What are you playing right now?

[DJR210]

I'm primarily talking of the AAA market, yes. It's irritating to see what are essentially movie games praised to no end as "one of the greatest games of all time" by video game journalists (how good or bad the story is should have zero influence on a game review). I think the purest form of video game out there is the racing genre. I'm not necessarily saying it's the best, but racing games check all the boxes of what makes a good game/competitive activity, forcing you to learn the car's mechanics, track nuances, with customization options through tuning that can be explored for a literal lifetime. Fighting games are similar in this regard.

My basic requirement for what I consider a good video game is rewarding the player with progression (or higher scores) as his skill improves. And those skills should come with a learning curve. Something like the Uncharted series can be beaten easily on the highest difficulties just by being patient. There's really no "system" to learn. Same with many AAA titles in general. AAA game budgets are as big as blockbusters, so they obviously want the player to progress to the next fancy set piece they spent months working on.

Not trying to be funny but seriously stopped at "video game journalists" - bro the media and developers are all in it together, you can't trust reviews period. Even on a non-paid testimonial, you're basing your initial opinion on an opinion.. of a single reviewer. You wanna get a true idea of a game's worth, read a bunch of comments in Steam reviews, or a video game forum of some kind.

[apalisoc_9]

Replaying Suikoden 2 on my Phone right now via emulator.

My goodness, this game plot and writing is just way ahead of its time. I almost forgot why i fell inolve with this game. I think that if Suikoden 2 was around the social media age of today it would have completely obliterrated Final Fantasy in game scores. This game story line and writing is ps4 level.

Cant wait to finish it at work and jump to Final Fantasy 9. FF9 was a dope game. I'm surprised its not as popular as 7 and 8. I guess it makes sense since it was released just before ps2.

[midnightpulp]

i dont think this is a one sized fits all description though. i think it perfectly defines rockstar games. and they're great for what they are, but nobody is playing GTA games because they feel accomplished for managing to beat the game.


that's your prerogative. and even then, god of war is a big AAA title that won all sorts of awards. i haven't played it yet, but from what i've read, has moved on from its button-mash origin and has a new tactful combat system. you can always find what you're looking... taking a handful of big name games and claiming thats what this generation has to offer is lazy.


that "superiority" is just your opinion. people are saying you can still find modern games that are designed in the manner you may like. there are times when i enjoy the grinder games, there are times i just want to sit back and casually get through a game. and there are plenty of in-between games that demand your attention (when played on appropriate difficulty settings) that aren't getting you to pull your hair out.


i need to git good then


i dont agree with this criticism at all. whats the point of making you spend 38 minutes doing the same thing flawlessly over and over and over again just so you can master the last 2 minute segment. its just a waste of time and lazily increases the lifespan of the game instead of simply adding more content.

i will grant you that some games have absurd checkpoints, like in between stages of the same boss. but those are very few and far between.


but again, that's not every game. sure, that's the case in call of duty... but if you're playing on hardcore, there's no health regen. in games like TLOU, max payne, you need to use resources. the brilliance of the TLOU was making you decide between crafting health packs and molotovs, as they drain the same two resources, which are very limited, particularly at the higher difficulty settings.

Rockstar has had a massive influence across the board on modern gaming, every modern sandbox game takes cues from the GTA series. And the sandbox genre is pretty large and celebrated by gamers and journalists (modern Tomb Raider, Horizon Zero Dawn, Yakuza series, etc, etc). Naughty Dog is another offender in my opinion.

The point of making you do something over and over in a game is punishment for losing/failing. If you're trying for a personal best of made 3 pointers in a row playing basketball, you don't get to start from your last missed shot or five shots back, you have to start all over again. Same in every other non-videogame game or sport. Obviously, it wouldn't make sense to send the player back to the beginning in a 10-20 hour game, but there should be a penalty for losing, like sending the player back to the run up before the boss battle instead of back to where the boss battle started (unless the boss battle is fairly long). This design is not artificial difficulty nor padding, it's punishment for losing, placing more pressure on the player knowing he has to succeed or face the monotony of redoing a long section he's already been through a dozen times. IIRC, Ninja Gaiden on the Xbox did this. I remember the last checkpoint before the final boss battle was some 20 mins back.


Do I always want to play games designed like that? No. But my gripe is the games I see praised I feel are more interactive entertainment than games. Narrative quality shouldn't have any influence on a game review.

[baseline bum]

The point of making you do something over and over in a game is punishment for losing/failing. If you're trying for a personal best of made 3 pointers in a row playing basketball, you don't get to start from your last missed shot or five shots back, you have to start all over again. Same in every other non-videogame game or sport. Obviously, it wouldn't make sense to send the player back to the beginning in a 10-20 hour game, but there should be a penalty for losing, like sending the player back to the run up before the boss battle instead of back to where the boss battle started (unless the boss battle is fairly long). This design is not artificial difficulty nor padding, it's punishment for losing, placing more pressure on the player knowing he has to succeed or face the monotony of redoing a long section he's already been through a dozen times. IIRC, Ninja Gaiden on the Xbox did this. I remember the last checkpoint before the final boss battle was some 20 mins back.


That's what I like about Bloodborne. You get two to four checkpoints per (large) area if I remember right, but the enemies all respawn the second you save at one, essentially negating everything in your progress but making and unlocking the checkpoint. It has good difficulty without feeling cheap like some NES games can be at times (eg Ninja Gaiden 6-3). When you die in Bloodborne it's not because of a bad roll of dice in the RNG but because you either had a stupid plan or executed your plan badly.

