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What is the last video game you played?


Quintus

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14 hours ago, Koray Savas said:

What have you been playing recently? I still see you on Destiny from time to time. And also, did you get another Xbox after selling your first? Could have sworn I saw your name pop up at one point. 

 

I still play a ton of Destiny with my clan who are dedicated to its raids. I also solo its ranked Competitive PvP playlist though, as I'm in the looooong process of grinding my way towards its main prize - a ridiculously cool and OP weapon, and the bragging rights it permits.

 

The game has, as per usual, come on quite a long way since its controversial endgame-less state upon launch (it was basically a total disaster for the many hardcore fans), and the big 'Taken King' style expansion and overhaul is only weeks away now, so Destiny 2 is about to return to a really good condition again soon and I'll be there. It's been the most exasperating post release gaming experience I've ever known though. Not too long ago developer Bungie literally admitted they "fucked up".

 

Other than that, I've made a start on Prey. It's good. But dammit if Destiny isn't still a major distraction.

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10 minutes ago, Quintus said:

Not too long ago developer Bungie literally admitted they "fucked up".

 

 

I’m not sure how I feel about this trend honestly.  Especially in light of the recent news where that Guild Wars developer was fired over a Twitter spat.

 

Obviously its good for Bungie/Activision to learn from mistakes and make player experience better.  But I’m uncomfortable with this unspoken idea that individual developers must prostrate themselves before “the community.”  What can start as potentially educational, a programmer/designer making themselves available to consumers, becomes very disturbing when online mobs can exact revenge on them if they step out of line.  No programmer’s life should be ruined because of a faceless mob.

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I largely agree and gamers are by far the most toxic and hateful subculture I've ever known. The sense of individual player entitled is out of control these days, and community managers of any big franchise know only too well how powerful and loud the wrath of an angry dissatisfied gamer can be on their forums (and Twitter). But in this instance, an extremely rare one, it was a humble admission by Bungie, one that was really appreciated by the Destiny community. Because they really did fuck up. Big time. But they're in the process of fixing everything, and the game is amazing as far as I'm concerned.

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I'm reminded of that woman who worked at Nintendo Treehouse a few years back who was very open about her 'off the beaten path' sexuality on Twitter.  So of course the toxic assholes picked her to mob and demand Nintendo fire her when some "controversy" rose up (I think it was a Fire Emblem translation thing) that she had nothing to do with.  And then she was fired. It's sickening.

 

All I know is, if I was an employee at a company that makes popular video games, I would not be on social media.  I mean, I'm not anyway, but you know what I mean.

 

But also, it sucks that that's the choice they have to make.

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Shameful.  Giving into a mob like that.  And by design, they seem bigger than they actually are.  So it's not like it would have made a difference in sales.  No justification IMO.

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3 hours ago, Quintus said:

 

I still play a ton of Destiny with my clan who are dedicated to its raids. I also solo its ranked Competitive PvP playlist though, as I'm in the looooong process of grinding my way towards its main prize - a ridiculously cool and OP weapon, and the bragging rights it permits.

 

The game has, as per usual, come on quite a long way since its controversial endgame-less state upon launch (it was basically a total disaster for the many hardcore fans), and the big 'Taken King' style expansion and overhaul is only weeks away now, so Destiny 2 is about to return to a really good condition again soon and I'll be there. It's been the most exasperating post release gaming experience I've ever known though. Not too long ago developer Bungie literally admitted they "fucked up".

 

Other than that, I've made a start on Prey. It's good. But dammit if Destiny isn't still a major distraction.

I don’t think I’ve played Destiny since I beat the Raid way back in the launch window. My usual clan fell off of it so I haven’t touched it since. Maybe if I see them pop back online for the expansion I’ll jump in.

 

COD: WWII is still a mainstay for me. I’ve decided that it’s my favorite COD, and something about the multiplayer features in this have kept me around for a long time after launch, which hasn’t happened since the PS3 days. 

 

Are you looking forward to Anthem or The Division 2?

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I am keeping a cautious eye on both, yes. Always online massive shared world action games are definitely my favourite genre these days. One can literally play them indefinitely, which I love.

