What is the last video game you played?

[DreamTheater 131]

MGS: The Phantom Pain, a couple of hours and missions in. Design-wise it's really quite ingenious. How all the different elements and mechanics work together, I love this aspect. Snake has never gotten a more detailed and diverse playground to do all his elaborate tricks in. The environment (Afghanistan) is a little monotonous looking but the constant varying heights in terrain make up for that, and it's really fun to approach a site in full stealth mode, try to take down the guards and just be hiding for as long as possible, until inevitably you get caught and all hell breaks loose. There's also a whole system of base building and expanding and soldier hiring that was already in Peace Walker, albeit in simplified form. Here it's more streamlined but still as ridiculous. In a fun way. For example the Fulton parachute lets you 'transport' knocked out guards to your base in 5 seconds, where they can be put to good use for the good guys. It also works on animals and base equipment like cannons or mortars. Hilarious to see this system in action.

And why does the horse have to be so slow !!! Snake can sprint faster than this horse... Other than that I love this new Kojima game.

[King Mark 3,631]

I'm sending my PS4 to Sony for repairs (or possible a new one). I had 10 crashes in the past 2 days while saving games The save game icon would start to spin and then the PS4 kicked me out to the main menu saying there was an error

I did managed to finish Divinity Original Sin in spite of this but I had to restart several sections and bosses near the end

[Koray Savas 2,251]

The system crashed or the game?

[King Mark 3,631]

well, it's unclear. All I know is it was crashing during saving games ,and that's at the system level

The crashes took me back to the main menu of the PS4 (Error CE-34878-0, application has failed) , so it wasn't a "hard crash" where I had to unplug the console to get it starting

I haven't read any reports on the internet of this game crashing

Witcher 3 also crashed on me 8 times, but I figured it was just the game (but still managed to partially ruin the game for me)

Anyways I called them and they told me to send the console

I've been reading a lot on this error code and it appears to be a flaw in certain consoles:

http://www.cinemablend.com/games/PS4-Error-CE-34878-0-Corrupting-Save-Files-61765.html

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Typically if a game crashes to the XMB, that's on the game end, but considering it happened excessively with The Witcher 3 too, probably a good idea to send it in.

The only time I've experienced crashes was with Battlefield 4, and that was most certainly DICE's fault.

[King Mark 3,631]

my warranty ends in January, so I might as well get it done

with the PS3 and xbox360, I could feel crashes were the game's fault, with the PS4 it's just weird crashes happening out of nowhere ( no slowdowns or glitches beforehand)

[Quintus 5,399]

Lol you're probably the unluckiest fucker I know

[Jay 37,346]

Who's excited?

[Koray Savas 2,251]

I'm excited that they're adding trophy support for PS2 games. Now I just need them to do Red Dead Revolver and Red Faction.

[BloodBoal 7,538]

[Quintus 5,399]

Finally I'll get to play FFVII for the first time. My brother's all time favourite game, but I was always put off by the jarringly shit polygon characters of the PS original; plus I'm hoping the antiquated random world map battle encounters have been left rotting in the nineties and spruced up to be something a little less... grindy.

A 'remake' implies a new modern reimagining, so yeah, if that means mechanically as well as visually, I'm quite looking forward to FFVII.

[DreamTheater 131]

Yep, me too... A few years back I tried to play the PC version, I got about halfway through and then I became bored with it.

Couldn't understand why everyone praised this one to high heaven. Had I played it in the 90s, I'm sure I would've loved it. So this remake's on my radar as well.

Anyone else here enjoying MGS V? I'm totally addicted to its open world design, awesome missions, and fluid combat mechanics, but it has Far Cry 2 type respawning outposts, that isn't always the most fun. Also once I find vehicles in the environment, I abandon my horse, since it's slower than when the Boss runs. Don't know why this hasn't been patched yet.

I'm also currently on my first run through the new Starcraft II: Legacy of the Void. Only the campaign though, the multiplayer is for superhumans that know every keyboard shortcut by heart. It's good fun. And the music's fantastic as well.