[baseline bum]

I got a 3.65 OLED Vita and the color is amazing on this screen. I checked out some Vita Slims with the IPS LCD the other day and wasn't impressed at all but the fucking OLED on the OG fat version is beautiful if you can find one in good condition. 3.65 is nice though since you can get a coldboot CFW with Enso, plus CFW allows you to use a microSD card through the game cart port so you're not spending $100 on a used PS Vita 64GB memory card imported from Japan (US only got 4, 8, 16, and 32GB).

[spurraider21]

Rockstar has had a massive influence across the board on modern gaming, every modern sandbox game takes cues from the GTA series. And the sandbox genre is pretty large and celebrated by gamers and journalists (modern Tomb Raider, Horizon Zero Dawn, Yakuza series, etc, etc). Naughty Dog is another offender in my opinion.

The point of making you do something over and over in a game is punishment for losing/failing. If you're trying for a personal best of made 3 pointers in a row playing basketball, you don't get to start from your last missed shot or five shots back, you have to start all over again. Same in every other non-videogame game or sport. Obviously, it wouldn't make sense to send the player back to the beginning in a 10-20 hour game, but there should be a penalty for losing, like sending the player back to the run up before the boss battle instead of back to where the boss battle started (unless the boss battle is fairly long). This design is not artificial difficulty nor padding, it's punishment for losing, placing more pressure on the player knowing he has to succeed or face the monotony of redoing a long section he's already been through a dozen times. IIRC, Ninja Gaiden on the Xbox did this. I remember the last checkpoint before the final boss battle was some 20 mins back.


Do I always want to play games designed like that? No. But my gripe is the games I see praised I feel are more interactive entertainment than games. Narrative quality shouldn't have any influence on a game review.
i personally love the sandbox genre, and the ability to tell a story with that level of depth is just something developers werent able to do in the past without throwing mountains of text at you. and again, narrative heavy stories can vary in difficulty. and if you just want to talk about AAA titles, just read people here complaining about god of war's difficulty when played at higher settings. and that game is getting massive acclaim due to visuals/narrative, too. from what i've read, that latest installment has also left its button-mashing roots and has a more complex combat system. and again, i'm not even saying that's "better" or "worse"... but it's there. TLOU is supposedly much more difficult on grounded. no listen mode, no HUD (health meter, how many bullets you have left), enemies are more sensitive in stealth portions, drastically less supplies, etc. and those are 2 of the highest acclaimed games in recent years.

i just disagree about checkpoints. the only purpose that can serve, making you replay the same easily beatable 10+ minute sequence 15-20 times, which you could basically do with your eyes closed, is just a lazy way to increase the game's lifespan imo. in games where the main story itself is north of 20 hours, i dont need to artificially tack on another 8. it makes sense in nes games where they realistically are 1 hour games if played right.

[Leetonidas]

I picked up Hollow Knight for the switch the other day. Pretty fun game. Soundtrack is amazing. But fuck this game is pretty difficult, been awhile since I've played a metroidvania

[diego]

i mean you're basically saying that every game in the action/adventure genre is the same because there's combat and exploration. thats very shallow.



Both games use 3rs person perspective: check
Both games allow non linear progression: check
Both games have a focus on exploration and combat: check
Both games have same basic abilities (run, jump, climb, shoot, melee): check
Both games have skill trees that unlock abilities that unlock areas: check

I granted that origins has horses, the hawk, slightly more complex combat, and tomb raider has slightly more complex puzzle sections. Otherwise they are very, very similar. Dark souls is also 3rd person combat/ "exploration" but I wouldn't compare it to either of these games, where you spend half your time looting graves and the other half killing guards. I fail to see how changing the setting / allowing for slightly more side quests makes one substantially different from the other.

The Witcher 3 is very similar game basic mechanics wise too, but with the rather important difference that it's an actual RPG , you can't max everything out and the choices you make completely alter your path and mode of progression through the game

[DJR210]

If y'all liked Hotline Miami check out The Hong Kong Massacre

[Leetonidas]

I picked up Hollow Knight for the switch the other day. Pretty fun game. Soundtrack is amazing. But fuck this game is pretty difficult, been awhile since I've played a metroidvania

Seriously why is this game so damn hard :pctoss

[midnightpulp]

Ninja Gaiden 6-3 is much harder than anything in Bloodborne IMO. Ninja Gaiden 6-3 is that brand of stupidly unfair you see in a few NES games.

Yeah, I think many might read my opinion as "hard=good game design," when unfair game design is just as shoddy as hand-holding game design. As I said in another post, I think the racing genre nails what good game design is and is a model that can be applied to any game genre. You have that initial learning curve where you'll be spinning out on the track as you learn the track's nuances. After dozens of tries, you might turn in a respectable time. Your time will conceivably improve as you learn the track more and more. Then you start learning the car's nuances, further bettering your time. After that, the next level is learning manual shifting and advanced driving techniques. And if the game offers the option, you can get into tuning your car for even better times. (Good) Racing games scale their learning curves really well and every improvement or failure is totally player determined.

If we apply the "racing game design model" to other games, you can look at it like this:

Track=Levels/Bosses
Car=Character
Driving mechanics=combat mechanics
Tuning=Character customization
Time=Score

Most recent game I played that impressed me was Viewtiful Joe 2, and it followed that model to a T. Most Clover/Platinum Games do, in fact.

