All Things Videogame Related: EXTREME VS!!

[mikeszekely]

I personally just discovered Shovel Knight.  I can't believe I didn't play this before; while thematically pretty different the gameplay is like a mix of Mega Man and Castlevania with a Super Mario Bros 3 overworld.  The game is brutally hard and at times you'll run into the kinds of cheap deaths that those classic NES franchises are famous for, but it's balanced with checkpoints that rarely set you back too far, and the only penalty for dying is the loss of money (that you can recover if you can get back to the spot where you died without dying again).  So while you will die (often), you usually know exactly why you died and you can avoid making the same mistake to push on a little further.  The music and graphics are meant to look like an 8-bit game, and had it actually released on a system like the NES back in the day I have no doubt it'd be one of the top five games on the console.

[mikeszekely]

Horizon Zero Dawn Complete Edition is up for preorder on Steam and will release in August.  I was thinking if it were $20-30 I'd like to play the game again on PC, but the list right now is $50.  While PC is my preferred platform, I can't be the only PC gamer who picked up a PS4 for the exclusives and games that just don't release on PC, and $50 seems like too much of an ask when the base price on PSN is $20 and it regularly goes on sale for less.

[mikeszekely]

Anyone watch the Uplay Forward thing?  No real surprises, but I'm looking forward to Assassin's Creed Valhalla and Far Cry 6 nevertheless.

[AN/ALQ128]

7 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Anyone watch the Uplay Forward thing?  No real surprises, but I'm looking forward to Assassin's Creed Valhalla and Far Cry 6 nevertheless.

I don't think the Far Cry franchise is "good", but I enjoyed FC5 (not so much for the gameplay as for the setting, themes, music, etc).

Might pick FC6 up, tropical locations are fun.

[JB0]

The only FarCry I've played is Blood Dragon.

[mikeszekely]

47 minutes ago, AN/ALQ128 said:

I don't think the Far Cry franchise is "good", but I enjoyed FC5 (not so much for the gameplay as for the setting, themes, music, etc).

Might pick FC6 up, tropical locations are fun.

 

19 minutes ago, JB0 said:

The only FarCry I've played is Blood Dragon.

To each their own.  I've played every (PC) game in the franchise except the original, and FC4 was by far my favorite (meanwhile, the only one I liked less than 5 was 2).  But to be fair I've found myself getting bored with more linear shooters; can't remember the last time I finished a Call of Duty campaign (not that they make decent single player CoD games anymore), I never finished Doom (and haven't bothered picking up Eternal yet), I never finished Wolfenstein II.  But even FC5 got two playthroughs out of me.  There's something about open world games that have main objectives for me to do, but a boatload of stuff for me to waste time on instead and RPG elements that encourage me to to do everything, which AC and FC both give me in spades (other games I've enjoyed for similar reasons include Skyrim, Horizon Zero Dawn, and Sleeping Dogs).  I have more fun doing goofy sidequests, hunting, and stealth capturing outposts than playing the main story in most Far Cry games.  And I think 5 felt like a step back for me because there was less incentive to do some of that stuff.  Like, if you wanted more than two weapons in previous FC games you'd hunt for skins then craft them into holsters.  In 5 you just spent perk points (that you usually picked up in bunkers) on the perk that let you carry more guns.  I'm hoping that 6 plays more like 3 and 4 than 5, but even if not I'll probably still be into it.

As for Assassin's Creed, I've liked most of the entries in the series except Unity.  But when the changed up the formula a bit, downplaying the sort of missions where you'd have to follow people without getting to far but without getting spotted, beefing up the RPG elements, improving the combat, and making combat a viable alternative to stealth (even if I still prefer to go stealthy) the series went from "hey, I like this," to two of my favorite games of all time.  So I can't wait to get my hands on Valhalla, hoping that it's as good as Origins and Odyssey (while secretly fearing another awful gameplay reboot like Unity).

[Gerli]

Amazing...

 

[Tking22]

Ghost of Tsushima is reviewing very well, I held off preordering to wait and see on reviews after the embargo, I'm officially in. Looks pretty amazing, I've got my digital version downloaded and ready, unlocks for me Thursday night at 9.

