All Things Videogame Related: EXTREME VS!!

[mikeszekely]

22 minutes ago, Gerli said:

It was good? I'm not into arcade games really, but I didn't hear much about that game (Besides the puddle-gate and everything) 

I loved it.  It's my personal game of the year, even.  I'm the type of person who usually buys games and skips the season pass because when I finish the game I'm done with it.  When I finished Spider-Man, though, I bought the season pass right away because I just wanted more.  I might even do a new game plus run.

[Valkyrie Hunter D]

Sweet, 2B is now playable on Soul Calibur 6!

[azrael]

Still one of the best comic-to-live action suit translations. Also now available.

 

[mikeszekely]

2 hours ago, azrael said:

Still one of the best comic-to-live action suit translations. Also now available.

Meh.  I just don't see it as that different than the non-ripped version of the starting suit.  The texture is a bit different (plus), the spiders are different (wash), and the webs on the suit are glossy (minus), that's about it.  I'm happy for the people who were practically beating down Insomniac's door over it, but I'd have preferred something else, like the Superior Spider-Man suit, that still isn't in the game.

[kajnrig]

Finished up the City That Never Sleeps DLC in Spider-Man. Feeling kind of ambivalent. On the one hand, extra content and another excuse to swing around New York is always appreciated. On the other hand, the tweaking they've done to the combat system exposes a lot of its deficiencies. Maybe it's something as simple as a bad difficulty selector, though. I played through the entire game and DLC on whatever the Hard mode is called, and right off the bat, enemies were doing WAAAY more damage. I dislike difficulty levels that only modify damage dealt and damage received. I'd have much preferred varying enemy types and tactics instead, but I understand that would have added a lot more to the workload.

But anyway, the Hard difficulty in the DLC translates to the game being a lesson in frustration. Rocket launcher enemies are way more abundant, and the difficulty level means rockets are faster and the window to dodge is incredibly short, and each rocket does tons of damage. Flying enemies were bad enough in the original game, as were the red electro-laser attacks that disable your gadgets, so the introduction of flying enemies that used a bevy of red electro-laser attacks AND carried shields that negated the majority of your gadgets was... frustrating. The gatling gun enemies introduced in the first DLC were annoying, and only got more annoying by the third when they upgraded to particle lasers that could kill you in two hits.

The combat system is generally very responsive and functions extraordinarily well, but the amount of enemies the DLC throws at you can quickly overwhelm it. Many a time did I critical dodge an aforementioned particle laser enemy only to have dodged straight into the path of their particle laser, killing me in the process; or into a wall, leaving me wide open for a second enemy to cold-cock me, killing me; or into the path of a rocket which is what I was actually trying to dodge, killing me... etc. etc. etc. The boss of the last two DLCs is the absolute pits, not least of all because it swarms the arena with ADs whose main purpose seems to be to get in the way of the fight itself.

On the other hand, each individual story is pretty fun. One side mission in the last DLC in particular is very well-presented and well-realized. I had a lot of fun with that one. Playing through the campaigns, though, I was a bit sour on them, I think mostly because I'd end each battle in a foul mood, not well-prepared to sit through cutscenes and dialogue. Same thing happened in the main game. The ending of the DLC stories came up unexpectedly quick, and

the comeback of the Black Cat

could have been handled much more... coolly than it was. But all in all, I quite liked the stories told in all three DLCs.

The extra costumes were hit and miss. I really liked the Spider Armor costume, but I'm disappointed they didn't add the Ben Reilly Spider-Man suit instead of rehashing another variant on the bog standard Spider-Man suit.

Anyway, on a related note, I'm going back through the main story mode of this game, and that plus my recent viewing of Aquaman has me going back fondly to this clip of the old Spider-Man:

The barometer of a good Spider-Man, or hell, a good superhero story, should include whether they can Aunt May like this Aunt May Aunt Mays. This Spider-Man's Aunt May can and does certainly Aunt May by the end of the game. Aquaman, on the other hand, obviously doesn't have an Aunt May, but it does pay lip service to addressing the thematic question, "What is a hero?", except it does so soooooo poorly that I wish it didn't bother at all. I just can't imagine dialogue like this, a soliloquy like this, coming from any of the current crop of DC films, and that's kind of disappointing.