[midnightpulp]

i personally love the sandbox genre, and the ability to tell a story with that level of depth is just something developers werent able to do in the past without throwing mountains of text at you. and again, narrative heavy stories can vary in difficulty. and if you just want to talk about AAA titles, just read people here complaining about god of war's difficulty when played at higher settings. and that game is getting massive acclaim due to visuals/narrative, too. from what i've read, that latest installment has also left its button-mashing roots and has a more complex combat system. and again, i'm not even saying that's "better" or "worse"... but it's there. TLOU is supposedly much more difficult on grounded. no listen mode, no HUD (health meter, how many bullets you have left), enemies are more sensitive in stealth portions, drastically less supplies, etc. and those are 2 of the highest acclaimed games in recent years.

i just disagree about checkpoints. the only purpose that can serve, making you replay the same easily beatable 10+ minute sequence 15-20 times, which you could basically do with your eyes closed, is just a lazy way to increase the game's lifespan imo. in games where the main story itself is north of 20 hours, i dont need to artificially tack on another 8. it makes sense in nes games where they realistically are 1 hour games if played right.

I actually enjoy the sandbox genre, as well. But do I think they're necessarily good games in the purest sense? Not really. Doesn't mean they're not fun/intriguing experiences, but a good game does in fact give the player a sense of accomplishment and necessitate the learning of mechanics/patterns/level design for the player to succeed. I find none of that in the sandbox genre, even with games that have unique "mechanics" such as Just Cause or Infamous. The sandbox genre presents a challenge for game designers, though, since mechanics are inherently tied to a bounded level design, which don't exist in the sandbox genre. I supposed they softly exist in the form of missions, but you're still "free" to beat them pretty much any way you like. I almost see the sandbox genre as the video game equivalent of playing with action figures when you're a kid (I don't mean that as an insult, I'm comparing the overall rule free nature of each of type of "play.")

Games need to have failure, though. You can say losing the boss battle is "punishment," but I personally don't see restarting at the beginning of a battle (which are often short in modern games) as punishment that will put pressure on the player. I've mentioned the racing genre a few times as what I consider "ideal" game design, and you don't get to restart a cup tournament in Gran Turismo at the last race. If you need to win that last race to win gold, you have to win the race or do the whole tournament over again (some of those tournaments are over an hour). The potential shitty punishment produces a greater sense of accomplishment.

I think the happy medium here is when games include scoring systems or end of level rankings. The lazy player can just blast through the storyline button mashing, but the more dedicated player can spend time with the combat system to achieve higher scores. Hotline Miami does this really well. It's an easy game to beat if you play it "carefully," but the real way to play the game is to learn the level design, enemy movement and positions, and master the combat system so that you can string together successive kills, leading to a higher score/ranking. Many modern indie 2d games take this approach.

[chunticakes]

Anyone get the Resident Evil 2 remake? It's fucking legit.

[Joseph Kony]

Anyone get the Resident Evil 2 remake? It's fucking legit.

:tu been playing it most of the evening, fucking awesome so far

[apalisoc_9]

Is RE7 full price? I was thinking of getting divinity sin 2 but so much hype around re7 right now.

Still 60 dollars for a 7 hrs game..i knpw divinity is gonna be around 30 dollars used.

[Chris]

RE7 was very good

[Joseph Kony]

Is RE7 full price? I was thinking of getting divinity sin 2 but so much hype around re7 right now.

Still 60 dollars for a 7 hrs game..i knpw divinity is gonna be around 30 dollars used.

?? RE7 is like 20 bucks most places now

[spurraider21]

Having never played the BioShock series, glad to see you can get the full collection on PS4 for ~20

[baseline bum]

Having never played the BioShock series, glad to see you can get the full collection on PS4 for ~20

They're all good and not too long. Third is far and away my favorite (midnightpulp rolling in his grave at the thought) but first is really good too and second is about on par with a typical Far Cry game so worth playing too.

[baseline bum]

Speaking of midnightpulp, dude you ever played PS1 games on PSPgo using the PSPgo Cradle? Supposedly it's amazing since it gives you a legit 240p signal over component to send to a CRT and it supports using DualShock 3 controllers over Bluetooth.

[DJR210]

Is RE7 full price? I was thinking of getting divinity sin 2 but so much hype around re7 right now.

Still 60 dollars for a 7 hrs game..i knpw divinity is gonna be around 30 dollars used.

The hype is surrounding RE2 remake, not 7.. 7 is really good too, I just beat it. Only complaint is there is basically two enemy types you ever fight.

Divinity Original Sin is the better of the 2 games..

[DJR210]

Anyone get the Resident Evil 2 remake? It's fucking legit.

Did you play the original?

[midnightpulp]

Speaking of midnightpulp, dude you ever played PS1 games on PSPgo using the PSPgo Cradle? Supposedly it's amazing since it gives you a legit 240p signal over component to send to a CRT and it supports using DualShock 3 controllers over Bluetooth.

I haven't. I'll have to look into it since my PVM does accept component. Native 240p is quite stunning.

[midnightpulp]

They're all good and not too long. Third is far and away my favorite (midnightpulp rolling in his grave at the thought) but first is really good too and second is about on par with a typical Far Cry game so worth playing too.

When I talk shit about a game, it doesn't mean I hate the game or didn't have fun with it. My complaint with Infinite was how it was being constantly propped up as a GOAT level game when the gameplay wasn't all that compelling. The skyhook mechanic had potential, but when a game introduces a unique mechanic, it should force the player to "git gud" at the mechanic to beat the game. Think Bionic Commando or Metalstorm. The skyhook sequences felt too on rails most of the time, from what I remember.

