The Video Game Thread

[guyver3]

The former spike VGA was constantly a paid off award show wouldn't surprise me if that's still the case or if the guy running it (can't think of his name but he was on game trailers) just picked who the winners would be.

[Blackman]

Well it kinda was a year of mediocrity imo so anyone couldve won. Making 2 great games is a big plus.

[D-Lyrium]

I'd go and call it the one and only anti-war game that is even out

 

Valiant Hearts? Spec Ops: The Line?

 

But yeah, it's certainly the one with the strongest anti-war message.

[The Swanton825]

04 or 05? I looked it up and i think it said 05 but idk

 

Pretty sure it was 04, though I think 05 gave you the same free roam.

[Jaysin]

Valiant Hearts? Spec Ops: The Line?

 

But yeah, it's certainly the one with the strongest anti-war message.

 

Haven't played Valiant Hearts, but Spec Ops: The Line was freaking incredible. That story line was just so...screwed up.

[The Swanton825]

I don't know what to say about some of those rewards. NINTENDO FOR DEVELOPER OF THE YEAR! They made two good games, Mario Kart and Smash for crying out loud! Telltale should have won that. I mean c'mon, TWD S2, WAU S1, and the first episodes of TFTB and GOT are all incredible. FC4 over Wolfenstein surprised me, as Wolfenstein was a great game. Also, how the hell did Dragon Age win game of the year? I didn't like any of the candidates, but I was rooting personally for Dark Souls 2 myself.

 

Well I personally would count all four games as the same one since Telltale pretty much uses the same gameplay and just changes the story, setting, characters, etc. Ironically, quite like Nintendo. And I would wager that Inquisition won game of the year because quite a few, myself included, see the game as a return to form for BioWare.

 

Though like I said before, with as big of a corporate shill as Geoff Keighley in charge, these awards are completely meaningless.

[D-Lyrium]

Well I personally would count all four games as the same one since Telltale pretty much uses the same gameplay and just changes the story, setting, characters, etc. Ironically, quite like Nintendo. And I would wager that Inquisition won game of the year because quite a few, myself included, see the game as a return to form for BioWare.

 

Though like I said before, with as big of a corporate shill as Geoff Keighley in charge, these awards are completely meaningless.

 

So by that logic, Mass Effect and Dragon Age are the same game. As are Civ 5 and Beyond Earth, all Gearbox games, and basically everything Paradox has ever made.

 

On the subject of Telltale, I've played about an hour of the Game of Thrones game now. Some thoughts (minor spoilers for the very begging of the story follow). Should also mention this is my first Telltale game, so some of the gameplay things I mention might be universal to all titles but I obviously have no way of knowing that. Based on the first 1-1.5 hours of GoT though, I'm definitely getting all the others eventually.

 

- It's buggy as hell, graphics-wise. Nothing that ruins the experience for me, but little things that really should be fixed by now (like the way the subtitles appear in the middle of the screen, then snap down to the bottom when it realises there aren't any dialogue choices on the screen, or characters randomly teleporting across the screen). Especially since according to Swanton it's the same game as the other 4. ¬_¬

 

- Not a huge fan of the movement system, seems a little odd, but I'm sure once I'm used to it it'll be fine.

 

- The non-HBO-cast voice acting, on the whole, is brilliant. They even say Tyrell properly, which is a plus ¬_¬. HBO-wise I have to say that Natalie Dormer's performance felt a little flat, but Lana Headey and Peter Dinklage? #nailedit.

 

- The story, so far, is great. The antagonists are pretty good (ESPECIALLY Lord Whitehill. Proper GoT bad guy. He's got that "technically I'm right, but I'm going to be right in such a way that I come across as an asshole anyway" thing down). The setting, in terms of timeline, I actually really like now that I'm there. I had my doubts to begin with, but it's pretty damn cool actually. Mainly because it makes Ramsay Snow a key character, which is always good. Even with my massive Lore **** hat on, I've got very little to complain about so far. Although one of the characters describes Ned Stark as "smart", which... isn't an adjective I'd use. ¬_¬

 

- The oilpainting aesthetic either works really well, or looks hideous. I find mostly it works really well in indoor scenes, and looks hideous outdoors, generally. Also a lot of characters look "dirty" in closeup, when it's not actually supposed to be dirt, it's just the brush strokes. Which is even more obvious when in a scene with a character who IS supposed to be dirty. For example, the first scene where you play as Mira, she looks just as grimy as the coalboy. Minor gripe, though. Anything mid-distance (such as the first throne room scene) looks fantastic.

