Gaming Thread

[Captain Beard]

The only time I even dealt with Jacob was to convince him give his dad the gun and hint ammo was cheap.

 

[WhiteBeastofWotan]

yeah jacob is a douche

 

[Talking Backwards]

I feel bad for DX:HR, if it weren't for Skryim I believe it'd win GOTY hands down. The only thing I could imagine people not liking is the graphics (which is a really lame thing but some people just can't respect art direction that isn't OMGHYPERREALISM) and the game is just amazing.

Deus Ex:HR is one of my most aniticipated games of 2011, probably tied with Dark Souls. There are many reasons why it might not be a GOTY contender (No doubt Uncharted 3 will get that by auto default anyway...): not the least of which being that it sucks for various reasons and that their ambitions were much too high for what they produced. I really don't want to have to beta test extremely poor AI, shoddy controls and other miscellaneous bugs just for them to be patched later after I've already shelved the game.

It also better not be another "eight hours is enough" kind of game that seems to be the standard for most action games anymore just because each area can be tackled in various ways. Graphically though, it kind of blows my mind that anyone could think of them in a negative way. They are amazing, and the pissed-on hue makes it stand out even more.

Call me a cynic, but anymore it seems the majority of games that people have high expectations for just fall flat on their face time and time again. So far, nothing this year has come even close to expectations--and expectations aside, barely a few have even been satisfactory. Here's to hoping that the second half of this year and the beginning of the next yield better results.

Graphics can always get better until the game is indistinguishable from reality, however, good graphics don't make or break a good game IMO. It's annoying how many people tend to see graphics as the defining feature of the game and how good graphics equals a good game. It's like people who thought Star Wars was good in the day. Nevermind the shitty dialogue, dumbass plot and all the other shit. It's all about special effects.

Maybe I'm mistaken, but I think he's talking about current generation graphics? I'm not sure how anyone could think graphics in general won't improve over time--they aren't anywhere near realistic yet. The problem is, PC games are held back by consoles now due to profitability reasons, and you'll almost never see a PC specific game that is graphic intensive ever again. PC games won't actually be allowed to "progress" graphically until the PS4 and XBOX 720 arrive--which won't be for another three or four years at the earliest.

And yeah, Call of Duty is the new Counterstrike. Attracts the worst kind of gamers. Boring games anyways. There's only so many ways you can shoot someone in the face before it becomes massively boring.

I've been gaming since the Atari days, and the FPS genre has got to be one of the most repetitive, stagnant and mind numbingly stupid genres ever created--and I've never ever been able to understand the attraction to them. People make jokes about the only people who play them must have ADD, but there has to be some truth to that somewhere. Once you've played the original Quake, you've essentially played everything that's ever been done since then. They aren't like fighting games either--the only thing that is "skill" based is how accurately you can aim the reticle at someone's head and fire before they fire back, or if you happened to pick up the rocket launcher right as it spawned before someone else could. The rest is mostly luck dependant, especially in the games that have a large amount of players.

 

[Det Som Engang Var]

Sorry yeah, I meant this generation. Luckily Nintendo's release of the WiiU will force Sony and Microsoft to abandon their ten year planned life span for these consoles.

Speaking of graphics, here's a cool comparison between Skyrim and Oblivion.

 

[Liverslapper]

Gameplay > Graphics


Big improvement though. I was never a graphic junkie. Let's hope Skyrim delievers where Oblivion did not.

 

[Det Som Engang Var]

Obviously Gameplay > Graphics. And Gameplay is shaping up to be awesome.

This was a needed change in graphics though, because Oblivion characters had monkey faces.

 

[WhiteBeastofWotan]

Yeah they were truly terrible looking. Dumbfoundingly so.

 

[Liverslapper]

Obviously Gameplay > Graphics.

You would be surprised how many people will play a game just because of the graphics.

 

[ShadowsWithin]

guilty as charged

 

[Enemy242]

Deus Ex:HR is one of my most aniticipated games of 2011, probably tied with Dark Souls. There are many reasons why it might not be a GOTY contender (No doubt Uncharted 3 will get that by auto default anyway...): not the least of which being that it sucks for various reasons and that their ambitions were much too high for what they produced. I really don't want to have to beta test extremely poor AI, shoddy controls and other miscellaneous bugs just for them to be patched later after I've already shelved the game.