[baseline bum]

I haven't. I'll have to look into it since my PVM does accept component. Native 240p is quite stunning.

You ever check the My Life in Gaming youtube channel? They do so many cool videos about older consoles and how to get the best video quality out of them today. Here's their video on the PS1, with the PSP discussed at the 14 minute mark. It's not quite as sharp as PS1 so I don't know if you'd be better off with PS1 over composite or PSPgo over component though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7fCTHu99bk&t=14m0s

BTW, that 2x scale for PS1 games on the Vita they mention really looks awesome. Just got an OLED Vita and I strongly prefer it over Switch for PS1 gaming even with the smaller screen.

Have you also heard of the flash drive adapter you can add to the audiophile PS1 to play roms? It's called PS-IO, supposedly it requires some simple soldering but nothing too difficult.

https://ps-io.com/

My Life in Gaming is a really cool channel. I think they have a video on the Phoebe/Rhea kits for playing Saturn games off a flash drive too if you're interested. Lots of stuff on Framemeister and other upscalers. Their PS2 video was really helpful to me for picking the hardware and configuration on my system, though after watching it I keep going back and forth on whether to buy a nice Trinitron CRT for my PS2 for the image quality or whether to leave it hooked up to my TV so I can have the music and sound playing on my stereo. No real room to put a CRT in my main setup, though maybe a cheap 2.1 would be good with it and the CRT. As I type this I'm kind of talking myself into it, especially to get a Genesis to use over composite too. Genesis and PS2 are two systems that seem to really be made for playing on CRT.

[DJR210]

You ever check the My Life in Gaming youtube channel? They do so many cool videos about older consoles and how to get the best video quality out of them today. Here's their video on the PS1, with the PSP discussed at the 14 minute mark. It's not quite as sharp as PS1 so I don't know if you'd be better off with PS1 over composite or PSPgo over component though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7fCTHu99bk&t=14m0s

BTW, that 2x scale for PS1 games on the Vita they mention really looks awesome. Just got an OLED Vita and I strongly prefer it over Switch for PS1 gaming even with the smaller screen.

Have you also heard of the flash drive adapter you can add to the audiophile PS1 to play roms? It's called PS-IO, supposedly it requires some simple soldering but nothing too difficult.

https://ps-io.com/

My Life in Gaming is a really cool channel. I think they have a video on the Phoebe/Rhea kits for playing Saturn games off a flash drive too if you're interested. Lots of stuff on Framemeister and other upscalers. Their PS2 video was really helpful to me for picking the hardware and configuration on my system, though after watching it I keep going back and forth on whether to buy a nice Trinitron CRT for my PS2 for the image quality or whether to leave it hooked up to my TV so I can have the music and sound playing on my stereo. No real room to put a CRT in my main setup, though maybe a cheap 2.1 would be good with it and the CRT. As I type this I'm kind of talking myself into it, especially to get a Genesis to use over composite too. Genesis and PS2 are two systems that seem to really be made for playing on CRT.

I like the iretroganer channel.. Damn shame dude deleted his page, but somebody uploaded some of his videos with the footage from the 90's

[spurraider21]

i played nba 2k19 with my buddy on sunday.

:lmao holy shit basketball games are complete trash. 2k games have felt identical for like 4-5 years now. i havent owned a basketball game for over a decade, but i have cousins who buy them every year. and man, at least since 2k16 or so, the games have felt exactly the same. the player animations are so drawn out. it feels like you're steering boats instead of humans. every movement/animation is so long and deliberate that it just feels like you're playing underwater.

so glad i haven't wasted a penny on this franchise. the only sports game worth playing these days is fifa imo

[SpursforSix]

i played nba 2k19 with my buddy on sunday.

:lmao holy shit basketball games are complete trash. 2k games have felt identical for like 4-5 years now. i havent owned a basketball game for over a decade, but i have cousins who buy them every year. and man, at least since 2k16 or so, the games have felt exactly the same. the player animations are so drawn out. it feels like you're steering boats instead of humans. every movement/animation is so long and deliberate that it just feels like you're playing underwater.

so glad i haven't wasted a penny on this franchise. the only sports game worth playing these days is fifa imo

Bend over, I'll fucking show you long and deliberate.

[baseline bum]

i played nba 2k19 with my buddy on sunday.

:lmao holy shit basketball games are complete trash. 2k games have felt identical for like 4-5 years now. i havent owned a basketball game for over a decade, but i have cousins who buy them every year. and man, at least since 2k16 or so, the games have felt exactly the same. the player animations are so drawn out. it feels like you're steering boats instead of humans. every movement/animation is so long and deliberate that it just feels like you're playing underwater.

so glad i haven't wasted a penny on this franchise. the only sports game worth playing these days is fifa imo

NBA 2k13 is the last one I bought. Since then I pirate them, play a game or two, and then delete from my hard drive when I see it's the same game it was back then but with new uniforms and a bad story mode. Amazing how quickly 2k went from being one of the most beloved franchises to being modern day NBA Live.

