All Things Videogame Related: EXTREME VS!!

[azrael]

Death Stranding feels like a grinding game from the videos I've seen. Lots of walking through the wilderness, spending time alone with your thoughts and killing tar ghosts. Fallout-esk.

Jedi Fallen Order looks like I might enjoy that one. Though of the walkthroughs I've watched, saber combat seems like it needs refinement (or the players posting these walkthroughs really suck). Feels like the saber combat from Dark Forces 2: Jedi Knight. Coming from Jedi Outcast/Jedi Academy, that feels like a step back. And this whole cannot-dismember-people-vs-creatures is garbage. Someone needs to make a mod to allow people dismemberment.

And from the gameplay I've watched, I actually want to play Modern Warfare.

[AN/ALQ128]

4 minutes ago, azrael said:

Death Stranding feels like a grinding game from the videos I've seen. Lots of walking through the wilderness, spending time alone with your thoughts and killing tar ghosts. Fallout-esk.

Jedi Fallen Order looks like I might enjoy that one. Though of the walkthroughs I've watched, saber combat seems like it needs refinement (or the players posting these walkthroughs really suck). Feels like the saber combat from Dark Forces 2: Jedi Knight. Coming from Jedi Outcast/Jedi Academy, that feels like a step back. And this whole cannot-dismember-people-vs-creatures is garbage. Someone needs to make a mod to allow people dismemberment.

And from the gameplay I've watched, I actually want to play Modern Warfare.

Death Stranding is basically what happens when you take a standard videogame fetch quest, give it steroids, and make it the central focus of the game. It sounds terrible, and it certainly isn't for everyone, but I really enjoy it. The gameplay loop is based around planning your route, what gear to take (each piece of equipment takes up a slot that could be used for cargo), whether you should bypass certain areas affected by "timefall" in order to keep your cargo pristine, or whether to take the shortest route possible in order to have a blazing fast delivery, no matter the increased danger. The online component is also quite cool, and honestly makes up a decent chunk of the game. You can use infrastructure such as power generators, bridges, and ladders placed by other players, and other players can use things you've placed yourself in order to traverse the landscape, and it makes the game feel like a genuinely collaborative effort.

Modern Warfare is alright, but the campaign was a let down (aside from the NVG missions, those were excellent). I had my multiplayer fun, but most of the maps are really terribly designed.

[Shadow]

I'm intrigued but some of the elements I've heard about in DS. From a design perspective, it looks fantastic and has almost a Shadow of the Colossus aesthetic. I've been a fan of Kojima since MGS on the PS1. ZOE2 was another big favorite of mine but around MGS4, his games started getting more out there and indulgent. Jingles' review of Death Stranding more or less affirmed my fears that Hideo Kojima had gone "full George Lucas" with no one there to tell him "no".

DS still interests me. I'm just having a harder time seeing it worth dropping $60 on.

[azrael]

One thing I'm not terribly fond of is how Jedi Fallen Order feels like Uncharted with a lightsaber.

[Tking22]

33 minutes ago, azrael said:

One thing I'm not terribly fond of is how Jedi Fallen Order feels like Uncharted with a lightsaber.

Oh man, I'm the opposite, I actually really like that aspect. The exploration, for the little bit I got to dive into, was fun. I love "modern" platforming, like the Tomb Raider reboots and yes, Uncharted. 

[mikeszekely]

On Death Stranding- I'm not going to critique a game I never played.  That said, nothing I've seen or heard of it has piqued in interest.

On Fallen Order- I'm definitely feeling the Uncharted vibes, maybe even a little Metroid Prime at times, and I like that the places I've visited so far (intro level, starting planet, second "have to" planet, one optional planet) are pretty different from each other, so they're fun to explore.  The acting is pretty good, and I actually really like the little droid you get on the first planet.  It's not all sunshine and roses, though.  For one, all that running around and exploring is marred by the fact that the controls aren't as smooth as Uncharted... they're a little clunky.  The sticks are too sensitive, with no way to adjust them in the settings.  And one thing that constantly irks me is when you jump onto something like vines or some other climbable surface you don't automatically stick to it, you have to hit L2 to grab it or you fall.  Combat is similarly kind of clunky.  It works best in one-on-one encounters, when you can take it slow and everything you do feels carefully times and deliberate.  But if there's just two or three enemies, especially tougher ones, coming at you at once the controls start to feel unresponsive; I'd take hits when I knew I was holding down the block button, I'd attack one foe only to have my attack interrupted by another (often offscreen), or I'd miss a parry because the guy I thought was coming in to attack would stop short and his buddy would hit me instead.  I've died a lot, which isn't always bad when you feel like you died because you made a mistake, but some of those deaths have just felt cheap.

To be fair, I hadn't watched or read a lot of previews for Fallen Order, but my initial thought was that it's an action game about a Force-user who's in-game model is based on the actor playing him, fighting baddies with a lightsaber and some Force powers... so Force Unleashed.  And after playing the game it's kind of the opposite of Force Unleashed.  It's not a hack-n-slash where you're going to tear through hoards of Stormtroopers like they're made of tissue paper in linear levels.  It's more open, more focused on exploration, you have very little power at the start of the game, and combat is a methodical affair where a pair of Stormtroopers taking potshots at you while you try to engage a pair of Scout Troopers with stun batons will mess you up if the timing of your parries are off.  And I don't think that's a bad thing at all, when the controls cooperate.  I think Fallen Order could have been truly great game if it were just a bit more fluid.  As it stands it's still a good, fun game with occasionally frustrating controls.

[Archer]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2W0N3uKXmo

Now with the announcement of Half-Life: Alyx, I'm officially in the market for a VR setup. I am seriously considering splurging on the Valve Index, but also wanted to get people's thoughts on if its worth it vs. the much cheaper Oculus Rift S. 