[mikeszekely]

58 minutes ago, Tking22 said:

Ghost of Tsushima is reviewing very well, I held off preordering to wait and see on reviews after the embargo, I'm officially in. Looks pretty amazing, I've got my digital version downloaded and ready, unlocks for me Thursday night at 9.

Yeah.   A few reviews complained that there was too much stuff in the open world and not enough compelling reasons to check everything out.  They compared it to Assassin's Creed in the regard... but I honestly love those kinds of games.  I've actually played through several Assassin's Creed and Far Cry games twice, so Ghost of Tsushima seems right up my alley.  My only real complaint is that I don't play console games much anymore; I think Spider-Man was the last PS4 game I played.  I'll probably go out and pick up a copy on Friday, but if it were on PC there'd be no probably about it.

[Major Focker]

11 hours ago, Tking22 said:

Ghost of Tsushima is reviewing very well, I held off preordering to wait and see on reviews after the embargo, I'm officially in. Looks pretty amazing, I've got my digital version downloaded and ready, unlocks for me Thursday night at 9.

gah! i need to catch up. i'm still not halfway on Nioh 2

[Valkyrie Hunter D]

Until Bloodborne hits the PC, maybe Yarntown can help tide you over?

I think it's adorable.

[Tking22]

On 7/15/2020 at 3:34 AM, Major Focker said:

gah! i need to catch up. i'm still not halfway on Nioh 2

I'd also recommend Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, that one was also fantastic, great combat. 

[Major Focker]

8 hours ago, Tking22 said:

I'd also recommend Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, that one was also fantastic, great combat. 

yep, Sekiro is definitely great. it's actually how i ended up checking out Jedi Fallen Order and then now Nioh 2. sadly, neither one is as satisfying as Sekiro.

JFO i've put on hold. loved the story, setting, force powers, and even the platforming elements. but the core combat itself is a tad mushy, mainly because there's virtually no such thing as consecutive perfect parries, and there's very little incentive, if any, for doing so.  

i'm enjoying Nioh 2 a lot more than JFO. there's a parry mechanic, though mostly optional, but there are other timed-counters with satisfying rewards, and blocks are not just an oops button. the sheer variety of weapons, skills, and move sets is staggering yet sufficiently distinct. you CAN bring a knife to a sword fight and still win, if you smartly play to your strengths. i am enjoying it immensely, but also for the same reasons, it is not Sekiro, which is singularly focused on its elegant and highly tuned core mechanic: parry or die. there's just nothing else that rises to the level of staring down the onslaught of a 7-hit combo and split-second parrying each. and every. frackin. one to create your opening. well, except maybe a charging flaming bull.

[Valkyrie Hunter D]

Sekiro was a blast to play.  Hard as nails, but oh so satisfying with every well earned boss victory.  I'd be hard pressed to choose the bettter of the two: Sekiro or Bloodborne.

I'd like to dive into Nioh 2, but I'm still going through Nioh 1's DLC campaigns.

[Major Focker]

lol, yeah. blast would be an understatement for me. Sekiro has the distinction (or ignominy?) of being the only game that had me howling at the screen "who's the puppy?!" when i finally beat Lady Butterfly. on the other extreme end, i was in a buddha-like state of serenity and enlightenment when instead of running/dodging away and taking cheap shots to whittle away that flaming bull's health over a looooong period, i decided to stand my ground and parry for all i was worth. i took him down in seconds, thus my ascension to nirvana.

[kajnrig]

So Ghost of Tsushima was already looking extraordinarily beautiful, and was already pretty high up on my "probably gonna buy" list, but seeing the title sequence seals the deal for me:

Anyone else getting/got this game?

[mikeszekely]

10 minutes ago, kajnrig said:

Anyone else getting/got this game?

I picked it up Friday, spent a good but of time with it. The combat is fun, but the stealth feels a bit more cumbersome, less fluid and less effective than games like Assassin's Creed. The game is gorgeous, and I'm digging the setting and story. As a primarily PC gamer I judge non-PC games on how well they justify buying another console, and Ghost of Tsushima is up there with Spider-Man and God of War.