[baseline bum]

I like the iretroganer channel.. Damn shame dude deleted his page, but somebody uploaded some of his videos with the footage from the 90's

Wow thanks for recommending a channel I can't watch :lol

[spurraider21]

NBA 2k13 is the last one I bought. Since then I pirate them, play a game or two, and then delete from my hard drive when I see it's the same game it was back then but with new uniforms and a bad story mode. Amazing how quickly 2k went from being one of the most beloved franchises to being modern day NBA Live.
the most fun i had playing a basketball game was probably NBA Live 2004 (that or Street Vol 2 :lol). i thought 2005 was slightly worse but introduced the dunk contest which was cool at the time. last one i owned iirc was 2k8 or something and i remember hating it.

i never enjoyed 2k tbh, but they're laughably bad now

[baseline bum]

the most fun i had playing a basketball game was probably NBA Live 2004 (that or Street Vol 2 :lol). i thought 2005 was slightly worse but introduced the dunk contest which was cool at the time. last one i owned iirc was 2k8 or something and i remember hating it.

i never enjoyed 2k tbh, but they're laughably bad now

I wasn't a fan of Live 2004 at all. That jump step was so overpowered and looked like the most obvious travel ever. I really liked Live 2003 since it played like a 5 on 5 NBA Jam and then I thought Live 2005 was a solid sim. Live 2006 was the last one I liked in the series though, it went to hell pretty quickly after.

[spurraider21]

I wasn't a fan of Live 2004 at all. That jump step was so overpowered and looked like the most obvious travel ever. I really liked Live 2003 since it played like a 5 on 5 NBA Jam and then I thought Live 2005 was a solid sim. Live 2006 was the last one I liked in the series though, it went to hell pretty quickly after.
jump step was nuts, but imo it was perfectly countered by how OP shotblocking was in the paint. between rasho/duncan, it was near impossible to score a layup/dunk at all against the spurs in that game, for instance.

i'd say my biggest grip with Live 04 was generally how underpowered the spurs were. coming off a year where they were NBA champs, they were only rated 84 in the game. even lower than the nets they just spanked. significantly lower than the mavs/lakers/kings. the spurs perimeter players were terribad in the game, too.

and duncan, coming off his 2nd straight MVP, and a dominant finals MVP run, was rated 91 whereas KG/Kobe were 97's :lol

but from a gameplay perspective, i thought live 04 was fantastic

[baseline bum]

jump step was nuts, but imo it was perfectly countered by how OP shotblocking was in the paint. between rasho/duncan, it was near impossible to score a layup/dunk at all against the spurs in that game, for instance.

i'd say my biggest grip with Live 04 was generally how underpowered the spurs were. coming off a year where they were NBA champs, they were only rated 84 in the game. even lower than the nets they just spanked. significantly lower than the mavs/lakers/kings. the spurs perimeter players were terribad in the game, too.

and duncan, coming off his 2nd straight MVP, and a dominant finals MVP run, was rated 91 whereas KG/Kobe were 97's :lol

but from a gameplay perspective, i thought live 04 was fantastic

The overpowered blocks made Live 03 so much fun. I'd always play with New Jersey and between KMart and Mutombo it was hard for anyone to score on me inside. After a block I'd just throw the ball to Kidd and then Jefferson and Kittles would streak to the rim for easy open court dunks. :lol

The most broken defense though was Live 99 by far. Instead of boxing out you could shove people to the ground. Instead of having to intercept passes you'd just shove the guy receiving the pass before the ball got to him and then catch it.

[spurraider21]

The overpowered blocks made Live 03 so much fun. I'd always play with New Jersey and between KMart and Mutombo it was hard for anyone to score on me inside. After a block I'd just throw the ball to Kidd and then Jefferson and Kittles would streak to the rim for easy open court dunks. :lol

The most broken defense though was Live 99 by far. Instead of boxing out you could shove people to the ground. Instead of having to intercept passes you'd just shove the guy receiving the pass before the ball got to him and then catch it.
i never played that one... but there was a very similar dynamic in Live 2001. hand checking was absurdly OP

sometimes when playing friends we'd turn fouls off and just go ham :lmao

[baseline bum]

i never played that one... but there was a very similar dynamic in Live 2001. hand checking was absurdly OP

sometimes when playing friends we'd turn fouls off and just go ham :lmao

The shoving in Live 99 was an order of magnitude more powerful than the hand checking in Live 01. You could easily play games of Live 99 where the only points given up would be free throws from when you mistimed your shoves too many times in a quarter. :lol

Live 2001 was such a POS. Live 2000 was great for the time and then supposedly EA went and fired everyone and hired a bunch of cheap motherfuckers for 01. Live 01 looked great graphically but god the pace was so slow.

[spurraider21]

i always use my favorite team as primary though... so i was always stuck with whatever the spurs/raiders had in NBA/Madden games. the spurs weren't all that fun to play with in live 04 outside of posting up with duncan... but it was a cool challenge trying to score with that squad. when i played dynasty mode i'd always just abuse trades to eventually stack my team. would always trade for jason richardson. sometimes after 1 season iverson was a free agent, but went unsigned, so was available for the league minimum :lol

[baseline bum]

i always use my favorite team as primary though... so i was always stuck with whatever the spurs/raiders had in NBA/Madden games. the spurs weren't all that fun to play with in live 04 outside of posting up with duncan... but it was a cool challenge trying to score with that squad. when i played dynasty mode i'd always just abuse trades to eventually stack my team. would always trade for jason richardson. sometimes after 1 season iverson was a free agent, but went unsigned, so was available for the league minimum :lol

At least you had Tecmo Super Bowl :lol

[spurraider21]

At least you had Tecmo Super Bowl :lol
i'm not that old :lol...

raiders were only truly frustrating to play with during the jamarcus years, but McFadden was enough to carry the offense, and raiders D always outperformed their ratings because their entire secondary always had speed ratings above 90, despite mediocre overall stats. but speed kills on defense, and they always had a good passrush with guys like richard seymour. after the russell era it got fun because carson palmer was good and even after that terrelle pryor, like all mobile qb's, was good.

i think madden peaked around 12 or 13 or so. now the games feel as slow as the modern nba gmes. too much emphasis on animations.

my favorite football game (besides blitz 2000 maybe, fur the lulz) was ESPN 2k5. that game blew madden out of the water and retailed for like $20 or $25

[DJR210]

Wow thanks for recommending a channel I can't watch :lol

I figured you would know what it is, it's one of the top recommended by the algorithm.. but like I was saying, some other channel uploaded his best video series and credited him.