 

- I love the expressions on people's faces when you make certain dialogue choices during multi-person conversations. It was highly entertaining to see Margaery scowl more and more at my responses during the conversation with Cersei.

 

- The dialogue choices in general seem pretty... what's the word... 'fair'? Unlike a lot of games where you're left thinking "that's not what I thought my character was going to say..." or where the other party reacts completely differently to how you thought they would, everything seems to make sense. If you DO end up annoying a character through dialogue it's either because a, you meant to, or b, in retrospect the character should've been annoyed at what you said, you just didn't think it through. Rather than because the option you chose wasn't what you thought it'd be. I also love the fact that characters react to the conversation as a whole, as well as individual choices. For example (big spoiler for the first throne room scene, so will white it out):

If you try to butter-up Cersei by choosing all the options that seem like the option she'd want you to say, she'll seem pleased when you actually say them, but at the end of the conversation will comment that you'd probably say whatever it took to get what you wanted, and be pretty annoyed. Even though all the individual options were "correct" to please her, you've contradicted yourself about 4 times during the conversation if you go that way, and she realises that.

I also like the way that, in the course of trying to please Cersei, you've sold out:

- The Starks

- Margaery and the late Renly

- Yourself

- Your entire family

and still not gotten what you wanted. So this is probably the absolute worst route to take. Although Tyrion seem amused.

It's pretty cool, but probably standard for these games.

 

 

tl;dr version: It's awesome and I love it.

[Hive]

So by that logic, Mass Effect and Dragon Age are the same game. As are Civ 5 and Beyond Earth, all Gearbox games, and basically everything Paradox has ever made.

 

Agreed. Of course the Telltale games are all seperate and different entities. Saying that The Walking Dead is "the same" as Jurassic Park... no man, I can't imagine anyone who'd go there.

[bigtplaystew]

D did you play Beyond Earth? I think it was you who got me to come around on Civ 5 after the last big DLC. I was curious to hear trustworthy opinions on Beyond Earth.

[D-Lyrium]

Haven't played it yet. From what I've heard it's veerrrryyy samey if you've played Civ5 to death.

 

It sounds like it's a lot more like a Civ 5 standalone mod than it is Alpha Centauri 2. Which of course is basically what they advertised, but I was secretly hoping anyway.

 

Quill18's ARC playthrough should give you enough idea if it'll be interesting to you or not: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5A73jnPh08. Personally I'm going to leave it for now. I've heard nothing bad about the game itself, just how similar it is to Civ5. Although it does seem to have less content than Civ5. Kind of expected without DLC I guess... bah.

[The Swanton825]

So by that logic, Mass Effect and Dragon Age are the same game. As are Civ 5 and Beyond Earth, all Gearbox games, and basically everything Paradox has ever made.

 

Mass Effect and Dragon Age have the same dialogue system, but that's about it. Mass Effect is an Action RPG and Dragon Age is a full-on CRPG. Don't know about Civ. Borderlands, yes, same core gameplay in all three. Hell, I just told my brother yesterday that if you can play one Paradox game you can play them all. None of these things make them bad games, aside from Civ, I love them all. I was just saying that I don't see how you can credit Telltale (who I also love) for making four games when at their core they're the same QTE-filld choose-your-own adventures. Their magnificent writing keep the games enjoyable. But can you seriously say that, when it comes to gameplay, there's any difference?

[Hive]

Hell, I just told my brother yesterday that if you can play one Paradox game you can play them all.

 

I strongly disagree with that. There are vast differences that requires you to either play the tutorial or spend countless hours of trial and error if you go from one game to another. And I say that as someone who has played their games since EU2.

 

I am of the opinion that you generally exaggerated your comparisons between games here. By your logic, we might as well say that Call of Duty and Bioshock is the exact same game because both games involve you running around and shooting stuff in first person view.

[Blackman]

Because they are all about World Domination? First of all: it's not about that. And secondly: there's already a big difference between EUIV and CKII as you play a state or a character.

[Harmor]

Valiant Hearts? Spec Ops: The Line?

 

But yeah, it's certainly the one with the strongest anti-war message.

 

True, Spec Ops: The line is indeed very well done - but personally like you said I find the message in This war of mine stronger. In my case, main reason is one is not a soldier. And then there is ofc personal taste, I really dig survival games done well, not a huge fan of shooters.