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1 hour ago, Jay said:

It was Fire Emblem Fates and Xenoblade X, here's an article about it

 

https://www.polygon.com/2016/3/30/11335360/nintendo-fires-treehouse-employee-who-was-target-of-harassment

 

1 hour ago, Disco Stu said:

Shameful.  Giving into a mob like that.  And by design, they seem bigger than they actually are.  So it's not like it would have made a difference in sales.  No justification IMO.

 

To be fair, the officially cited reason for her firing is something Nintendo does NOT take lightly. One of my teammates had been working there in the Game Boy Advance days, working on stuff like Pokemon Crystal, picked up a second job that violated Nintendo's policy (in his case at least, it was another game company), and was blacklisted from then until last year! 

 

And the translation for Fire Emblem Fates sucked big-time, not that she was responsible. 

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I've just been playing No Man's Sky again for a couple of hours after installing the new NEXT update...and wow, it's bloody brilliant! Planet generation has been obviously revamped and the terrain looks a lot more realistic. Overall, the UI and game system feels more polished. I know some people have been reporting bugs (I'm playing on PC) but I haven't experienced any problems personally. Can't recommend it enough!

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I'm going to buy it again, the new update looks brilliant. I've put a couple of hundred hours into No Man's Sky over the last couple of years, ever since the first big update they deployed more than a year ago (I skipped the initial launch phase of the game). It's always been so brimming with unrealised potential and now it appears to be finally getting there, making those big ambitions a reality.

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4 minutes ago, Quintus said:

I'm going to buy it again, the new update looks brilliant. I've put a couple of hundred hours into No Man's Sky over the last couple of years, ever since the first big update they deployed more than a year ago (I skipped the initial launch phase of the game). It's always been so brimming with unrealised potential and now it appears to be finally getting there, making those big ambitions a reality.

 

That's promising news! My roommate at the time got the game on opening day, and after the first few hours, we realized that we experienced the game's apex already.

 

Sadly, these guys have long been convicted in the Court of The Gamers, so they could make the most fantastic, immersive interstellar experience possible, and they still would not be forgiven. It's like how (at least in the US) you're required to state your status as a registered sex offender, anywhere you move.

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23 minutes ago, Nick Parker said:

 

That's promising news! My roommate at the time got the game on opening day, and after the first few hours, we realized that we experienced the game's apex already.

 

Sadly, these guys have long been convicted in the Court of The Gamers, so they could make the most fantastic, immersive interstellar experience possible, and they still would not be forgiven. It's like how (at least in the US) you're required to state your status as a registered sex offender, anywhere you move.

 

Well, from my own reading over the past few days, I've noticed that the extreme cynicism surrounding the controversial release period seems to have all but fizzled out now. It's encouraging to me that folk do still seem willing to give big high profile titles time to turn it around. It's just become the process these days. Sure there's still the "forever scorned just because" hater contingent, but practically all new media has that. Fuck 'em.

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I played No Man’s Sky for a good amount of time at launch and thought it was terrible. The previous updates weren’t enough, in my opinion, but the new update has me intrigued enough to want to check it out again.

 

@Quintus Has the core gameplay changed at all from resource management?

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5 hours ago, Koray Savas said:

I played No Man’s Sky for a good amount of time at launch and thought it was terrible. The previous updates weren’t enough, in my opinion, but the new update has me intrigued enough to want to check it out again.

 

@Quintus Has the core gameplay changed at all from resource management?

 

No, the mechanical gameplay loop and reasons to play are unchanged. If you're not into farming resources, building and exploration for the sake of chill, then don't bother. It's the same game as it always was, the game's director has been keen to stress [and reassure fans about] that, but now everything is much more polished, pretty and system streamlined. Just a raft of QOL improvements alone can dramatically increase player enjoyment, I've found.  Finally, they added properly fleshed out multiplayer to the mix, which was the originally touted feature players wanted most from an infinite universe simulation. Until now, No Man's Sky has been a decidedly lonely experience.

 

You don't strike me as being a player of these sorts of games, Koray.