Here's episode 1:


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

[baseline bum]

I figured you would know what it is, it's one of the top recommended by the algorithm.. but like I was saying, some other channel uploaded his best video series and credited him.

Here's episode 1:


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

Nice, I'll have to check his shit. :tu

[leemajors]

they have an NBA Jam cabinet at Oddwood Ales here in Austin :tu

[spurraider21]

i'm almost done with red dead, based on my completion% (im at about 87%, but that includes a bunch of challenges that i have no interest completing). i also know i'm on the final chapter.

man, this was such a good game. but long as fuck. i cant imagine coming back to play this game for at least 3-4 years or somethin tbh. i'm sure there are other games where you can put in as many if not more hours exploring all the side content (fallout games tend to be that way, i understand witcher 3 is absolutely massive), but even just sticking to the campaign/story and doing no side content would be a LOONG journey.more to the point, even though there's an honor system, there are very few narrative choices you can actually make that would make it worth going back and replaying tbh. its not an rpg like fallout where you can go back and make a lockpick/science/speech/stealth run, and then come back with a small guns/energy weapons/repair based run.

but as a one-shot game, its as good a masterpiece as rockstar has put out. i dont feel like it has great replayability though. that being said i dont have PS Plus so i havent played online, and online components are obviously a big factor in the staying power of games.


next big ticket game on my list to play is God of War, but I plan to sneak in 1 or 2 smaller games before jumping in. i have something like 10-12 short ~10 hour games in my library that i want to clear out. main one is battlefront 2, which is primarily a MP game, but has a short ~6 hour campaign and yet is taking up 90 gigs of space. POS cousin convinced me to download it off his library because he claims the campaign was fun. it better be :lol

[apalisoc_9]

i'm almost done with red dead, based on my completion% (im at about 87%, but that includes a bunch of challenges that i have no interest completing). i also know i'm on the final chapter.

man, this was such a good game. but long as fuck. i cant imagine coming back to play this game for at least 3-4 years or somethin tbh. i'm sure there are other games where you can put in as many if not more hours exploring all the side content (fallout games tend to be that way, i understand witcher 3 is absolutely massive), but even just sticking to the campaign/story and doing no side content would be a LOONG journey.more to the point, even though there's an honor system, there are very few narrative choices you can actually make that would make it worth going back and replaying tbh. its not an rpg like fallout where you can go back and make a lockpick/science/speech/stealth run, and then come back with a small guns/energy weapons/repair based run.

but as a one-shot game, its as good a masterpiece as rockstar has put out. i dont feel like it has great replayability though. that being said i dont have PS Plus so i havent played online, and online components are obviously a big factor in the staying power of games.


next big ticket game on my list to play is God of War, but I plan to sneak in 1 or 2 smaller games before jumping in. i have something like 10-12 short ~10 hour games in my library that i want to clear out. main one is battlefront 2, which is primarily a MP game, but has a short ~6 hour campaign and yet is taking up 90 gigs of space. POS cousin convinced me to download it off his library because he claims the campaign was fun. it better be :lol

Should take a couple weeks off from gaming. I find playing games after finishing 60+ hour games a chore.

After finishing inquisation a few years ago..played bloodbrone and got so bored.

[spurraider21]

Should take a couple weeks off from gaming. I find playing games after finishing 60+ hour games a chore.

After finishing inquisation a few years ago..played bloodbrone and got so bored.
eh, having taking a multi-year hiatus from regular gaming, i'm eager to get through a lot of these games. i basically missed the entire ps4 cycle, and tbh have a lot of classic/remastered old gen games that i never got through either

and i definitely agree about the fatigue ur talking about, but i generally dont feel that with the shorter linear games... nathan drake collection, ratchet and clank, etc. to me, playing those games is tantamount to taking a "break" from the bigger open world games. the big games i currently have in my library are God of War, Horizon, and Fallout 4. everything else i have seems to be sub-15 hours. its why i had a quick arkham asylum run before jumping into RDR2 following the last of us. TLOU wasn't that long, but it was such a heavy game

[baseline bum]

i'm almost done with red dead, based on my completion% (im at about 87%, but that includes a bunch of challenges that i have no interest completing). i also know i'm on the final chapter.

man, this was such a good game. but long as fuck. i cant imagine coming back to play this game for at least 3-4 years or somethin tbh. i'm sure there are other games where you can put in as many if not more hours exploring all the side content (fallout games tend to be that way, i understand witcher 3 is absolutely massive), but even just sticking to the campaign/story and doing no side content would be a LOONG journey.more to the point, even though there's an honor system, there are very few narrative choices you can actually make that would make it worth going back and replaying tbh. its not an rpg like fallout where you can go back and make a lockpick/science/speech/stealth run, and then come back with a small guns/energy weapons/repair based run.

but as a one-shot game, its as good a masterpiece as rockstar has put out. i dont feel like it has great replayability though. that being said i dont have PS Plus so i havent played online, and online components are obviously a big factor in the staying power of games.


next big ticket game on my list to play is God of War, but I plan to sneak in 1 or 2 smaller games before jumping in. i have something like 10-12 short ~10 hour games in my library that i want to clear out. main one is battlefront 2, which is primarily a MP game, but has a short ~6 hour campaign and yet is taking up 90 gigs of space. POS cousin convinced me to download it off his library because he claims the campaign was fun. it better be :lol

My favorite palate cleansers after a long game like that are short dumb games, like Donut County or Firewatch. I often don't like to play anything but really short bite sized stuff like that for a week after completing a mega game like RDR2. Though I think I may have stopped playing much of anything for a month or so after The Witcher 3 since that was so long.

