The Video Game Thread

[D-Lyrium]

Wow... Sacred 3 is a complete f***ing mess. Avoid like the plague. It's nothing at all like Sacred 1 and 2. It's just terrible. Even if it wasn't called Sacred 3 and have to live up to the previous games, it'd still be terrible. It's just a terrible game.

 

Edit: Ahahahaha, I've just seen the price. No... just, no.

[FINisher]

^ TotalBiscuit had a good review on it. Also day one DLC of a 5th character pisses me right off. That's just no. No no no.

 

In lighter news.. Last night at 6.45AM my time I decided to order Oculus Rift DK2! I'm so excited, the shipment of the new orders should start next month. Can't wait!

[Blackman]

I thought the original Divinity only had one PC? I got bored of it because my Wizard kept getting his ass handed to him in the crypts.

 

I also quit playing the original because my fighter succumbed to an untimely critical hit of a giant after a misclick, and due to the fact that autosave was unheard of in those days, I lost 3 hours of play. In those cases, you just lose the appetite and quit altogether, as performing exactly the same tasks again just gets boring. Also hate that in Skyrim when it happens, though you lose far less time.

[FINisher]

^ But followers in Skyrim don't die.

 

Speaking of Divinity, I've had multiple hours in and I'm a bit disappointed tbh. I still don't really know where I should be going outside of the first town, I've ventured in all directions for a bit but it seems to me that every opponent is atleast +3lvls higher than me. Playing with the Hard difficulty. Also the 'control your surroundings' -tactic is kinda OP in my eyes; In some cases you absolutely have to spill oil and/or attack exploding crates with your fire spell, also the Teleport ability is quite OP to say the least. I don't like that. -.-' There should be reduction for the teleport range and also decrease in dmg in both cases.

 

Also I had to resort to Google to find out the two companions. Plus the inventory management and trading stuff might not be of my liking. At the moment I'd rate the game 7/10 which is a forgiving score.

[Blackman]

I am also not in love with it (or I would've played it more than one hour by now ), but it's a fine game nontheless.

[D-Lyrium]

The two companions are in the two main buildings in the city, Fin. The tavern and the city hall. If you had to use Google to find them, I worry for you.

 

Clunky inventory management is almost as much of a staple of the RPG genre as the combat or dialogue trees. ¬_¬ I don't have any issues with it. I just have a 'packmule' type character with decent strength and at least one rank of Loremaster, and have him pick everything up, identify and distribute it.

 

Teleport is an awesome spell, but it's 7AP (so, at least in early game, it takes more than a full turn for Jahan to use) and takes a while on cooldown, so it's not entirely OP in my opinion. More OP is the fact that you can use Rain and Chilling Touch in the same turn, so you can freeze that annoying bastard mage/priest on the first turn even if it's not already raining.

 

You should be able to get to level 3 easily within the walls of the town itself, there are several quests to do that don't involve combat. Then once you're level three, the secret passage in the graveyard will take you to a well outside of town where you can fight some level 3-4 undead. The Lighthouse in the west is also doable at level 3-4 if you don't get unlucky. If you start getting your ass handed to you, you can always retreat to the city gates and have the guards help you. Just be careful not to catch them directly with any spells.

 

The orcs on the beach, if you have a character with good perception you can get past all the traps by unlinking the party and taking them through one by one. Then take out the first group (but leave the second group well alone for a while, they have a nasty level 7 leader), and then once you've cleared out the zombies in the east, head south (but once you get to the Withered Gardens, be careful).

 

I'd agree that it can sometimes be hard to tell where to go, but I like that. It's a game that rewards exploring, and lets you run away if you find something that's too hard, and go back later. It's not the type of game that says "go here, then go here, then go here", but I like that about it. It's not for everyone though I guess.

[Hive]

I finished up Dishonored today, after buying it from recommendations in the Steam Sale thread here. It was an enjoyable experience; fun and fairly original gameplay with an interesting story set in a fascinating steam punk-ish world with plenty of room for sequels. I'm now considering whether I should get the two storyline expansions.

 

I really hated the artstyle though, as the goofy style took away from the otherwise fairly serious and dark story.

[Jaysin]

I thought Dishonored got old incredibly fast. Great concept, but far too repetitive. The newer Thief game is a clone of Dishonored and I was a little bummed by that.

[bigtplaystew]

I thought Dishonored got old incredibly fast. Great concept, but far too repetitive. The newer Thief game is a clone of Dishonored and I was a little bummed by that.

 

Thief put me to sleep. Literally. I fell asleep playing the game on a handful of occasions. So boring.

[D-Lyrium]

Yeah, the latest Thief game is pretty disappointing. It's an average game, but it's a terrible Thief game.

