The Video Game Thread

[Dragonmack]

I still maintain that DA2 is not a bad video game. However, it's an absolutely terrible Dragon Age: Origins sequel. The bar was set high, and DA2 was not the game most people (myself included) wanted.

 

However, I'll play Inquisition anyway. Two main reasons:

- Bioware made it, and ME3 still hasn't shaken off my fanboism.

- Leliana is a major character. <3

 

 

 

Agreed... The opening in F3 was slow as a glacier too but that was ok because you were just learning about the world (in most cases - F3 was a looot more popular than F1, 2 or T just due to the genre it was in). FNV still had that slow, plodding opening that was totally unnecessary for a sequel. I do like the setting, but I haven't got very far in the game. I still do pick it up occasionally though.

 

 

 

I remember liking NWN2 when it came out. Had some good characters and interactions. I do remember everything up until you met Khelgar and Neeshka being a slog, but after that it was quite fun. The druid was completely useless though, and spent so long back at the inn that when I did finally have a use for her she was massively under-levelled. I seem to remember liking the story, but it did take months to actually go anywhere.

 

There is practically zero reason to go back and play NWN2 now, as everything good about it has already been done better in other games. Most of them named Dragon Age.

 

In other news... First Person GTAV! Looks good!

 

To be fair, everyone loved ME 3 .... right until that horrible excuse for an ending. Up until that point ME 3 was actually a very good game. Everyone has the bad taste of the ending still in their mouth, and that makes them tend to forget that they enjoyed the hell out of playing it till then ( or they never would have gotten to the ending )

 

Dragon Age 2 had some issues in that it seemed they were trying to make it more of a console game than a pure PC RPG like the original. it was still good to play through once, and the character was interesting, but it really didn't feel like it had as much to it as the first one did. Basically, after you finished the story, there wasn't really as much motivation, at least to me, to go back to play out different characters or paths, which for me was a hallmark of the other Bioware\Obsidian games such as Neverwinter nights 1 and 2 and KOTOR 1 and 2 .

 

I am pumped for Dragon Age Inquisition ( have it pre-ordered already, even though I am literally buried in games to play right now with Wasteland 2, Shadows of Mordor, new Wow Expansion in a week, Sid Meier's Beyond Earth, and beta for Elite Dangerous all within the last month) and looks like it will have that good mix of real time\pause combat that worked well in the Kotor and Never Winter Nights games. As for the rest of it, will have to see how it plays out.

 

Bioware still knows how to tell an overall good story, even if the games themselves recently have caused some disappointment. They had built themselves to such a high standard, it was inevitable they would slide down at some point. Now we have to see if DA:I can see them start to climb back up again.

[Blackman]

Well... I thought the ME ending was decent, but I'm almost alone in that regard. I still need to witness the DLC of the 3rd game. It's installed and all, but I haven't booted up my xbox in months so yeah... But the games were phenomenal. No doubt about that. I only disliked the horrible vehicle parts of the first game that were a necessity to pull through.

[Hive]

To be fair, everyone loved ME 3 .... right until that horrible excuse for an ending. Up until that point ME 3 was actually a very good game. Everyone has the bad taste of the ending still in their mouth, and that makes them tend to forget that they enjoyed the hell out of playing it till then ( or they never would have gotten to the ending )

 

So very true. I really digged the game up untill that point. Though I strongly disliked the fact that an NPC very essential to the story was made a DLC exclusive. Very, very poor taste from Bioware/EA.

 

At any rate, I don't plan on ever using Origin again. As long as EA refuses to put their games on Steam, I'm not buying them.

[masterded]

So very true. I really digged the game up untill that point. Though I strongly disliked the fact that an NPC very essential to the story was made a DLC exclusive. Very, very poor taste from Bioware/EA.

 

At any rate, I don't plan on ever using Origin again. As long as EA refuses to put their games on Steam, I'm not buying them.

 

I was pissed with ME3 throughout the game. Mostly because of how few allies you had to pick from and how flawed the story was throughout. I mean with maybe the exception of Wrex no one had a good enough excuse for not being on your ship and part of your team. Heck and one of the few allies you do get is unusable for a large portion of the game. In the end many of my favorite characters ended up as little more than glorified cameos.