It also better not be another "eight hours is enough" kind of game that seems to be the standard for most action games anymore just because each area can be tackled in various ways. Graphically though, it kind of blows my mind that anyone could think of them in a negative way. They are amazing, and the pissed-on hue makes it stand out even more.

I think it seriously has a chance to beat them. So far the story (about 1/4th of the game) is extremely engrossing, with great dialogue, choices which aren't just extremely black and white, characters that you care about/have a distinct personality, and there are a shitload of hints in the game that aren't fleshed out yet and i'm sure will just get even more intense as the story continues to twist and turn. The original had a great story and so far this game feels the same in that you sort of trust your employer and others seem to, but there's something slightly off about him and there are tons of other characters and situations right now that you simply don't know.

In addition to the story the gameplay is amazing, there's a shitload of stuff to do, an insane amount of replayability (again i never replay games but in the beta i've played one mission at least 4 times doing different tactics which all are quite different and trying to discover everything int he level), great mechanics and overall just feels tight. its definitely not going to be an 8 hour game as again, for me to explore every area of the first hub and do all the main missions + side missions + hack/get into secret areas (which you actually want to do considering how good teh level design is) I played for at least 10 hours, no joke. I feel that blowing through the game people will spend maybe 20 hours but if you actually do the side quests and really explore the game it'll bump up to almost 30-35 with replay not even counted.

The original game was amazing, even when I was 10 and had a hard time following it but i was disappointed by invisible war. However everyone who has played the beta has pretty much agreed it looks great and a contender to the first game. I think the Eidos Montreal is a newer company and it seems the grasp what deus ex is about and are really bringing it into this generation. Sure there are some console aspects and people can bitch about the graphics (which i still don't agree with) and thre are some tiny flaws, but overall the game looks flat out amazing and even in the beta which is a preview for journalists I can't remember seeing any bugs. They took a good amount of time to make the game great and really tried and they already have my money, i just hope everyon else gives it a chance and lets a truly great game flourish as opposed to each COD per year.

 

[El Stormo]

Gameplay > Graphics

Absolutely, but I sure as Hell don't mind having a game with good gameplay AND good graphics

 

[Enemy242]

just beat DNF and I must say, I have a complex relation to this game. On one hand, I enjoyed the game and disagreed with the insane press review smashing (a 5.5 IGN? you really thought it was going to re-invent the wheel and be more deep and sophisticated than shooting aliens and dick jokes? you guys sure are the videogame masters) yet at the same time in the last maybe 1/4th of the game I was so furious with it and bored that I had to push myself to finish.

The humor in the game those who played Duke 3d will get, others wont, and the modern conventions (2 weapons only fuck you, regenerating health wasn't that bad, linear as shit maps with scripted events) will turn off pretty much anyone, but still up until you get to the first real driving segment, everything is fun. Once I started doing driving missions (not the mini rc car ones, those are ok) and essentially driving, running out of gas at predetermined location, find gas tank, refuel, repeat process, I really just started to get bored. Not only that but the enemies repeat, the one liners repeat (almost no situation specific ones at that point), and you have almost all the weapons. Really once you leave the main city/area and keep going it gets so boring its absurd. Combine this with horribly cheap enemies that start to take more damage to make them harder (creative), bosses you end up just firing away at and hoping they don't kill you first (no strategy), and swimming levels with horrible collision detection/control/difficulty (wanted to seriously pull my hair out) and you get a game that has fucked over all the fans of the series.

I love duke 3d. I love duke nukem. I love just shooting pig cops and spouting one liners. I don't like when they take that so easy to apply formula (as demonstrated by the first half of the game which again, i liked) and turn it into dogshit as by the end of the game they just give up and start ambushing you with enemies and repeating the same things over and over until the final boss (which holy fuck is anticlimactic, the other bosses were more difficult though i'll admit this was a bit more interesting). Overall I think the game is about a 7/10 for fans of the series and a 6/10 for people who are not. I didn't have any load time problems but really when I'm struggling to finish a game, I know this is not right and when I wait for the credits to roll and see all these ridiculous credits for people that barely did dick for the game (luckily i was eating lucky charms and not really reading them) I expect more than a 20 second long cutscene with a joke that is not funny at all and just makes me want to light a turd on fire on gearbox's doorstep. Luckily there was no financial loss for me and I only died a little inside in my love for duke nukem (though 3d will always be badass).