 

As for the art style in Dishonored, I really liked it. Not everything has to be photorealistic to be "dark". I don't see how it's 'goofy' at all (except the masquerade level, which is supposed to be). It's a broadly similar style to Bioshock: Infinite's, which I definitely wouldn't say was 'goofy'.

[Blackman]

I thought Dishonored got old incredibly fast. Great concept, but far too repetitive. The newer Thief game is a clone of Dishonored and I was a little bummed by that.

 

I had the same thing. It was good, great even. But I couldn't finish it in a couple of days as I had to quit and do something else.

[moon_lit_tears]

I had the same thing. It was good, great even. But I couldn't finish it in a couple of days as I had to quit and do something else.

 

 

Really? I miss when games took time. I honestly hate that games now adays take 4-5 hours to beat. There are games from the PS2 and now gameslike Diablo 3, where I have 100 hours in and I'm still not done.

 

I want value for my mone.

[Celuwyn]

I'm on Borderlands 2. Just finished Borderlands 1 (who was quite good.. but repetitive to me) and Whoa, Borderlands 2 is .. Borderlands 1 is nothing compared to the 2

[FINisher]

Really? I miss when games took time. I honestly hate that games now adays take 4-5 hours to beat. There are games from the PS2 and now gameslike Diablo 3, where I have 100 hours in and I'm still not done.

 

I want value for my money.

 

Pretty much the reason I love games like X-COM, Final Fantasy Tactics Advance 1 & 2, Skyrim, Civilization and TEW series and so on.

 

ps. I have 1250hrs clocked on Planetside 2. Jesus.

 

pps. There's one genre of games that I've never really liked and that is the linear, story driven games. Except that I really, really loved The Wolf Among us. But that atleast gives me (illusion of) choices to make. I've got over 600hrs in Skyrim and I've yet to finish the main quest.

[D-Lyrium]

Really? I miss when games took time. I honestly hate that games now adays take 4-5 hours to beat. There are games from the PS2 and now gameslike Diablo 3, where I have 100 hours in and I'm still not done.

 

I want value for my mone.

 

I think Blackman just means that he couldn't play it for very long at a time before getting bored of it and needing to play something else. Rather than being annoyed that it took ages to finish in terms of time played (it doesn't).

 

I sort of get where he's coming from, I'm like that with certain games. It's not a matter of the game not being good, just some games I can't play for very long before I get tired of it. Saints Row is a good example for me. I love the game and have fun... for about 30 minutes, then I get bored. Then a few days later I'll come back to it and have a great time... for 30 minutes or so... etc. Bioshock: Infinite was similar. It was a good game, I just couldn't get 'lost' in it for ages at a time.

 

Whereas X-Com, Skyrim, Divinity, CK2, etc, I can play for hours. Even games like Space Engineers, where there isn't a lot of 'game' to be had yet, I can spend hours in just messing around.

 

Space Engineers is a great example actually. It doesn't have a story or any missions or anything like that (yet), but you sort of create your own as you go along, even in singleplayer. The other day I'd stolen a passing cargo ship, and was just taking it back to my base when I got a text message, looked down at the text (for like, 30 seconds, max!) and crashed into an asteroid. ¬_¬ So for the next hour or so I set about repairing it so I can finish bringing it home to the base (most of the bridge got destroyed, so there's no control panel to actually pilot it from, got to rebuild that but I don't have the parts). That reminds me, still haven't managed to get her home yet...

[moon_lit_tears]

Pretty much the reason I love games like X-COM, Final Fantasy Tactics Advance 1 & 2, Skyrim, Civilization and TEW series and so on.

 

ps. I have 1250hrs clocked on Planetside 2. Jesus.

 

pps. There's one genre of games that I've never really liked and that is the linear, story driven games. Except that I really, really loved The Wolf Among us. But that atleast gives me (illusion of) choices to make. I've got over 600hrs in Skyrim and I've yet to finish the main quest.

 

FF 12 was a great game. My favorite infaact. I've clocked about 198 hours into it and never finished. The story led you forward but the side quests hunts, and just achievements kept me well enough.

 

Then you give me a game like the binding of Isaac, I've put 922 hours into it and still play. I love games I can just have fun with.

 

I think it's silly to beat a game in 15 minutes and that's it. I found a game not long ago that I thought was interesting. Was 15 bucks on steam, so I youtubed it. Took the guy like 20 minutes to beat it and no replay value at all. Ittle Dew was not worth 15 bucks.

[Rickymex]

It was the same for me with Monster Hunter 2 for the PSP. In about a month and a half I ended with 200 hours of gameplay simply because I decided to test out different strategies to kill different monsters using different weapons. I spent about 30 hours on the first boss itself just collecting resources and trying out the different weapons simply because I gave my character a personality and backstory I could envision and tried to find the weapons and strategies that would fit him.