[D-Lyrium]

This is sort of heretical and feels dirty, but... CoD:AW seems... not terrible. Like... I'm not gonna buy it myself, but I wouldn't hate myself if I found myself playing it at a friends' place.

 

It feels more Unreal Tournamenty. Which is a VERY GOOD THING. Obviously influenced a bit by Titanfall, but it's not really 'similar' in any real way. Ironically for a game based in the future, it feels more oldschool in terms of mechanics.

 

Still no dedicated servers though (at the moment). Bastards.

[FINisher]

For some reason it very much reminds of Planetside 2, playing as a Light Assault which has jetpacks. Also the loadout customization looks quite nice! I'll prob end up getting it when it goes on sale which would make it my first CoD game ever. Ever.

[Crychon]

Overwatch is pretty fun. Looking forward to hopefully playing more of it once it reaches beta.

[D-Lyrium]

Also, Hand of Fate looks amazing. It's only in early access at the moment, buti t's pretty complete already.

 

In a nutshell:

It's sort of a roguelike mixed with an oldschool storytelling RPG mystery type game, where you build a deck of cards, and the cards dictate what the 'story' is going to be. You have one deck for armour, weapons and equipment and another deck for 'encounters' (rooms, in a traditional roguelike). So you can basically pick what sort of stuff you'll come up against based on what you've unlocked and put into your deck.

 

Then the game master (excellently voice acted, for what it's worth) draws from monster cards to go against you in the various rooms.

 

Sort of Munchkin-esque, really.

 

So the deck you build determines the kind of stuff you're going to face, and then each encounter is played out in 3D in a third person hack-and-slash type deal. Not all encounters are combat based (some don't even use the 3D engine and are more like choices between certain options - like shop rooms in a roguelike).

 

I haven't played it myself yet, but from everything I've seen it looks really, really cool. If you're into that sort of thing- it certainly won't be everyone's cup of tea. Something I'm definitely keeping my eye on.

 

Here's a video to explain it better (courtesy of the always excellent Quill18):

[The Swanton825]

At any rate, I don't plan on ever using Origin again. As long as EA refuses to put their games on Steam, I'm not buying them.

 

I don't get this. Every EA game on Steam requires your Origin login to begin with and at this point Origin doesn't differ much from Steam anymore (Hell, they actually have returns). I'm not an EA fan by any stretch of the imagination, but Origin seems to get crap just because it's an EA-run service, ignoring the fact that it's gotten much better since launch.

[SeanMcFly]

Little late to this but is anyone still playing Destiny or EA UFC? Got a level 26 hunter that I main on Destiny and I'd love some rivalries on UFC

[Blackman]

I don't get this. Every EA game on Steam requires your Origin login to begin with and at this point Origin doesn't differ much from Steam anymore (Hell, they actually have returns). I'm not an EA fan by any stretch of the imagination, but Origin seems to get crap just because it's an EA-run service, ignoring the fact that it's gotten much better since launch.

 

Oh well... Everyone has their little quirks, I guess. I'd rather have all my digital games centralised on a single platform, for better or worse. Now it's spread between Steam (most of 'em), GOG and Origin (most of those free). It's a little annoying, but it will never stop me from buying a game.

[Hive]

I don't get this. Every EA game on Steam requires your Origin login to begin with

 

That's certainly news to me, it sure isn't the case with the old EA games I do have on Steam.

[The Swanton825]

That's certainly news to me, it sure isn't the case with the old EA games I do have on Steam.

 

Well, the only EA games that I can recall having on Steam are Alice: Madness Returns, Mass Effect, WARP & Burnout Paradise. And Mass Effect is the only one that doesn't need a login. So I figured that most EA games on Steam worked the same as the other three.

 

Either way, if they started putting their games on Steam again, you definitely would need a login.

[i effin rule]

Little late to this but is anyone still playing Destiny or EA UFC? Got a level 26 hunter that I main on Destiny and I'd love some rivalries on UFC

 

Play UFC pretty regularly on XBone.

[guyver3]

Little late to this but is anyone still playing Destiny or EA UFC? Got a level 26 hunter that I main on Destiny and I'd love some rivalries on UFC

 

I play Destiny almost every day on PS4 lv 28 Titan aswell as a 25 Hunter

[Hive]

Well, the only EA games that I can recall having on Steam are Alice: Madness Returns, Mass Effect, WARP & Burnout Paradise. And Mass Effect is the only one that doesn't need a login. So I figured that most EA games on Steam worked the same as the other three.