[apalisoc_9]

After finishing p5 this year i think i took a month off.

But yeah shorter games are nice.

[spurraider21]

My favorite palate cleansers after a long game like that are short dumb games, like Donut County or Firewatch. I often don't like to play anything but really short bite sized stuff like that for a week after completing a mega game like RDR2. Though I think I may have stopped playing much of anything for a month or so after The Witcher 3 since that was so long.
back in the day i would just go back to COD multiplayer like a degenerate tbh :lol

that's basically all i would do between playing the big titles. that was the most cost effective thing to do as a college student tbh

[chunticakes]

Did you play the original?

I did I just never finished it. I also played Nemesis on the PS1 and RE 1 on the GC.

[SpursforSix]

can't post too much about...yes...Genital Joust

mYBITTBluoE

[DJR210]

I did I just never finished it. I also played Nemesis on the PS1 and RE 1 on the GC.

RE2 Remake is fucking sick

[baseline bum]

RE2 Remake is fucking sick

God bless the CODEX Store

[Joseph Kony]

Yep, pretty close to beating the first playthrough with Leon then onto Claire. it's been quite exceptional tbh. one of the more hard to put down games ive played lately

[apalisoc_9]

Yep, pretty close to beating the first playthrough with Leon then onto Claire. it's been quite exceptional tbh. one of the more hard to put down games ive played lately

Fuck. I was thinking of getting divinity original sin 2 now i might have to reconsider. So much hype around re2.

[baseline bum]

RE2 Remake is fucking sick

Hey man does the executable take a long time to load for you? Also what settings are you running?

I thought maybe I just had the shittiest 970 out there but this guy a 1555 MHz gets drops into the 20s during cutscenes too


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4QSSwFFCyU

[baseline bum]

Boy the volumetric lighting setting rapes my 970. In that cutscene right before you shoot that first zombie in the ice house with Claire my minimum framerates at different settings are:

LOW: 62 fps
MEDIUM: 46 fps
HIGH: 27 fps

I gotta try some other settings to see if it's only volumetric lighting.

EDIT: So turning everything to max except shadows at high, AA at FXAA+TAA, and volumetric at medium only drops me to 44 fps minimum in that cutscene. Seems like that volumetric lighting setting may be main thing that determines performance.

Good intro though, I may have to start playing this for real tomorrow.

[DJR210]

Hey man does the executable take a long time to load for you? Also what settings are you running?

I thought maybe I just had the shittiest 970 out there but this guy a 1555 MHz gets drops into the 20s during cutscenes too


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4QSSwFFCyU

There is a delay from the time I launch the game before it catches and starts functioning as usual.. RE7 did this exact shit too. The graphics settings are expansive, I've spent a ton of time messing with them.. The three settings I'd recommend for you to adjust are SSAO instead of HBAO+, shadows to medium, and the proper texture size for your VRAM.. Volumetric lighting from the max to medium is negligible look wise, but gives you back a good amount of frames in dark scenes.. It doesn't really rape my 1060 though.

[DJR210]

I did I just never finished it. I also played Nemesis on the PS1 and RE 1 on the GC.

I'm praying for a Resident Evil Code Veronica remake.. that's the TRUE Resident Evil 3.. Sony pushed Capcom to hurry up and get a game out for them scared Code Veronica was gonna steal their glory and sell Dreamcasts, so they forced a numbered entry exclusive into the series a few months early.. 3 was definitely my least favorite of the original series.

[baseline bum]

There is a delay from the time I launch the game before it catches and starts functioning as usual.. RE7 did this exact shit too. The graphics settings are expansive, I've spent a ton of time messing with them.. The three settings I'd recommend for you to adjust are SSAO instead of HBAO+, shadows to medium, and the proper texture size for your VRAM.. Volumetric lighting from the max to medium is negligible look wise, but gives you back a good amount of frames in dark scenes.. It doesn't really rape my 1060 though.

HBAO+ seems to not take too much performance away. Does SSAO look almost as good? SSAO and HBAO+ are virtually indistinguishable for me in every game but Witcher 3 (where HBAO+ is amazing) so I probably will scale back to SSAO in this one. Are high shadows dropping your gpu load under 100%? High vs medium hasn't made any difference for me, though I always thought shadows were very cpu bound usually. Volumetric on medium seems to allow me to stay over 60 fps in game but the cutscenes seem to have occasional drops into the forties.

Great game so far. For whatever reason I can't get it to recognize my wireless keyboard though so I'm playing with my 360 controller. Damn I wish Maxwell supported FreeSync so I could go buy a FreeSync monitor and run it cleanly at 40-100 fps though. No way I'm paying for GSync now.