 

Otherwise I ofc agree, Spec Ops is very well done far as anti-war goes, no doubt. I haven't played Valiant Hearts btw - mainly cause it requires Ubi's launcher even through Steam xD - but I should perhaps make an exception?

[The Swanton825]

I strongly disagree with that. There are vast differences that requires you to either play the tutorial or spend countless hours of trial and error if you go from one game to another. And I say that as someone who has played their games since EU2.

 

I am of the opinion that you generally exaggerated your comparisons between games here. By your logic, we might as well say that Call of Duty and Bioshock is the exact same game because both games involve you running around and shooting stuff in first person view.

 

I admit I didn't really explain what I meant. I meant that Paradox games tend to follow the same grand strategy formula, there are differences in the major goals, but they tend to run on similar formulas for shared aspects. Ex. Crusader Kings & Europa Universalis run functionally similar when it comes to war, but Hearts of Iron is much more detailed in that aspect since it's about war. While CK is about medieval politics and EU is about colonial exploration. Basically what I meant to say was that they start with the same base and expand on what the focus of the game is going to be. It's why they can put out all these different games.

 

Honestly, I didn't use the best examples I could have. What Telltale does is closer to Call of Duty (I'm going to die for this) in that they work from the same (since TWD S1) gameplay and change the story and characters. The only difference is in that Telltale doesn't half-ass their games. How Icewind Dale is closer to a mod of Baldur's Gate than a separate game would also be a good comparison. There's nothing wrong with any of these games doing this, a good core is key to a great game. All I was trying to say initially was that it would be just as ridiculous to give Telltale Developer of the Year for making the same game they have for years as it is to give it to Nintendo for the same thing.

 

I'm sure I'm still not phrasing this correctly. I don't think bad about Telltale, I love Telltale and I love Paradox too. Paradox is the reason I started to expand on the variety of games I play, so their games mean a lot to me. So I'm really not trying to insult either developer nor the people who like them. I just wanted to point out that Nintendo isn't the only developer that relies on formula.

 

Because they are all about World Domination? First of all: it's not about that. And secondly: there's already a big difference between EUIV and CKII as you play a state or a character.

 

Who the hell plays any Paradox game for world domination? That's so cliched.

[White Dolphin]

MY CLIENT, RED SUIT LINK, CONQUERED CLASSIC MODE 9.0 ON 3DS SMASH.

 

......But yeah seriously that was a massive achievement for me, a gamer who does not have the reflexes to clear any skill-oriented game with consistency. I probably can't do that again, but I did it once, and thats what mattered. I celebrated in appropriate fashion with a Daniel Bryan "YES!"-ing around my apartment.

[Blackman]

All I was trying to say initially was that it would be just as ridiculous to give Telltale Developer of the Year for making the same game they have for years as it is to give it to Nintendo for the same thing.

 

It depends on what your criteria for GotY are. I would've probably GotY'd anything that used a great base like the Infinity Engine (used for BG2) to make games that are different, yet all the same.

 

Why do you have to make a new engine to have a 'new' game? If it works, don't change it.

[Harmor]

Because it's that time of the year and I've just been wondering what those Game Awards were all about, why not hand out our or at least my own awards for 2014 to those games that really mattered to me. So here's my personal list of favorite games for the year...

 

Game of the year Divinity: Original Sin: My absolute favorite of the year. Old school through and through, no hand holding of the player and equipped with what to me is the best combat mechanics for an RPG in years. If that wasn't enough, Larian let you coop the entire single player campaign with a friend - like I wrote to begin with, my absolute favorite of the year.

 

1st/3rd Person Action Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor: Now, for all intents and purposes one could say all it does is copy games like Batman or Assassins Creed, but it comes with a twist that to me makes it stand out. Ranking up Orcs, the entire nemesis system that makes sure you're in a more or less personalized gameworld, has just been so much fun to me I couldn't put the game down.

 

Indie of the year This war of mine: On the finish line ... two weeks ago when I didn't own This war of mine just yet, Invisible Inc (I know it's still ea) would have been here. But I can't - This war of mine just raced past for me with the way it tells it's story. Gritty survival gameplay meets storytelling and lets you care for everything you do in the game, because everything has consequences - I think a mature gamer owes himself to play this game because it's an experience!

 

Sports game Fifa 15: Well, an EA game - I'm almost kind of sorry but I have to say far as sports games go, it's my favorite. It is not that they 'NAILED IT' or anything, in actual fact it's just one of those baby steps EA makes with their yearly iterations but fact of the matter is, I've had a lot of fun playing this and that to me is what matters!