 

Either way, if they started putting their games on Steam again, you definitely would need a login.

 

Well, then I won't buy any of their games on Steam anymore, either. I won't be using Origin. It's been a while since I've played my EA games on Steam, but I definetely won't touch them again if they suddenly require Origin. I have ME1+2, PvZ, Red Alert 3 and Dead Space.

 

It might very well be that they've fixed some of the (valid!) critique points from release, but I still remember when the "service" was intrusive, buggy and cumbersome. And in general, I want my games to be collected in just one place as much as possible. The only non-Steam game I buy is the TEW series, and that's only because it's a unique niche game that has no alternatives anywhere else. If I could avoid that anti-consumer friendly DRM they use, I sure would.

[FINisher]

Rogue Legacy on sale on Steam, only for 3e. Just get it, it's great.

 

ps. I just got myself an upgrade to R9 290X because of a faulty R9 290 that I bought and returned because it only worked for a few hours and then begun artifacting etc., I'm so excited! It'll arrive on Thursday :3

[packerman120]

So Assassin's Creed Unity looks..... interesting. It appears to be running at low fps, in my estimation around twenty, 75 percent of the time. I guess I'll see when I receive it from GameFly around Thursday, but for now I am iffy on the game.

[Teh_Showtime]

Play UFC pretty regularly on XBone.

 

I play on PS4 but the ground game leaves a lot to be desired. It would be wonderful as a kick boxing game and standing and trading is tons of fun, but even being dominant on the ground is annoying. Transitioning to a mount is just as easy as going from full to half guard and even easier to escape.

 

I've played a couple online and lost a decision I thought I won (UD 29-28) I wish they showed judges scorecards or have the announcer talk about who won the previous rounds.

[FINisher]

So Assassin's Creed Unity looks..... interesting. It appears to be running at low fps, in my estimation around twenty, 75 percent of the time. I guess I'll see when I receive it from GameFly around Thursday, but for now I am iffy on the game.

 

Quotes from Ubisoft:

 

At Ubisoft for a long time we wanted to push 60 fps. I don’t think it was a good idea because you don’t gain that much from 60 fps and it doesn’t look like the real thing. It’s a bit like The Hobbit movie, it looked really weird.

 

“And in other games it’s the same – like the Rachet and Clank series [where it was dropped]. So I think collectively in the video game industry we’re dropping that standard because it’s hard to achieve, it’s twice as hard as 30fps, and its not really that great in terms of rendering quality of the picture and the image.”

 

Alex Amancio, the game’s Creative Director, reiterated, adding

 

“30 was our goal, it feels more cinematic. 60 is really good for a shooter, action adventure not so much. It actually feels better for people when it’s at that 30fps. It also lets us push the limits of everything to the maximum.

 

“It’s like when people start asking about resolution. Is it the number of the quality of the pixels that you want? If the game looks gorgeous, who cares about the number?”

 

 

And here's TB's awesome video about the controversy:

[packerman120]

OMG, who are they researching on? Internet fanboys? Ask any critic and they will tell you that 60 FPS is ALWAYS better than 30. Even if the game is at "thirty", why is it running at twenty and fifteen some of time. Good old Ubisoft.

[DaMegaFish]

For what it is worth, I would easily take a steady 30FPS over a 60FPS game that will stutter.

 

I've played very few games at 60FPS, but never when playing any games under that have I ever thought, "This game is good, but the framerate is ruining the fun." Maybe I just have poor eyes, but to me as long as it looks good and it looks smooth, it is perfectly fine by me.

[packerman120]

For what it is worth, I would easily take a steady 30FPS over a 60FPS game that will stutter.

 

I've played very few games at 60FPS, but never when playing any games under that have I ever thought, "This game is good, but the framerate is ruining the fun." Maybe I just have poor eyes, but to me as long as it looks good and it looks smooth, it is perfectly fine by me.