[Black Valkyrie]

 

http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2019/01/future_business_shift_could_see_nintendo_move_away_from_home_console_development

 

[Tking22]

Resident Evil 2 Remake demo is out today, one shot and timed, which is odd. You get 30 minutes, and can only play it once. Capcom REALLY wants people to pre-order, which I did already, RE2 is still my favorite Resident Evil to this day, and the Remake looks absolutely phenomenal, absolutely what I wanted and expected from it, so they already got my money long ago. Started my download this morning before leaving for work, will fire it up and check it out when I get home later.

[Focslain]

14 minutes ago, Tking22 said:

Resident Evil 2 Remake demo is out today, one shot and timed, which is odd. You get 30 minutes, and can only play it once. Capcom REALLY wants people to pre-order, which I did already, RE2 is still my favorite Resident Evil to this day, and the Remake looks absolutely phenomenal, absolutely what I wanted and expected from it, so they already got my money long ago. Started my download this morning before leaving for work, will fire it up and check it out when I get home later.

You sure, reports I was seeing was that if you completed the mission you could replay it as long as your 30 minutes wasn't up. It's just that the demo is one mission.

[kajnrig]

When is it coming out? Not at the same time as Kingdom Hearts, right? Right???

[Tking22]

56 minutes ago, Focslain said:

You sure, reports I was seeing was that if you completed the mission you could replay it as long as your 30 minutes wasn't up. It's just that the demo is one mission.

Yeah I guess you're right, for further clarification, if you beat the demo and get to the cut scene you can play it again, if you time out your demo you will be locked out. 

 

26 minutes ago, kajnrig said:

When is it coming out? Not at the same time as Kingdom Hearts, right? Right???

January 25th. For me, RE2 will take precedent over Kingdom Hearts 3, which I will get to eventually, I'm 90 hours in to AC Odyssey and I still have a ton to do, but will gladly put that down for RE2.

[TangledThorns]

Played the RE2 demo, great but hard to aim with a controller.

[kajnrig]

Experienced my first "midnight" release, for KH3. All in all, it was really pleasant, and the strangers there were great company. Maybe that's unsurprising, but it's new to me, so yeah.

Anyway, currently saving the game to console. I'm sure it'll be great, warts and all. Next paycheck: RE2make. Currently the three biggest releases on my radar, and they were released within 10 days of each other. Oof.

[mikeszekely]

1 hour ago, kajnrig said:

Experienced my first "midnight" release, for KH3. All in all, it was really pleasant, and the strangers there were great company. Maybe that's unsurprising, but it's new to me, so yeah.

Anyway, currently saving the game to console. I'm sure it'll be great, warts and all. Next paycheck: RE2make. Currently the three biggest releases on my radar, and they were released within 10 days of each other. Oof.

What was the third?  Ace Combat 7?

Well, the RE2 remake is definitely on my short list.  I played the demo on PS4 and was surprised by how well the developers managed to make things familiar enough to give me nostalgia (RE2 was actually my first RE game), yet new enough that it really felt fresh.  Tried the demo again on PC, and yeah, mouse and keyboard looks like the way to go.  Which is pretty much the only reason I didn't buy it yet; my PC is getting old and at this stage in life playing on console is a little more convenient.

As for Kingdom Hearts III, I'd managed to ignore the series so far, but now that I have a kid I thought it might be fun to play with her.  I decided I'd better get caught up on the series first, though, and I noticed that Squeenix released a "The Story So Far" compilation on PS4.  At least, they released physical copies, with a retail price of $39.99.  And that's where things get weird.  Even though it just came out, it seems like it's sold out at most places.  Places like Amazon, Walmart, and ebay all have sellers listing it for $95+, so I thought I'd grab a digital copy.  But the digital options are 1.5 + 2.5 Remix for $50, and 2.8 Final Chapter sold separately for $60.  No wonder the physical copies are going for so much!