 

Younder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles is another game in a similar vein which I will eventually get. I bought Portal Knights for the kids too the other day, but watching them play it, I'm thinking of creating my own profile. I hadn't realised until fairly recently how absorbing I find farming and resource management games to be. They're sublimely chilled out games to switch off to, I find them very relaxing and therapeutic.

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cloud catcher was like a small RPG with no monters to fight. It was fun for a few days. The game is about 20 hours if you do everything

 

I bought Portal Knights.it was 10 $ on PSN and few weeks back

 

I just finished the main story of Ni No Kuni 2. There's also a kingdom building thing that takes a lot of time and it's not really optional because it's how you get perks and materials . I'm at 110 hours and still have some post game stuff to do. I played it on hard and while the regular mobs were still easy,  you can die a lot on special elite monsters (some I haven't beat yet) and bosses and have to use all of what's at your disposal. There's also long dungeons where you can't save and there's a boss at the end so you have to manage your resources carefully,. I'll have to dial down the difficulty to Normal for the post game  dungeon because regular monsters can one shot you

 

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The artwork in Portal Knights is gorgeous, it's such a pleasure to explore and chip away at. Unlike Minecraft though, players are supposed to level up their characters and make them stronger with more abilities, like in traditional RPGs. That's what I'll be doing. But my children just like to build houses and mess about in split screen mode, which is fun too.

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5 hours ago, Quintus said:

No, the mechanical gameplay loop and reasons to play are unchanged. If you're not into farming resources, building and exploration for the sake of chill, then don't bother. It's the same game as it always was, the game's director has been keen to stress [and reassure fans about] that, but now everything is much more polished, pretty and system streamlined. Just a raft of QOL improvements alone can dramatically increase player enjoyment, I've found.  Finally, they added properly fleshed out multiplayer to the mix, which was the originally touted feature players wanted most from an infinite universe simulation. Until now, No Man's Sky has been a decidedly lonely experience.

 

You don't strike me as being a player of these sorts of games, Koray.

Quite the contrary, actually. Games like Fallout and Elder Scrolls are essentially resource management games hidden behind an RPG. Much of the 200+ hours I put into Skyrim involved crafting weapons, armor, and collecting the necessary items to build mansions. More recently I’ve put about 60 hours into Fallout Shelter on the PS4. Tickles my OCD fancy quite well, that type of gameplay. 

 

My issue with No Man’s Sky at launch wasn’t the core gameplay but that the loop wasn’t satisfying enough. I recall you having very little inventory space to collect materials. Also the fact that if you encountered any space pirates you were essentially fucked. I could never survive an attack if there were more than a couple ships. 

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In the beginning the micromanagement of inventory is purposefully designed that way and that is the loop which you either buy into or you don't. It only requires a bit of patience and investment before looted gear frees up a lot of that and stuff and you come to have plenty of free slots in your backpack. Near unlimited inventories in other games devolve into trawler and sorting simulators, they become an exercise in scrolling. For that reason I absolutely despise Bethesda inventory management.

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After playing all the Bethesda RPGs from Morrowind to Fallout New Vegas, I rather like the inventory system in Breath of the Wild, in which you can carry an infinite amount of raw materials, but a finite number of finished goods and weapons. 

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5 hours ago, Quintus said:

The artwork in Portal Knights is gorgeous, it's such a pleasure to explore and chip away at. Unlike Minecraft though, players are supposed to level up their characters and make them stronger with more abilities, like in traditional RPGs. That's what I'll be doing. But my children just like to build houses and mess about in split screen mode, which is fun too.

 it looks very similar to Dragon Quest Builders, which I played last year

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Ni no Kuni 2

 

I just have to beat the secret boss at the end of the 30 floor dungeon where you can't save your game

 

that's the part I love the most about JRPG's.

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I finished Detroit: Become Human the other day. It’s the epitome of Quantic Dream’s style. While quite obvious in its themes and message, Cage delivers an engaging story throughout, that’s slightly marred by his shortcomings as a storyteller. Every game has to have some grand twist and cliffhanger at the end, and here it just unravels the satisfaction of the final moments preceding it. He doesn’t make sequels, so why ruin a solid ending with some bullshit? Anyway, the score is great, graphics are the most impressive I’ve seen for character models, and the voice acting is leaps and bounds better than his previous games. Check it out on sale if you’re into narrative choice-based games. 