[Hive]

Really? I miss when games took time. I honestly hate that games now adays take 4-5 hours to beat. There are games from the PS2 and now gameslike Diablo 3, where I have 100 hours in and I'm still not done.

 

I want value for my mone.

 

Well, it depends on the type of game. Some games simply gets boring and repetitive if they drag on for too long. Most shooters are that way, in my opinion. I know that the Modern Warfare series, for instance, gets a lot of flak for a short singleplayer campaign - but I actually think they get the length right, most of the time. Make such games too long, and it's easy to loose interest.

 

Then there's games like Grey Dog's own TEW, Football Manager, Europa Universalis and the likes that contains nearly endless replayability.

 

And of course, there are games in between that can be enjoyed for 40, 80, perhaps even 100 hours before going stale, like Fallout, KoTOR, Mass Effect and similar RPG-heavy games.

 

I enjoy games that take a short time to complete, games that takes a long time to complete and games that are never "completed". It all depends on the type of game, the quality of the game and how well the game is constructed for its' genre.

 

Though I will admit that these days more than previously, I've begun to appreciate the shorter games more - as I don't have as much time for gaming as back in the days, and likes the sense of 'completion' every now and then.

[FINisher]

I don't even want to know the hours I played the original Settlers on Amiga 1200 or WWF Attitude on Playstation. It's gotta be thousands and thousands. Another "thousands hours" game for me is Mount & Blade and M&B: Warband, in singleplayer and MP aswell.

[The Swanton825]

I have to agree with Hive, game length should vary from genre to genre. I've played several games that didn't last more than six or seven hours and had more fun with them than some eighty hour games *cough*Oblivion*cough*.

 

(...I'm going to get crucified for that crack.)

 

On another note, not sure how many people remember my terrible video reviews of old and obscure games from a few years back (which I gave up on 'cause I'm an emo git), but I've been considering taking another shot at something like that and I wanted to know if anyone here had any interest in it. My main goal would still be to highlight games that I feel deserve more of the spotlight.

[lazorbeak]

Yeah I don't enjoy action or platformers if they're too drawn out. For me, stuff like the N64 Zelda or Batman, Arkham Asylum or God of War is about the right length in terms of an action game. I'd rather play a good game multiple times rather than slog through collecting fractals of 3 for 30 hours.

[moon_lit_tears]

I have to agree with Hive, game length should vary from genre to genre. I've played several games that didn't last more than six or seven hours and had more fun with them than some eighty hour games *cough*Oblivion*cough*.

 

(...I'm going to get crucified for that crack.)

 

On another note, not sure how many people remember my terrible video reviews of old and obscure games from a few years back (which I gave up on 'cause I'm an emo git), but I've been considering taking another shot at something like that and I wanted to know if anyone here had any interest in it. My main goal would still be to highlight games that I feel deserve more of the spotlight.

 

 

Not from me.

Yeah I don't enjoy action or platformers if they're too drawn out. For me, stuff like the N64 Zelda or Batman, Arkham Asylum or God of War is about the right length in terms of an action game. I'd rather play a good game multiple times rather than slog through collecting fractals of 3 for 30 hours.

 

Right right. My problem is that you have games that well...You finish the store in 5-6 hours...and now you have a 60 dollar coaster. Make the game more fun by adding side things you can do, or a save plus option. Many games do it. It gives the players options of whether they want to continue or not.

 

Makes me not want to buy many games because of it.

[UkWrestleFan]

A little more info about WWE 2K15:

 

http://uk.ign.com/articles/2014/08/12/wwe-2k15-first-hands-on-ign-first

 

I like the sound of the overhaul but I'm a little worried about the grappling to open the match. I mean, really, does every wrestling match start with that sort of grapple? What if I just want to get into a slugfest and take it from there?

 

If there has been a heated rivalry that's been going on for a while, and finally, the two workers get the chance to get their hands on each other, is grappling going to be one of the first things they want to do?

 

The rivalry between Rollins & Ambrose comes to mind. Their feud has been pretty intense so I'd imagine when they face-off again, they won't start the match by just getting into a grapple, surely? Of course, I could be wrong and that might be exactly what happens

 

Still, my point is, it would be better if this was optional and would give the match opening more options. If somebody initiates the opening grapple, then fine, I'll grapple with you, but if somebody opens the match by trying to unload rights and lefts then that's also fine; I see how you want this one to be.

 

But overall, I'm happy they're going with big changes and can't wait to see some gameplay footage.

[Imarevenant]

The article didn't say that matches all started that way. It was simply describing the grappling system in the early stages of matches before anyone has taken damage.

[Teh_Showtime]

Slugfests usually involve strikes, which are the direct opposite of grapples, which is what triggers it