, level design is very Metroidvania-like, having levels be fairly short but interconnected in various ways. DS3 on the other hand is perhaps most similar to Demon's Souls in terms of level design - progression is fairly linear, there's a huge emphasis on sprawling, self-contained levels with multiple shortcuts, splintering paths and hidden secrets, and there's a central hub you do practically all of your character building in. The quality of level design is very solid and doesn't suffer from the same issues DS1 and DS2 had where the quality dropped off noticeably after the second half, leading people to believe the games were rushed to release. The individual levels are generally the best designed in the series, but the more linear progression can be both a good and bad thing - it's very satisfying for a first playthrough, but in subsequent playthroughs it offers very little variety in terms of what paths you can take through the game, whereas in DS1 and DS2 you had very many options. It remains to be seen how much that affects replayability.

There are fewer boss fights overall than in previous games, but none of them are wasted on throwaways or pushovers. DS3 really seems to reserve the fanfare of a boss health bar and musical theme only to enemies that are mechanically and thematically significant enough. There are a couple gimmicky puzzle fights that will likely get tedious very quickly, but the majority that are straight up skill fights are very tightly designed, much more aggressive than in previous games, and often incorporate unique mechanics that separate them from the generic "dudes in armor" archetype that DS2 abused too often. The increased aggression comes with much shorter windows of opportunity, potentially throwing off veteran players that are at this point very used to the dynamic of dodging a combo and responding with a couple attacks. Learning the bosses' patterns and finding their narrow windows of opportunity can be quite a challenge, but the difficulty is never unfair and overcoming the challenge is very satisfying.

Finally, let's talk about PvP and balance - the things that determine the longevity of the game. First of all, the netcode could use some work to sort out glitches and connectivity issues, but it's not too bad and nothing that can't be fixed with patches. Soul Memory from DS2 is thankfully gone, and is replaced with a system that takes both soul level and the highest upgrade level of your weapons into account for matchmaking. On paper, it seems like a much better system for eliminating twinking - Soul Memory used all souls you've ever gained in the game to determine matchmaking brackets, which didn't really solve the issue of twinking, but it introduced many more for organized PvP - essentially matching people who stuck to a meta soul level with people who were max level. DS3's system shouldn't pose any such issues, because anyone doing organized PvP will be using max upgraded weapons anyway, while twinks genuinely have to stick to gear that isn't too powerful for a given area.

The PvP meta is something that's going to evolve over the coming months, but there are a few things you can notice in From's balancing that might help shape it. First of all, damage values have been made very flat across the board, with fast swinging small swords having only marginally smaller damage per hit than massive slow-hitting weapons. For PvE, this means smaller weapons like straight swords, katanas and rapiers have by far the most DPS in the game, but for PvP things aren't for simple - in my limited experience, it seems to me that the ultra-heavy and slow weapons are actually in a pretty good spot, despite the game being much faster paced. This is because with faster pace comes more mobility - it's much easier to swoop in and out of the opponent's range, making the deadly R1 spam of straight swords only a real problem if you get caught by it. Larger weapons have the advantage of higher range, making your effective range potentially much better than your opponent's or vice versa, and more importantly heavy weapons once again have hyper armour, and it hasn't been this significant since Demon's Souls. It means that when you're attacking with a heavy weapon, you're invulnerable to stagger mid-swing, making them much better for trading than small weapons. The real victims of this balance are the weapons in the middle - the medium-sized weapons that have neither the DPS nor the range and hyper armour, making them substantially weaker than their counterparts in nearly all aspects. Magic and faith seem to also be very weak as well, although I haven't confirmed this myself. Let's just hope that From will be attentive with balancing the game and bringing frequent patches, and this game could very easily strike a very good balance.

As a huge fan of the series, Dark Souls III is at the very least the satisfying sequel that I hoped for, but despite having its own share of issues, it could also dethrone the first Dark Souls as my favourite game in the series, and possibly my favourite game in general. That's probably not a judgment I can make until I've played the game for several hundred hours, and with balance patches the game could only get better, but for now my early impressions are that I'm very satisfied with the game.

Saddam Hussein

Re: Now Playing (the Video Game Version)
« Reply #678 on: April 19, 2016, 10:57:32 AM »
You didn't talk about the most important element of the game - the story and lore.  Please tell us what you think.

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Offline beardo

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Re: Now Playing (the Video Game Version)
« Reply #679 on: April 19, 2016, 12:26:22 PM »
What lore?
The Mastery.