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There's one annoying that I've noticed in recent RPG's

 

When your walking in the dungeon maps all of your party characters are drawn instead of just the main character that splits into a party when the battles start.

 

But they're always running BEHIND you, so you never see them on screen 99% of the time unless you make the camera look backwards .It's 2 or 3 games I've noticed that

 

 

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11 hours ago, Mitth'raw'nuorodo said:

Guys, more footage from the KOTOR remake in Unreal Engine 4 has been released! It's, may I say, unreal how good it looks!
 

 

 

I never knew this was even in the works.

 

I wonder how a party based RPG will translate into a FPS game. Computer control of the other three characters? Cooperative online? The game requires all the conversation between the amnesiac player character and his party as the game continues. 

 

I totally forgot about the Crystal Cave, as I have not played this for over a decade. But I have fond memories of Taris undercity. 

 

The swoop racing looks better than Episode I Racer. 

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6 minutes ago, Nick Parker said:

 

I didn't see anything about it being a shooter. 

 

You know what I meant. The Arkham games used an Unreal engine and they were third person, with the camera behind Batman's shoulder. You saw through his eyes only in certain dream or trip sequences. 

 

But this demo video uses a disembodied camera to float through the locations instead of showing the back of the player character. It concluded this meant the game would be First Person. The S is just part of the acronym. 

 

But realize, when RPGs with turn based combat like Fallout and Fallout 2 were modernized with 3D engines, they became shooters. Fallout 3, New Vegas, and 4 are shooters at heart, similar to System Shock and Deus Ex.

 

Granted, Bethesda is a major studio with the need to appeal to the masses and dumb it down for major audiences. This Apeiron team can maintain purity to the source of material as a labor of love. Picking off Czerka officials from across the courtyard is not true to the source material. 

12 hours ago, Not Mr. Big said:

Doesn't look like KOTOR

 

The way the characters' heads weave and bob through dialogue is very KOTOR. 

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12 minutes ago, Wojism said:

You know what I meant

 

I didn't, actually, my confusion was earnest, especially since you asked how party dynamics would work in a FPS framework. I don't automatically equate first-person camera with FPS. 

12 minutes ago, Wojism said:

But this demo video uses a disembodied camera to float through the locations instead of showing the back of the player character. It concluded this meant the game would be First Person. The S is just part of the acronym

 

They were just using a free camera to give viewers a better layout of the environments, it's very common. Also, there was a cheat in the original to allow essentially the same thing (which is as a kiddo I learnt just how many shortcuts these dudes took! ). 

 

After your FPS comment I went to the project's website--'cause I thought a FPS reimagining of the game would be super-cool--but the game seems like it will still use turn-based combat, although you can switch from third-person to first-person camera (which you can kind of do in the original, but if I remember, you have to be stationary).

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I beat Steamworld Dig last night!

I had been stuck at end game for a bit; I was at the final door, but had 2 gates left to open, and didn't know where the things I needed to destroy to open them were.  I thought they were some area I hadn't found yet even though I had reach as far down as you can dig.  Finally I decided to start over at the top of the mine and sure enough there was a nice big red arrow leading me into an old cave I had done long ago, and inside I realized thanks to my new powerups (specifically the spark jump) I could reach a new area that it wasn't possible to before.  Then I kept going down the mine until I found the other room with the same thing going on.  Phew!

 

I wasn't surprised by who the end boss was of course, but it was a pretty good fight!  The combat is still the game's weakest part, but they actually made the boss battle pretty interesting regardless.  Probably beat him in 4 tries.


Can't WAIT to play the sequel, though Ill probably play Oxenfree or Inside first.

 

I also have Octopath Traveler and Mario + Rabbids to think about... oi!

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Inside is a solid 3 hour experience. I would knock that out first before you dive into bigger games. Oxenfree is also fairly brief depending on how much time you spend roaming around and talking to your party. I really loved the story in that one. Great little sci-fi game. 