Luckily I managed to find a single Gamestop within 15 miles that had one last physical copy, so , yeah.  I'll play it.  If I like it then I'll worry about KH3.

[kajnrig]

37 minutes ago, mikeszekely said:

What was the third?  Ace Combat 7?

Yep.

37 minutes ago, mikeszekely said:

Well, the RE2 remake is definitely on my short list.  I played the demo on PS4 and was surprised by how well the developers managed to make things familiar enough to give me nostalgia (RE2 was actually my first RE game), yet new enough that it really felt fresh.  Tried the demo again on PC, and yeah, mouse and keyboard looks like the way to go.  Which is pretty much the only reason I didn't buy it yet; my PC is getting old and at this stage in life playing on console is a little more convenient.

I've never ever played RE2, or much of the original RE, or RE3, Code Veronica, etc. My first RE was 5, then 6, then finally RE4 something like in 2013 or so. As much as I loved me some tank control survival horror in Onimusha and Fatal Frame, I could never muster up any interest in the franchise that started it all. (And my path through said franchise didn't exactly help matters...)

I wonder if the PS4 version supports mouse and keyboard. I know some games do, it would be interesting to see if RE2 does as well.

37 minutes ago, mikeszekely said:

As for Kingdom Hearts III, I'd managed to ignore the series so far, but now that I have a kid I thought it might be fun to play with her.  I decided I'd better get caught up on the series first, though, and I noticed that Squeenix released a "The Story So Far" compilation on PS4.  At least, they released physical copies, with a retail price of $39.99.  And that's where things get weird.  Even though it just came out, it seems like it's sold out at most places.  Places like Amazon, Walmart, and ebay all have sellers listing it for $95+, so I thought I'd grab a digital copy.  But the digital options are 1.5 + 2.5 Remix for $50, and 2.8 Final Chapter sold separately for $60.  No wonder the physical copies are going for so much!

Luckily I managed to find a single Gamestop within 15 miles that had one last physical copy, so , yeah.  I'll play it.  If I like it then I'll worry about KH3.

In case you haven't yet bought the HD Remix, KH3 has an option on the main menu that lets you recap all the games in the franchise in the form of five or six movies to catch you up on the lore, so you don't need to play through all the previous ones.

Anyway, my thoughts on KH3 so far, 30 minutes in:

- Feels like a bona fide sequel to KH2 gameplay-wise. Magic bar is back, equippable abilities are back, none of that horse crap cards and sleights and dream eater tamagotchi systems, no command decks. Combat animations are still a little startup-heavy as they've been since BBS, but the combat flows way more like KH2 than the spinoff games in general and BBS in particular.

- Really digging the bigger levels and greater FOV camera with which to appreciate them.

- Writing for the Serious Kingdom Hearts Light Versus Darkness Business is as obnoxiously pretentious as ever. Writing for all the dumb goofy shenanigans has gotten a serious upgrade in quality, carrying over from Dream Drop Distance. Keep that translator on hand, they're worth the money.

- I know the new theme song is divisive, but shut up it's bangin'.

All in all, off to a good start.

[anime52k8]

Anybody play the anthem demo this weekend? it was... interesting and I'm not sure if I want it or not.

[Gerli]

20 hours ago, anime52k8 said:

Anybody play the anthem demo this weekend? it was... interesting and I'm not sure if I want it or not.

Just the first mission and it was fun, but I think it's gonna be very similar to Destiny.

The best part were the graphics... the game looks gorgeous even on my humble 970, only the long loading times where an issue, but overall I didn't experience bugs, but again I only played the first mission. 

[renegadeleader1]

12 minutes ago, Gerli said:

Just the first mission and it was fun, but I think it's gonna be very similar to Destiny.

The best part were the graphics... the game looks gorgeous even on my humble 970, only the long loading times where an issue, but overall I didn't experience bugs, but again I only played the first mission. 