[Quintus 5,399]

MGS5 was to be a certain play for me, but I've since heard from numerous sources that the game gets really quite grindy and repetitive the further in you get, and that there's quite a lot of micromanagement to be attended to, which to me is a major turnoff. I've not played a MGS title since the PSOne 'original', which is one of the greatest games ever made. So what's different about MGS5?

[King Mark 3,631]

Finally I'll get to play FFVII for the first time. My brother's all time favourite game, but I was always put off by the jarringly shit polygon characters of the PS original; plus I'm hoping the antiquated random world map battle encounters have been left rotting in the nineties and spruced up to be something a little less... grindy.

A 'remake' implies a new modern reimagining, so yeah, if that means mechanically as well as visually, I'm quite looking forward to FFVII.

you'll play 2 hours and quit!

[Quintus 5,399]

If the irritating random battles still happen as frequently I'm afraid you'll be right.

[King Mark 3,631]

I've never played a JRPG that wasn;t grindy

[Koray Savas 2,251]

PSX was royally lackluster today. Not a single first party announcement was made. What's the point of having a PlayStation conference if you don't show off the games made by Sony developers?

The biggest one there was probably Ni No Kuni 2. I barely scratched the surface of the first game, primarily due to the endless random battle encounters you guys were discussing above but I liked the world and its design.

MGS5 was to be a certain play for me, but I've since heard from numerous sources that the game gets really quite grindy and repetitive the further in you get, and that there's quite a lot of micromanagement to be attended to, which to me is a major turnoff. I've not played a MGS title since the PSOne 'original', which is one of the greatest games ever made. So what's different about MGS5?

There really is no point to go back to the franchise this late in the game. Apart from the story making zero sense, the gameplay is completely different. Kojima's ambition got the better of him, in my opinion, though I know there are die hard fans out there. It doesn't do open world well enough and thus it's too open to be successful like the previous games were.

[Red 75]

Who's excited?

ME!

Though if I have to be honest, it doesn't quite look like I expected it to look (for example, I prefer Barret's design in Advent Children (which was closer to the original game's design) than in this video). Still, I was originally mainly interested in the remake for the music, but now, after having watched the video, I'm intrigued by the game itself.

It looks a lot like the upcoming Final Fantasy XV with the real-time combat and urban setting. Which is basically what I was expecting the remake to be. I would've preferred something that skewed more towards the original with some kind turn-based combat system but I understand that there might not be much of a point in doing a remake if they weren't going to change it up, especially with the original game being ported to PS4.

But my real problem is Barrett's sunglasses. It's a small thing but they just look dumb.

[King Mark 3,631]

I'm excited for Ni No Kuni 2

[BloodBoal 7,538]

[DreamTheater 131]

MGS5 was to be a certain play for me, but I've since heard from numerous sources that the game gets really quite grindy and repetitive the further in you get, and that there's quite a lot of micromanagement to be attended to, which to me is a major turnoff. I've not played a MGS title since the PSOne 'original', which is one of the greatest games ever made. So what's different about MGS5?

MGS V is completely unrecognizable as a sequel to the first one, they're like two completely different games set in different worlds. But there's the boxes to hide in, the tranq gun, Big Boss, and numerous other references to the first one and the sequels. The first one was a straightforward stealth-action-adventure game with a gripping twisting storyline. And the sequels evolved from that, each new one holding some radical changes. TPP is the most open-ended game of the series, the freedom is simply spectacular, and the combat and sneaking tremendously exciting. It's also very low on cutscenes (at least so far), has no codec transmissions, and most of the story is told through optional tape recordings, which you can listen to while sneaking / going about the environment.

Yes, there's a ton of missions, side ops and quite a bit of managing your base. But I happen to like that aspect, as the mechanics of it all are just so well done. It all gels tremendously well together.

However, I'm thinking this might be another game that is just too damn big for its own good. So far I'm loving it, but I can already see the repetitive nature of it.

I would advise against TPP unless you're a die-hard MGS fan.