 

Strategy Age of Wonders III: After Rome II was such a massive disappointment for me, AoE III thankfully made this year in strategy worthwhile. Ten years after the first AoE games Triumph Studios brought back their loved franchise and it hasn't lost it's appeal to me. Sure things are different meanwhile, it's all shiny and 3D now, but they managed to port the AoE series well into the modern age. Another game I couldn't put down for quite some time this year hence it definitely has my vote.

 

These games had me glued to the PC when I played them - but there are a few more, and they're deffo more than just honorable mention that must be named on my list of top games for 2014:

 

There's the aforementioned Invisible Inc, still early access but coming along nicely with a mean (not unfair tho!) difficulty and very nice stealth based gameplay. Highly recommended!

 

Dead State, another turn based combat game, left ea a while ago. You're taking care of a bunch of people living in an old school during the zombie apocalypse, and it's your task to go loot for resources on the map while also making sure the school you're in remains intact. I've had quite some fun with this game so far, hence it must be mentioned here!

 

Styx: Master of shadows - you're a mean bastard of a Goblin on a mission, and you won't allow anybody to stop you til your mission is complete. The levels are quite huge and let you explore a lot while allowing you to carve your own way through them which is a lot of fun. I am definitely going back to playing the game one, or two more, times because it's just so much fun playing that evil little Goblin as he climbs and hides and kills his way through the levels. Another stealth based game (cause you really should not get into open combat a whole lot xD) that really convinced me in 2014.

 

And last but not least, Xenonauts - a spiritual successor to the original XCom game from the 90s. It is vastly different to Firaxis' XCom (which I really like too, but can't be mentioned here any further cause it's not from this year - the addon is very nice though ) in many ways. Where Firaxis went the 'modern' way with their game, the devs of Xenonauts (Goldhawk Interactive) not once hide the fact their game just had to be as close to the original as possible. And I think they succeeded - if you played the games from the mid 90s it's all there, multiple bases across the globe, the way combat works, base upgrades - this IS the original XCom game re-released in 2014 and I can only say well done!

 

Okay and there we go, these are basically the 'new' games I've played over the year that had me fully entertained (or still have depending). There are ofc games from previous years I still go back to every now and then but they can't be in this list (I'm sorry ^^) so that's that. Would be interesting to read what others have to say about their year in gaming 2014 ...

[Hive]

GOTY 2014 = Wasteland 2.

 

It's as simple as that, people.

[Wallbanger]

For those that have it, what are your thoughts on FM15? I've been planning to pick it up but have noticed what seems to be more complaints than usual - there's always people that complain about the AI, match engine, lack of lower league coverage, etc. but it feels like EVERYONE's complaining. My perception may be skewed though so I wanted to ask here and see if others had that perception.

[D-Lyrium]

For those that have it, what are your thoughts on FM15? I've been planning to pick it up but have noticed what seems to be more complaints than usual - there's always people that complain about the AI, match engine, lack of lower league coverage, etc. but it feels like EVERYONE's complaining. My perception may be skewed though so I wanted to ask here and see if others had that perception.

 

Almost everything outside of the actual match engine itself, I love. It feels like the TEW kind of thing, where when you first play the new edition you sometimes think "well not much has changed..." but then when you go back and play the previous game in the series you wonder how you ever coped without New Feature X. There's just so much stuff now, it's awesome. You could spend hours combing through all the analysis screens and on the whole, player interaction feels pretty satisfying.

 

The match engine itself I'm not sold on. It's not game-breakingly terrible or anything, but lots of times I'm left feeling "...really? That really happened?". Usually this has to do with defending. Over and over again I'll see my goalkeeper parry a shot, and the ball just sit in the 6 yard box with no defenders paying it any heed, and the goalkeeper seemingly paralysed, while a striker walks over and taps it in. Or the striker I've told my defenders to mark tightly will wander around the box completely unmarked and score. I know that these things happen in football, players lose markers etc, but the way the game represents this sometimes leaves you feeling like one of your players has just literally stood still and let it happen, which leads to undue frustration as that's not what the game is trying to represent.

 

Other times I get that feeling where you know exactly what's going to happen in a particular highlight, almost as if it's a scripted event that you've seen before. The aforementioned shot, parry, goal thing in particular. I also feel players score too many own goals (of the deflection variety, not ridiculous glitchy own goals), but that seems to have been toned down now (or alternatively it could be the purchase of a certain Thiago Silva that has toned it down ).