[Tking22]

6 hours ago, kajnrig said:

So Ghost of Tsushima was already looking extraordinarily beautiful, and was already pretty high up on my "probably gonna buy" list, but seeing the title sequence seals the deal for me:

Anyone else getting/got this game?

I've been playing since launch night, which for me was last Thursday at nine, and it's fantastic.

The combat isn't quite Sekiro, but it's fun and requires precision, between the different stances you learn to counter different enemies, there's quite a few moves. As Mike mentioned above the stealth is nothing special, it opens up more when you get to the second northern island and you get a few more gadgets, early on it's pretty dull. 

Game is drop dead gorgeous, one of the best on PS4, the photo mode is awesome, the game is made for photo mode, I find myself stopping every few minutes to take another screenshot. There's a prioritize frame rate option for PS4 Pro and I'm using that, still looks good.

My main issues are stealth kills can be wonky, it's square to kill one guy, triangle to kill multiple in a chain, but I find myself slicing or poking guys instead even though I see the button prompt for an assassination. Also, the sensitivity for chain kills is derpy, I've had guys right on each other that I just couldn't chain and instead screwed the fight up, stealth just doesn't feel great and isn't that engaging.

Other then that the Japanese language track is fantastic, but looks off. The character models were capped to the English voice actors, which are great too, so the Japanese audio doesn't match the lips, and looks really off in many scenes. I'm still playing Japanese audio though, you've just got to, English cast is really good too though like I said, and the black and white with film grain "Kurosawa" mode is a neat addition.

[sh9000]

 

[kajnrig]

Oh yeah this game looks damn good and has done for a long time, too:

 

[davidwhangchoi]

 

 

[Archer]

Xbox Games Showcase was a real let down for me. In fact, when they started with the Halo Infinite gameplay promo, I was waiting for a "gotcha" moment where they shifted from Xbox One S gameplay to Series X.....but it never came. Incredibly disappointing that these are the graphics they are going with for their "showcase" title. In fact, Killzone Shadowfall from last-gen 7 years ago looks better than this

No other games save for maybe Avowed really got my attention either. Looks like more playstation domination at least for early next-gen. 

[mikeszekely]

Well, it's like I've been saying for a few months, there's no reason for me to buy a Series X when Microsoft's 1st party titles are also on PC. But, I really don't think they're interested in selling hardware anymore. They want to sell games as a service through Xcloud and Game Pass, and making hardware is just to provide console gamers with a gateway to those subscriptions.

[Tking22]

7 hours ago, Archer said:

Xbox Games Showcase was a real let down for me. In fact, when they started with the Halo Infinite gameplay promo, I was waiting for a "gotcha" moment where they shifted from Xbox One S gameplay to Series X.....but it never came. Incredibly disappointing that these are the graphics they are going with for their "showcase" title. In fact, Killzone Shadowfall from last-gen 7 years ago looks better than this

No other games save for maybe Avowed really got my attention either. Looks like more playstation domination at least for early next-gen. 

To be fair Halo Infinite was never really promised to be a graphical show stopper, or powerhouse, it was just promised as the next Halo. I think it looks good for what it is, open world, it's no longer linear levels, and apparently the world is massive. 343 was also targeting frames, 4k 60fps on Xbox, none of Sony's stuff has been promised at 60fps, they're still caught up in higher resolutions and 30fps, which is meh, I want 60fps standard for next gen.

And I'm not really seeing any immediate reason to say PS will dominate early next gen already, what are they releasing on PS5 at launch, Miles Spidey? Everything else Sony announced is years away just like Microsoft. I think early next gen will be sparse on exclusives, it'll be on third party devs to keep people's consoles running.

I'm hyped for State of Decay 3, I put hundreds of hours into 1 and 2, jank and all, it's easily one of the best zombie series out now. Halo we'll see, I honestly never got through 4 or 5, I have no idea where the story is at now.