[Quintus 5,399]

I can always play Ground Zeroes and make my mind up whether I like it and want more, I suppose.

If the irritating random battles still happen as frequently I'm afraid you'll be right.

If you're not into RPGs, there's no point for you to play that game. You just won't like it.

If the irritating random battles still happen as frequently I'm afraid you'll be right.

If you're not into RPGs, there's no point for you to play that game. You just won't like it.

I do like RPGs, I've played loads of them. I was loving Ni No Kuni, until the random battles began to feel monotonous. I even don't mind turn-based combat, when it isn't ridiculously complex and all-encompassing. Knights of the Old Republic got it just right, IMO. If however FFVII is just a reskin I'll skip it.

[BloodBoal 7,538]

[Quintus 5,399]

Yet earlier you tried to tell me it effectively will be.

[BloodBoal 7,538]

[Quintus 5,399]

RPGs are all about random battles.

No they're not. Unless you're talking purely about turn-based ones, such as Final Fantasy series. Or are you trying to tell be The Secret of Mana or Link to the Past aren't RPGs?

[BloodBoal 7,538]

[Quintus 5,399]

I did?

What, you mean when I said "If you're not into RPGs, there's no point for you to play that game. You just won't like it."? That doesn't have anything to do with that.

It's not a reskin in the sense that they seem to have changed the whole combat system, but it'll most likely still be very much a RPG with lot of level up to do.

Which is why I'll wait and see, it's no biggie. But you seem to be stuck with the view that RPGs and levelling up in games is all about 'random battles' and the FF template. I don't really know why.

[BloodBoal 7,538]

[Quintus 5,399]

In recent memory, The Elder Scrolls games, Demon's Souls and Bloodborne don't.

[Jay 37,346]

A Link To The Past is most definitely not an RPG.

[Quintus 5,399]

It's a subset of the broad RPG genre. I consider the Zelda series to be 'action RPGs', and since by definition when 'Role Playing' we assume the role of other characters, it's a straightforward conclusion.

Mass Effect and Dragon's Age are other action RPGs.

[Wojo 2,453]

I don't play the Final Fantasy series because they're not true to their name. Final Fantasy should have been the last, but no no, they just keep cranking out sequels. I can't deal with that.

[DreamTheater 131]

It's a bit like when The Final Destination came out, and we thought, hey it must be the last one, because there's no number at the end, and the title is preceded by The.

A couple of years later, a fifth movie came out anyway.

But yeah, Square Enix invented the concept, the never-ending finite franchise.

[King Mark 3,631]

They don't always use random battles, but more often than not, they do. Or at least, they used to.

Recent JRPG's have replaced random battles by visible enemies in the field you can choose to engage in battle or not. When you bump into them it changes to the encounter battle screen

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Games Of Thrones

Telltale's six episode game. The worst Telltale game I've played singe Back To The Future. Overlong and truly incomprehensible, I wonder if it closely resembles the show, which I have never seen. None of the overarching plot lines are resolved, and I ended up getting all the characters killed through good intentions yet misguided dialogue options. Didn't help that for the first couple of episodes I had no idea who was who or how that affected relationships with other houses, etc. etc. Anyway, all of that was washed away with...

Minecraft: Story Mode

Even though they are only up to Episode 3, I decided to play up-to-date. This is on par with Tales From The Borderlands as the best Telltale game. Great voice acting with fun characters. Patton Oswalt steals the show.

Uncharted 4 Multiplayer Beta

The beta is live, and I'm pleased that they brought over a lot of the mechanics from The Last Of Us. Less hardcore and unforgiving in its learning curve, obviously, but still great fun from what I've played so far. I imagine I'll put a lot of hours into it when the game launches in March. The graphics look stunning for an online shooter, which means the core campaign is going to look even better. Unfortunately, the lack of Greg Edmonson as composer is immediately noticeable. Instead of having his triumphant main theme blasting over the menu screen, we have Henry Jackman's low key percussion drones. For shame!

Doom Multiplayer Closed Alpha

There were several warnings and acceptance screens about sharing or talking about this game, but I just wanted to touch upon how it feels, which is extremely old school. Definitely PS2-era mechanics, which ties me into...