It being so close to Destiny is why it's going to bomb. Destiny players aren't going to drop that game with all the time, effort, and money spent on it to pick up a new game just like what they are playing. Bioware fans aren't going to pick it up either as this micro transaction laden MMORPG with bullet sponge enemies is exactly what they DON'T want. 

 

Bioware fans want games like Kotor, Mass Effect, that's why they're going to buy games like Witcher and the upcoming Cyberpunk 2077 not this. We're going to have another Fallout 76 on our hands.

[mikeszekely]

1 minute ago, renegadeleader1 said:

It being so close to Destiny is why it's going to bomb. Destiny players aren't going to drop that game with all the time, effort, and money spent on it to pick up a new game just like what they are playing. Bioware fans aren't going to pick it up either as this micro transaction laden MMORPG with bullet sponge enemies is exactly what they DON'T want. 

 

Bioware fans want games like Kotor, Mass Effect, that's why they're going to buy games like Witcher and the upcoming Cyberpunk 2077 not this. We're going to have another Fallout 76 on our hands.

This.  Bioware was one of my favorite developers, but EA has left them a broken shell of what they used to be.

[anime52k8]

The thing is, I love Destiny. I have 5,500+ hours played between D1 and D2 and I don't really want to start a second weekly game. That said, Anthem's gameplay is actually really different which is why I'm still considering it. It reminds me more of an early 2000's Japanese 3D mech shooter.

[kajnrig]

I've plugged some 50 hours on and off into KH3, and I'm so ambivalent about this game, like literally many positive opinions many negative opinions ambivalent. The things it does well it does arguably the best the series ever has, but the things it does poorly it does (in)arguably the poorest the series ever has. For every moment of exhilaration I felt, there was at least one moment where I had to distract myself with my phone just to get through it.

The story is fine through the first 2/3 of the game, but then just completely shits the bed in the home stretch. The game kind of has an impossible task, settling all the stuuuupid crap that's piled on and piled on over the course of the franchise, but even so, it comports itself admirably until it doesn't. I can't find it in me to allow Square Enix that excuse, because they - and Tetsuya Nomura in particular - have been at this for over 15 years; they put themselves in this hole because they never ever EVER learned to stop digging themselves deeper. Nomura especially, I place all the blame on him for the mistakes this game makes. This franchise has been his child from the very beginning, and yet he just could not help piling on more and more convolution with every entry.

The gameplay is second only to KH2, let down only by the fact that it continues the trend of the franchise from BBS onward to have a focus on aerial combat yet put tons of recovery time on every single action you take in the air. But then it adds/brings back a bunch of extraneous gameplay gimmicks like Links (basically summons, I think? I've never touched 'em) and Shotlocks (carryover from BBS) and Attraction Commands (special moves based on Disney theme park rides). So much stuff cluttering the UI and the screen in general. There's a bunch of minigames, too, and they're as bad as they've ever been. At this point, I think it's intentional, because the devs really should know better considering how many entries they've worked on.

The Disney worlds range from abysmally dull (Frozen) to addictive (Toy Story, Monsters Inc.). Some worlds are just a rehash of their movie plot, and can only suffer unfavorable comparisons for it. (The Frozen world gets in the entire "Let It Go" sequence, except this time it's completely without context.) Others manage to do something interesting, be it having entirely original stories (the Pixar worlds) or adding just a little twist to said rehash to make it more uniquely Kingdom Hearts. (Herc, Hades, and Sora being all "hey what's up what are you up to today" to each other, for instance; or Sora and Rapunzel flirting mad hard with each other.) But there are exactly zero Final Fantasy characters at all. This in a franchise with an entire world created for them and where a bunch of the previous story happened. That's extraordinarily disappointing, to say the least.

[Gerli]

Playing Euro Truck Simulator 2. The new maps for France and Italy are beautiful; it's very relaxing drive across europe hauling cargo and watching the landscape while evading Italian suicide drivers... 