 

[Talking Backwards]

Gameplay > Graphics

To an extent. Fact is though, a game like the original Deus Ex would be soooooo much more enjoyable with a huge facelift into HD (there has been a team working on such a project for the last 3-4 years, but it probably won't be finished before HR arrives). Even not quite as old games such as Halflife 2 or S.T.A.L.K.E.R. added a greatly improved experience by custom made texture packs. Graphics without gameplay is pointless (see: the majority of the current generation of games), but there's no need to have great gameplay with very ugly graphics either.

Big improvement though. I was never a graphic junkie. Let's hope Skyrim delievers where Oblivion did not.

I actually forgot just how ugly the Oblivion NPCs were. Then again, I tend to not think about that game much. It was one of the most boring wastes of time I've ever had, and I really enjoyed Morrowind. The main reason for the differences in graphics though were a) the platform was pretty new, so no developers had really "unlocked" it's full potential yet and b) they are using a completely new game engine.

Sadly, the combat looks like the same garbage they've had since Morrowind though--pretty awful in general, despite the "dragon shout" hype. The dragons at least look like one of the best realizations done yet in a game though.

 

[Det Som Engang Var]

If you're playing Elder Scrolls for combat you should go back to Bioware games, because you're doing it wrong.

You play it for lore and story, and to read Michael Kirkbrides poetry. Oblivion was bad because Kirkbride wasn't writing, but he's back now. You can spend 30 hours reading Elder Scrolls lore and still not completely grasp it because of the metaphysics, it's one big brain fuck created by the best writer since Shakespear.

http://fallingawkwardly.wordpress.com/2010/10/25/the-metaphysics-of-morrowind-part-3/

http://elderscrolls.blogspot.com/2005/10/loveletter-from-fifth-era.html

“Later, and by that I mean much, much later, my reign will be seen as an act of the highest love, which is a return from the astral destiny and the marriages between. By that I mean the catastrophes, which will come from all five corners. Subsequent are the revisions, differentiated between hope and the distraught, situations that are only required by the periodic death of the immutable. Cosmic time is repeated: I wrote of this in an earlier life. An imitation of submersion is love's premonition, its folly into the underworld, by which I mean the day you will read about outside of yourself in an age of gold. For on that day, which is a shadow of the sacrificial concept, all history is obliged to see me for what you are: in love with evil.”

I rest my case.

 

[Talking Backwards]

If you're playing Elder Scrolls for combat you should go back to Bioware games, because you're doing it wrong.

You play it for lore and story.

Thanks for the semi-ignorant reply? You obviously play an RPG for the lore, quests/story and exploration, but combat makes up a very large portion of the game regardless of what your opinion of the "true" reason is anyone plays them. Why the hell do you think there are even classes, skills, stats, gear or any of that--purely for aesthetic reasons?

If I wanted a purely PnP experience, I would play PnP, but these are video games, not text based MUDS. If I wanted to only read a novel, I think I'd be smart enough to know where to look--a video game is not the place either. Just because combat is not the main focus in an RPG doesn't give them a liscence for it being stuck in 1996. I'm not looking for another "adventure" game ala MYST. I am looking for an RPG that actually has more than just "functioning" gameplay. Believe it or not, they do exist.

 

[WhiteBeastofWotan]

John likes to make stupid sweeping comments about things. You'll learn this.

 

[Det Som Engang Var]

I'd normally agree, Max, but not here. Elder Scrolls fans play for it for the world, to be submerged in that world. You won't get that kind of experience and depth in any other game, movie, or PnP.

Elder Scrolls is for people who want to live in their game.

 

[El Stormo]

If you're playing Elder Scrolls for combat you should go back to Bioware games, because you're doing it wrong.

So if a game has good story and setting, it's alright if the combat system's awful?

 

[Det Som Engang Var]

No, all I'm saying is combat is one of the least important aspects to TES. Obviously good combat would make it so much better, but it's nowhere near my top list of concerns.

There are thousands of games with good combat to play, and only one franchise that offers what this one does. Please think about that statement for a second before you dismiss me as an idiot.

 

[WhiteBeastofWotan]

Its funny that you would say "go back to Bioware games" for combat, because the main problem with DA2 (imho of course) was its shitty combat. Besides the recycled maps, everything else was pretty much spot on.

Also, I think the Mass Effect series is the most immersive series I've played.