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

PS2 games running natively on the PS4 has arrived. It's a promising start, with the 3 GTA games available now. At $15 a pop though, it's a bit steep, so I opted for my favorite entry to start with. Is it bad that I would rather play this than to finally finish GTA V? Anyway, it feels great to able to play it with the DualShock 4 and have trophies pop on an 11 year old game. If they manage to bring over Rockstar's other games (particularly Red Dead), as well as the Burnout franchise, I'll be in heaven.

[Jay 37,346]

This is neat:

[Koray Savas 2,251]

"Final Fantasy VII Remake will be told across a multi-part series..."

So that's why they've announced it and shown it off so early, with XV and Kingdom Hearts 3 a good ways off, this allows them to satiate the fans early while still focusing on their other big titles. A poor way to deliver this game, but oh well, business reigns supreme in the games industry.

[BloodBoal 7,538]

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Yeah I imagine it'll be released in separate chunks, like Telltale's games.

[Quintus 5,399]

They don't always use random battles, but more often than not, they do. Or at least, they used to.

Recent JRPG's have replaced random battles by visible enemies in the field you can choose to engage in battle or not. When you bump into them it changes to the encounter battle screen

An obvious response to an unpopular design choice. Maybe this change has been filtered through to the FFVII remake. Which would drastically alter the game, BloodBoal.

Definitely PS2-era mechanics

I think you mean PC arena shooter mechanics (Quake, Unreal Tournament, Counterstrike). I played the alpha a few weeks ago, I quite liked it, but I doubt I'd ever really put down other online shooters for it.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Yes, Unreal Tournament was the first that came to mind while I played. PC games like that still exist?

[DreamTheater 131]

You guys want to wait 5 years for the full FF VII to appear, or rather have one episode every year?

Square Enix, not the fastest developers in the world...

[Wojo 2,453]

Yes, Unreal Tournament was the first that came to mind while I played. PC games like that still exist?

Every PC game ever made still exists. But to answer your question, yes, old school games are still being made. The Serious Sam franchise is another torchbearer of old school arena shooter mechanics. If the Doom reboot is as well, I'll be sure to pick it up.

[BloodBoal 7,538]

[Marian Schedenig 8,191]

Unfortunately, the lack of Greg Edmonson as composer is immediately noticeable. Instead of having his triumphant main theme blasting over the menu screen, we have Henry Jackman's low key percussion drones.

They didn't even keep the theme?

[Wojo 2,453]

You guys want to wait 5 years for the full FF VII to appear, or rather have one episode every year?

Square Enix, not the fastest developers in the world...

Still faster than Valve. Remember when we were supposed to get Half-Life "episodes" every year or so? 3 nowhere in sight.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Unfortunately, the lack of Greg Edmonson as composer is immediately noticeable. Instead of having his triumphant main theme blasting over the menu screen, we have Henry Jackman's low key percussion drones.

They didn't even keep the theme?

It is no where to be found in the beta, at the very least.

[Quintus 5,399]

I'm still playing Mad Max, I've put 40 hours into it up to now, which is a lot for me. It's a huge and visually breathtaking world to disappear into for hours at a time. There's plenty to do and lots of busy work to be had, but I think I like it because above all it feels like a brutally desolate and dangerous place to explore whilst being strangely calming and even tranquil to play. It's a 'no pressure to do anything in particular' sort of game, if you want it to be. Only the sudden roar of gas guzzling armoured saloons can intrude on the peaceful sightseeing, which is normally followed by my sitting up and readying myself for another reenactment of Spielberg's Duel; only Dennis Weaver behind the wheel here is as dangerous as he is desperate. The car combat is utterly brilliant.

Mad Max the game is possibly the most stunning open-world expanse I've ever known in games, engrossing and fun to traverse it (so many others in this popular genre don't get that basic requirement down), and I can't see how this isn't going to end up being one of my GOTYs.

Capture Mode spam incoming...

[BloodBoal 7,538]