 

The actual logic of the match engine seems fine though. What you do on the tactics screen seems to impact the overall match in terms of stats, if not necessarily what you see in the 3D engine.

 

You do tend to get a few more unexpectedly huge wins and embarrassing losses than before, but you can't really say that's not realistic, because Arsenal. I do find some results tend to leave me scratching my head (I was on a streak of barely beating mid-table teams and drawing a lot of games, then suddenly beat Man City 5-0, then lost to Newcastle straight afterwards), but that happens. And has always happened in FM. Sometimes, your team just plays like crap, and it doesn't matter who's in the team.

 

The only other gripe I can think of off-hand is that press conferences are often a little repetitive (as in you sometimes get asked the same question, phrased differently), and sometimes the questions you get asked don't make any sense. For example, Jose Mourinho refused to comment when asked a question about me, and I was then asked to comment on his response. But, er, there was no response to comment on, though my possible responses indicated he'd been a dick to me. Another time I specifically praised another manager (Ian Holloway

 

I also once got asked a question about whether my Chelsea side, treble winners and currently 2nd, were planning to rest any players in the midweek fixture with Manchester City, ahead of our big game with QPR at the weekend... but I think that was an actual bug which has been fixed.

 

So yeah... in summary:

- 3D match engine can often infuriate you due to abstract representation of what actually happened, but the logic behind it seems sound enough.

- Managers and media sometimes react to your comments inappropriately.

- Otherwise, definite improvement from '14 in all other areas IMO.

[The Swanton825]

It depends on what your criteria for GotY are. I would've probably GotY'd anything that used a great base like the Infinity Engine (used for BG2) to make games that are different, yet all the same.

 

Why do you have to make a new engine to have a 'new' game? If it works, don't change it.

 

I'm not talking about engines. I'm talking about how The Wolf Among Us, aside from having more action sequences, has the same base gameplay as the first Walking Dead season with few differences. Like how every 3D Zelda goes through the same motions, but with a new gimmick. It can make for a very good game, possibly even GotY. But when you're not innovating anything, why should you get Developer of the Year?

 

My GotY: Come to think of it, nothing has really jumped out at me this year. And I keep forgetting I have Divinity and Wasteland. So the game I've enjoyed the most and actually beaten that came out this year would be The Wolf Among Us... Is it that hypocritical, or just ironic?

[titlebelt]

 

The match engine itself I'm not sold on. It's not game-breakingly terrible or anything, but lots of times I'm left feeling "...really? That really happened?". Usually this has to do with defending. Over and over again I'll see my goalkeeper parry a shot, and the ball just sit in the 6 yard box with no defenders paying it any heed, and the goalkeeper seemingly paralysed, while a striker walks over and taps it in. Or the striker I've told my defenders to mark tightly will wander around the box completely unmarked and score. I know that these things happen in football, players lose markers etc, but the way the game represents this sometimes leaves you feeling like one of your players has just literally stood still and let it happen, which leads to undue frustration as that's not what the game is trying to represent.

 

Yeah, there are some horribly bungled in own goals too sort of like you describe, where the keeper makes a save, no one reacts to the ball, keeper gets up and walks over to the ball and then either he or two defenders who suddenly rush over push it over the line.

 

And, as always for me, whenever I'm just about to make a substitution or tactic change the opposition scores while "waiting to make changes."

[D-Lyrium]

Or a player will be sent off/injured while waiting for a break in play for them to be substituted.

 

 

In other news, this needs to be seen:

 

It's a fan-made Team Fortress 2 film, using Source Film Maker. And it's awesome. Helps if you're a fan of/know about TF2, to get some of the jokes, but I'd imagine it'd be brilliant nonetheless.

[moon_lit_tears]

 

 

Indie of the year This war of mine: On the finish line ... two weeks ago when I didn't own This war of mine just yet, Invisible Inc (I know it's still ea) would have been here. But I can't - This war of mine just raced past for me with the way it tells it's story. Gritty survival gameplay meets storytelling and lets you care for everything you do in the game, because everything has consequences - I think a mature gamer owes himself to play this game because it's an experience!

 

 

So I have come to the conclusion that I don't play much beyond Indie games, so I"d have to fight you on this one. While this game is beyond fantastic in it's own right, I'd have to say that Binding of Isaac Rebirth would take the award for me.