[mikeszekely]

I'm just now getting around to playing Super Mario Odyssey. I was abroad when it came out, so I kind of forgot about it. Nice thing is my daughter is old enough that she's kind of interested in it, too.

[kajnrig]

I spent the last few days finishing up the end-game content, then beat the final boss and watched the ending, then finished the post-game content in short order.

Boy this game is a disappointment, pretty much all around. For something with this amount of money and development time thrown at it, it makes some seriously basic mistakes on top of the already notoriously bad story.

Ugh. I am beating myself up for ever getting roped back into this franchise.

[kajnrig]

Time to get DMC5 and RE2make?

 

[azrael]

The Division 2's day one patch is 90GB for physical edition owners on PS4

Things like this is why I don’t...can’t game anymore. Even if it is a 48-52GB patch depending on language/region, it’s practically re-downloading the game. And that’s on top of this day-one patch nonsense. 

[TangledThorns]

 

The Division 2's day one patch is 90GB for physical edition owners on PS4

Things like this is why I don’t...can’t game anymore. Even if it is a 48-52GB patch depending on language/region, it’s practically re-downloading the game. And that’s on top of this day-one patch nonsense. 

This is why I went with a 1Tb NVME SSD for my PC upgrade last year. Game installs were already hitting 100Gb so expect them to get even moar yuge!

[azrael]

 

This is why I went with a 1Tb NVME SSD for my PC upgrade last year. Game installs were already hitting 100Gb so expect them to get even moar yuge!

At least storage I can go out and buy something bigger, today if I wanted to (And don't get me started on that topic of game sizes). Downloading 50+ GB patch would require me to consume my bandwidth for days upon days. I have no desire to go with Comcast and fiber is still a dream for me at the pace for current deployment. And that's even assuming ideal download speeds.

[kajnrig]

 

At least storage I can go out and buy something bigger, today if I wanted to (And don't get me started on that topic of game sizes). Downloading 50+ GB patch would require me to consume my bandwidth for days upon days. I have no desire to go with Comcast and fiber is still a dream for me at the pace for current deployment. And that's even assuming ideal download speeds.

This. I have a decent internet connection and even then I can't stand the ridiculous 10-, 20-, 50-GB patches that these (mainly Western, I've noticed) devs routinely put out to fix their broken, premature games. It's a terrible symptom of the current AAA industry business model. It's a long enough wait to just get the game off the disc onto the console, I'm not going to put up with downloading basically the entire game again.

[mikeszekely]

Devil May Cry 5 is only 30-ish GB installed.  No YOOGE! patches.

[azrael]

 

Devil May Cry 5 is only 30-ish GB installed.  No YOOGE! patches.

YET.

[mikeszekely]

 

YET.

Fair enough. 

[JB0]

This thread has been upgraded. To continue interacting with it, you will need to download a patch.

Size: 3.2 terabytes

Estimated download time: 7 weeks

 

Download now?

[Yes] [No]

[Gerli]

Playing Dawn of Man... Very nice game but the micro-management is extenuating... those cavemen are dumb as hell and you must tell them what to prioritize at every moment of the game. Fun game thou.

 

[Tking22]

 

Playing Dawn of Man... Very nice game but the micro-management is extenuating... those cavemen are dumb as hell and you must tell them what to prioritize at every moment of the game. Fun game thou.

 

Yeah I've been interested in this one, but I've read the micro-management can get a bit irritating. It seems a blessing for some, and a curse for others. I like me some micro-management, but it can definitely go too far.

[Chronocidal]

 

This thread has been upgraded. To continue interacting with it, you will need to download a patch.

Size: 3.2 terabytes

Estimated download time: 7 weeks

 

Download now?

[Yes] [No]

This sort of thing is also why I have serious doubts about any sort of "stream-based" gaming system ever having a chance in this country.  Granted, streaming a game means you don't have to patch it, but if the speed isn't there to download it to begin with, does anyone honestly think input latency will be anything approaching playable levels?

For a significant portion of the country, trying to download any title from the past 5 years is like asking Boeing to deliver a 747 via UPS truck.