Ideally, I'd like to experience everything Alyx has to offer (especially since Half Life games always push boundaries), which means native support for Index stuff. At the same time though, I've heard support in other games for the Index can be hit or miss and I'd rather not waste $1000 only on a single game if Oculus works better on all other games. 

Does anyone have experience with this? I have a PC with a GTX 1080 Ti, so hopefully it will be able to drive both reasonably well. 

[TangledThorns]

I wasn't interested in VR till Half-Life: Alyx too, it's a real game changer. I read good things about Samsung's Odyssey though I want to try before I buy as VR is pricey.

[anime52k8]

That was a cool trailer, too bad I'll never get to play it because of VR. Also, insert obligatory Half life 3 Illuminati conspiracy joke here.

[JB0]

I've not used Index nor Rift S, but I'm glad to see more people getting into VR.

 

I've got an original Rift, and access to a Quest, and think VR is super-awesome and everyone needs it.

[Chronocidal]

I'm still waiting on true "augmented" reality, where the headsets use pass-through cameras to combine your surroundings with a VR world, so I can make myself a physical cockpit and just replace the exterior with the game world.

I might jump sooner than later though, and at least grab a base setup to start experimenting with.

[sh9000]

[mark-1s]

Got 20 large to blow?

 

 

[Valkyrie Hunter D]

Just a heads up to other cheap gamers like me: Amazon has Nioh, God of War, and Horizon Zero Dawn for $10 each right now. I got all those plus the RE2 remake for $25.  All for PS4.

[Chronocidal]

15 hours ago, mark-1s said:

Got 20 large to blow?

Ok, but can it handle a flight sim with VR?  Because I'd do that way before I bothered with multiple monitors.

[Tking22]

HYYYYYYYPE! Despite the leak from over a week ago, I'm still excited, RE2 Remake was amazing, and Nemesis is going to be terrifying me once again like he did all those years ago, I'm ready. 

 

[sh9000]

 

[kajnrig]

That is some Sharon Apple-lookin' ass console.

[anime52k8]

I like it.

[mikeszekely]

Considering that the best Xbox-exclusives started coming to PC I doubt I'll buy another Microsoft console.

[kajnrig]

To be clear, I don't think it's exactly bad-looking, but... like, how were your immediate impressions NOT "This is Sharon Apple, I can't wait for Information High to be its bootup sound."?

[azrael]

Saw it and immediately thought of the Corsair One:

[JB0]

See, Sharon(and HAL) and that Corsair case have distinctive accents and details. The neXtBox is just a box. It is bland and boring.

Even the original Nintendo had more character, and that's the second-blandest system I can think of.

 

Not that this is what matters, ultimately, but they paid good money for someone to "design" this plain box.

Microsoft, fire your designers. They're bad at this.

[AN/ALQ128]

1 hour ago, JB0 said:

See, Sharon(and HAL) and that Corsair case have distinctive accents and details. The neXtBox is just a box. It is bland and boring.

Even the original Nintendo had more character, and that's the second-blandest system I can think of.

 

Not that this is what matters, ultimately, but they paid good money for someone to "design" this plain box.

Microsoft, fire your designers. They're bad at this.

I sorta miss late 90's-early 00's industrial design.

Sure, a lot of it was butt-ugly and made out of the cheapest material money could buy, but at least they experimented with shapes and colours a lot.

 

 

[JB0]

I mocked up a zero-effort improvement, to prove their designer handed them a box and claimed it was a design. All proportions are eyeballed, no line edges are cleaned up. I couldn't be bothered with faking perspective and editing their off-angle promo shot.

 

 

Just add a diagonal line coming off the optical drive that goes back up near the top. It is ALREADY more interesting to look at.

[davidwhangchoi]

https://blog.us.playstation.com/2019/12/17/introducing-the-dualshock-4-back-button-attachment/

[Black Valkyrie]

 

https://www.siliconera.com/japanese-dino-crisis-trademark-filed-for-by-capcom/

 

[Mazinger]

1 hour ago, Black Valkyrie said:

https://www.siliconera.com/japanese-dino-crisis-trademark-filed-for-by-capcom/

Yeah seems like they want make sure nobody get's any ideas:
https://www.eventhubs.com/news/2019/dec/17/capcom-files-new-trademarks-darkstalkers-power-stone-dino-crisis-cyberbots-and-many-other-titles-though-there-are-some-glaring-exclusions/

In the fighting game community, there's been rumblings of speculation of rumors of a possible Capcom VS Capcom fighting game, but sadly I don't think Capcom Corporate is ready to throw any money at a fighting title not named "Street Fighter".

Chancers are we'll get SF6 before the next Macross Movie or show comes out and then who knows.

[davidwhangchoi]

 

[davidwhangchoi]

i want to try kojima's game but waiting for it to go 9.99

[Archer]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T54aGkkXfuc

 

Looks pretty incredible; Glad they're supporting every major HMD!

[Valkyrie Hunter D]

Anyone else wanna share their haul from the Steam sale? So far I only got Hellblade and Dariusburst.

[mikeszekely]

I've been busy and haven't even opened Steam yet, but I got an email that some stuff on my wishlist was on sale and have been meaning to take a look.  Hopefully it's better than the PlayStation sale (where I already own most of the stuff on sale) or Nintendo's (where I have at least 40 things on my wishlist and only Dragon Quest II is on sale).

[Gerli]

Doing Multi-Crew mining with some friends in very hazardous conditions.

 

 

[davidwhangchoi]

@mikeszekely

https://slickdeals.net/f/13748000-new-google-shopping-customers-8gb-nvidia-shield-tv-4k-streaming-media-player-130-more-free-shipping?v=1&src=frontpage