 

I can definitely agree with you there despite my statement. However, AC Unity isn't even a stable 30 haha. Check out this video from IGN of a clip of awful framerate: http://www.ign.com/videos/2014/11/12/assassins-creed-unity-low-framerate-gameplay-clip

[DaMegaFish]

I can definitely agree with you there despite my statement. However, AC Unity isn't even a stable 30 haha. Check out this video from IGN of a clip of awful framerate: http://www.ign.com/videos/2014/11/12/assassins-creed-unity-low-framerate-gameplay-clip

 

That part is fair, if you say you're going to 30 to lock there for a smooth game experience and fail, then you just look silly.

 

I don't care about specs, I just like what I like and I think i'm gonna like WWE 2k15 come Tuesday. Look at that transition there! I know there is a WWE 2k15 thread, but I think this more than falls as being okay to post here where more eyes will catch it. This is a clip of Reigns vs Orton from a recent interview for almost 2 minutes with not a ton of clips and cuts.

 

 

This is a completely different game than the PS3/360 versions and that is more than welcome for me. I'll point out some key things that I really love about this video.

 

7 Seconds- See the new chain wrestling mini game. Maybe not the deepest concept, but I'm okay with this new route. Better than doing QTE's in my book.

20 seconds-Very subtle and it's kind of hard to notice since this clip comes so fast, but as Reigns goes to punch Orton, look at him left hand. The character model just places it on the kneeling Orton. Great immersion piece.

37 seconds- Orton stumbles backwards taking punches from Reigns and falls very organically in to the ropes.

1 min 20 seconds- Reigns only climbs to the middle rope. I hope this is tied to some stat for wrestlers. Maybe if a speed or agility or something is too low your wrestler only goes to the middle rope? I think this will directly effect jumping distance, as you see probably the roughest looking collision in the video when he does the splash. Also, bonus points for the ref telling him to get down.

1 min 28 seconds- Ropes react much more realistically to weight being applied to them now. This you can see pretty much the whole video, but this is a great example of it. In old games a regular body slam would cause all the ropes to shake in the ring which always drove me crazy.

1 min 50 seconds-Crowd pops nice as Reigns gets his taunt off.

 

Throughout the whole video you can also see the game is a lot slower paced. I'm completely on board with that change as well. I think it looks nicer, more impactful and actually allows for more selling. Game will be a day 1 pick up for me on PS4 (as will GTA) so if anyone else is getting it on PS4, feel free to add me!

[packerman120]

That part is fair, if you say you're going to 30 to lock there for a smooth game experience and fail, then you just look silly.

 

I don't care about specs, I just like what I like and I think i'm gonna like WWE 2k15 come Tuesday. Look at that transition there! I know there is a WWE 2k15 thread, but I think this more than falls as being okay to post here where more eyes will catch it. This is a clip of Reigns vs Orton from a recent interview for almost 2 minutes with not a ton of clips and cuts.

 

 

This is a completely different game than the PS3/360 versions and that is more than welcome for me. I'll point out some key things that I really love about this video.

 

7 Seconds- See the new chain wrestling mini game. Maybe not the deepest concept, but I'm okay with this new route. Better than doing QTE's in my book.

20 seconds-Very subtle and it's kind of hard to notice since this clip comes so fast, but as Reigns goes to punch Orton, look at him left hand. The character model just places it on the kneeling Orton. Great immersion piece.

37 seconds- Orton stumbles backwards taking punches from Reigns and falls very organically in to the ropes.

1 min 20 seconds- Reigns only climbs to the middle rope. I hope this is tied to some stat for wrestlers. Maybe if a speed or agility or something is too low your wrestler only goes to the middle rope? I think this will directly effect jumping distance, as you see probably the roughest looking collision in the video when he does the splash. Also, bonus points for the ref telling him to get down.

1 min 28 seconds- Ropes react much more realistically to weight being applied to them now. This you can see pretty much the whole video, but this is a great example of it. In old games a regular body slam would cause all the ropes to shake in the ring which always drove me crazy.

1 min 50 seconds-Crowd pops nice as Reigns gets his taunt off.

 

Throughout the whole video you can also see the game is a lot slower paced. I'm completely on board with that change as well. I think it looks nicer, more impactful and actually allows for more selling. Game will be a day 1 pick up for me on PS4 (as will GTA) so if anyone else is getting it on PS4, feel free to add me!

 

Couldn't be more hyped for this game myself