 

I went back back and cleaned up South Park: The Fractured But Whole so I could delete it off my PS4. Even at about 25 hours of gameplay it was starting to stretch thin. Hilarious game, but I had already had my fill at about 18 hours.

 

I redownloaded No Man’s Sky to try out the new update but completely forgot how anything worked in that and quickly turned it off. Might need to start a new save to get my bearings and relearn everything.

 

Otherwise I think I may finally play Wolfenstein II. 

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6 hours ago, Koray Savas said:

I redownloaded No Man’s Sky to try out the new update but completely forgot how anything worked in that and quickly turned it off. Might need to start a new save to get my bearings and relearn everything.

 

 

I had a 40 hour save file lying around but they've changed a lot about the materials and economy in the NEXT update so I've started a fresh Survival mode run. It's quite tight and tense in the initial first couple of hours, but once you get going it eases up. I'm fine now, and even have a freighter in orbit which can be summoned when and wherever you want. Plenty of storage on that thing,  although I'm yet to deck it out with proper quarters and stuff. But I have setup a mission room onboard and it allows you to send frigates out on automated missions of your choosing, Blackflag style. So there's more resources. This is at around ten hours of play, I've practically lived on the game in the last few evenings.

 

I'm totally absorbed by the rhythms of this game's mechanical gameplay systems. I'd heard Survival makes everything feel more meaningful, and it does.

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5 hours ago, kaseykockroach said:

Thus making it unlikely, but not impossible!

Well if it’s an exclusive, then it’s impossible 😛

 

Depends if Nintendo put any money into publishing the game. I’m not sure since it’s a Square Enix property, but I imagine we would have heard something about an exclusivity window by now. 

 

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Revisited Celeste for a while last night.  Most overrated game of the year.

 

I'm a platformer fiend, but I just have never been a fan of this particular flavor that came to prominence with Meat Boy.  The "SUPER difficult, play small sections over and over and over and over and over until you get them exactly perfect" type.  I guess can recognize this is probably the best game of that type yet made, it's just not for me.  It's like eating a type of food you just hate, even if prepared by a world class chef.  I do think the fawning reviews were a bit much, though.

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I've never played Super Meat Boy, or any of its ilk - Mario and Sonic are about all the 2D platformers I've played really.


I liked Celeste a lot, and beat it without much difficulty - and I suck !  It's not really that hard to just get to the end credits, it's 100%ing it that's wicked hard

 

 

You beat Steamworld Dig 1, right Stu?  What'd you think of its end game?

 

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7 minutes ago, Jay said:

You beat Steamworld Dig 1, right Stu?  What'd you think of its end game?

 

I have vague recollections of thinking it was cool.  A satisfying arc of introducing "robots in the Old West" at the beginning as a concept and building weirder and weirder layers on that until the end.  I don't really remember it in much detail.

 

7 minutes ago, Jay said:

I liked Celeste a lot, and beat it without much difficulty - and I suck !  It's not really that hard to just get to the end credits, it's 100%ing it that's wicked hard

 

I guess I have this weird thing with just skipping huge sections of a level and feeling satisfied with that.

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Oh right, I forgot the game had some kind of assist mode.  I never used it.


Some sections of some levels are absolutely super difficult no problem, but since you have unlimited attempts wit no penalties, I got through everything.  I found it extremely rewarding at the end to have accomplished everything myself.

 

 

So in what ways does Steamworld Dig 2 improve upon 1,  in your opinion?

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15 minutes ago, Jay said:

So in what ways does Steamworld Dig 2 improve upon 1,  in your opinion?

 

Absolutely the single biggest improvement is ditching the procedural generation.  Every single thing about the sequel is meticulously designed.  It makes exploration so much more satisfying.  I also think the upgrade loop is significantly improved.  Really nails my favorite thing about Metroidvanias, which is that by 3/4 of the way through you feel like an overpowered God mowing your way around the world willy nilly, finding secrets you missed the first time through sections.

 

Also the game is much bigger, but still a comfortable 10-15 hours.

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