[MacrossJunkie]

Being a huge fan of WH40K, I'm cautiously excited for Darktide. It's being made by Fatshark whose Vermintide games were excellent and a lot of fun. If they can improve upon what they have in Vermintide II, but in the 40K setting, then I'll finally have a decent 40K based game to play. Been so disappointed with so many of them as of late. The last good one I played was either Dawn of War II or Space Marine. Dawn of War III was trash, Inquisitor was trash. BFG 1 and 2 were mediocre and repetitive at best, Gladius was boring, Space Hulk: Deathwing had good graphics and got the look right, but the gameplay was garbage... sigh.

[anime52k8]

So I've been painfully addicted to PSO2 since it launched on xbox. and now this is happening...

 

Edited July 24, 2020 by anime52k8

[azrael]

I only watched the Halo Infinite trailer. Meh. I’ll look at the rest of the presentation later. 

[Focslain]

10 hours ago, MacrossJunkie said:

Being a huge fan of WH40K, I'm cautiously excited for Darktide. It's being made by Fatshark whose Vermintide games were excellent and a lot of fun. If they can improve upon what they have in Vermintide II, but in the 40K setting, then I'll finally have a decent 40K based game to play. Been so disappointed with so many of them as of late. The last good one I played was either Dawn of War II or Space Marine. Dawn of War III was trash, Inquisitor was trash. BFG 1 and 2 were mediocre and repetitive at best, Gladius was boring, Space Hulk: Deathwing had good graphics and got the look right, but the gameplay was garbage... sigh.

Mechanicus is pretty good, FFT with admech and Necrons. Just be careful of the destroyers, those things hit hard.

6 hours ago, anime52k8 said:

So I've been painfully addicted to PSO2 since it launched on xbox. and now this is happening...

 

From what I was told, told this is effectively PSO2: Realm Reborn. There following FFXIV's game plan.  

[sh9000]

 

[Valkyrie Hunter D]

Fight Crab.  I think I need to play this.

[JB0]

"What is Fight Crab?

A game where you are crab, and you fight crab."

 

Okay, I'm sold, game website. 

[mikeszekely]

Finished Ghost of Tsushima tonight.  It's one of only five games in two console generations I bothered to get the Platinum trophy on.  Definitely a fitting swan song for the PS4.

[Chronocidal]

On 7/24/2020 at 11:15 AM, Focslain said:

Mechanicus is pretty good, FFT with admech and Necrons. Just be careful of the destroyers, those things hit hard.

From what I was told, told this is effectively PSO2: Realm Reborn. There following FFXIV's game plan.  

Somewhat, but they're keeping the original PSO2 running alongside it.  They're upgrading the original game, but adding a separate expansion.  Very little will transfer between the two, except character design, and certain fashion items.  I think the story of the new one is something like 1000 years after the original storyline of PSO2.

[Valkyrie Hunter D]

4 hours ago, JB0 said:

"What is Fight Crab?

A game where you are crab, and you fight crab."

 

Okay, I'm sold, game website. 

I imagine it's something like Robot Alchemic Drive but with seafood.  I'm sooo down.

[JB0]

41 minutes ago, Valkyrie Hunter D said:

I imagine it's something like Robot Alchemic Drive but with seafood.  I'm sooo down.

It sounds more like QWOP with seafood and weapons, honestly. It still sounds amazing, though. Even without the screenshot of a crab wielding a lightsaber.

I've almost bought this developer's previous games("Ace of Seafood" and "Neo Aquarium - The King of Crustaceans"*) a few times, just for personality. Right now, at three and a half in the AM, I'm not sure why I haven't.

 

 

*The latter's official short description is, incidentally, "YOU GET TO CONTROL UNIQUE CREATURES LIKE LOBSTERS, CRABS AND BARNACLES, IN A WILD WATER WORLD THAT EXCEEDS ALL HUMAN SENSE."

The longer description begins with the phrase "TWO FISH ENTER, ONE FISH LEAVES."

Capitalization as written on Steam. Those are direct copy/pastes with no editing.