[chunticakes]

I'm praying for a Resident Evil Code Veronica remake.. that's the TRUE Resident Evil 3.. Sony pushed Capcom to hurry up and get a game out for them scared Code Veronica was gonna steal their glory and sell Dreamcasts, so they forced a numbered entry exclusive into the series a few months early.. 3 was definitely my least favorite of the original series.

So I've heard. That's the one in Alaska or whatever right? In any event, RE7 and this remake have been epic. If they put out another remake I'll be sure to scoop it up immediately.

[baseline bum]

So I've heard. That's the one in Alaska or whatever right? In any event, RE7 and this remake have been epic. If they put out another remake I'll be sure to scoop it up immediately.

I think I'm going to wait for cheap PC VR to play RE 7. I know PS VR is pretty cheap but can't say I want to jump on it when RE7 and Astro Bot are the only good games.

[DJR210]

So I've heard. That's the one in Alaska or whatever right? In any event, RE7 and this remake have been epic. If they put out another remake I'll be sure to scoop it up immediately.

It eventually has you head to Antarctica.. really great entry. The main character you deal with is creepy and the soundtrack is amazing.

[DJR210]

I think I'm going to wait for cheap PC VR to play RE 7. I know PS VR is pretty cheap but can't say I want to jump on it when RE7 and Astro Bot are the only good games.

I just finished RE7.. I don't even really consider it a RE game tbh, but it's just a great game on it's own.

[SpursforSix]

Are RE2 and RE Revelations any good? They’re both offered for the Switch.

[ElNono]

HBAO+ seems to not take too much performance away. Does SSAO look almost as good? SSAO and HBAO+ are virtually indistinguishable for me in every game but Witcher 3 (where HBAO+ is amazing) so I probably will scale back to SSAO in this one. Are high shadows dropping your gpu load under 100%? High vs medium hasn't made any difference for me, though I always thought shadows were very cpu bound usually. Volumetric on medium seems to allow me to stay over 60 fps in game but the cutscenes seem to have occasional drops into the forties.

Great game so far. For whatever reason I can't get it to recognize my wireless keyboard though so I'm playing with my 360 controller. Damn I wish Maxwell supported FreeSync so I could go buy a FreeSync monitor and run it cleanly at 40-100 fps though. No way I'm paying for GSync now.

HBAO+ has more precision than SSAO for just about the same performance penalty (if SSAO is using half resolution zbuffers, it's faster. At full res, it's probably slower). That said, AO quality isn't that much different between the two (and certainly lesser than VXAO, which has a larger performance penalty), and it's really dependent on the game geometry.

[spurraider21]

battlefront 2 is trash, at least the campaign. feels like a ps2 game with ps4 skin. good things its mercifully short. probably gonna play uncharted 1 next followed by arkham city. then see if i'm up for god of war

[baseline bum]

Just picked up Yakuza 6 from Best Buy for $20 (they also have Yakuza Kiwami 2 for $30 which is a great deal). Finally have the entire series on PS3+PS4.

[Leetonidas]

Picked up just cause 4 for 20 bucks. Oh my god the graphics are terrible wtf happened here :lol

[baseline bum]

There is a delay from the time I launch the game before it catches and starts functioning as usual.. RE7 did this exact shit too. The graphics settings are expansive, I've spent a ton of time messing with them.. The three settings I'd recommend for you to adjust are SSAO instead of HBAO+, shadows to medium, and the proper texture size for your VRAM.. Volumetric lighting from the max to medium is negligible look wise, but gives you back a good amount of frames in dark scenes.. It doesn't really rape my 1060 though.

CODEX just released a crackfix to fix keyboard support as well as that long blackscreen on launch on one version of Windows 10.

[spurraider21]

after wrapping up the equally uninspiring DLC content for battlefront 2, i played the opening couple sequences of Uncharted 1... man even remastered the game looks dated. i imagine it will still be fun, and i've heard the rest of the series is leaps and bounds better than the first game.

i usually dont give a shit about graphics, but after playing some high end ps4 games (spider man, last of us, red dead) it's pretty glaring :lol. i'll get over it shortly.

[Joseph Kony]

after wrapping up the equally uninspiring DLC content for battlefront 2, i played the opening couple sequences of Uncharted 1... man even remastered the game looks dated. i imagine it will still be fun, and i've heard the rest of the series is leaps and bounds better than the first game.

i usually dont give a shit about graphics, but after playing some high end ps4 games (spider man, last of us, red dead) it's pretty glaring :lol. i'll get over it shortly.

Uncharted 2 >>>>> all of them imo. 4 is really good also but a lot of that is due to the success of LoU and Naughty Dog trying to implement some of that style into the game, i think storywise overall Uncharted 2 is the best in the series. 3 was kinda forgettable for me

[baseline bum]

after wrapping up the equally uninspiring DLC content for battlefront 2, i played the opening couple sequences of Uncharted 1... man even remastered the game looks dated. i imagine it will still be fun, and i've heard the rest of the series is leaps and bounds better than the first game.

i usually dont give a shit about graphics, but after playing some high end ps4 games (spider man, last of us, red dead) it's pretty glaring :lol. i'll get over it shortly.

I didn't think the graphics were so bad, but the control feels very dated in Uncharted 1. The control is indeed leaps and bounds better in Uncharted 2 and beyond. Also no way The Last of Us is a high end PS4 game graphically.

[baseline bum]

Uncharted 2 >>>>> all of them imo. 4 is really good also but a lot of that is due to the success of LoU and Naughty Dog trying to implement some of that style into the game, i think storywise overall Uncharted 2 is the best in the series. 3 was kinda forgettable for me

Man I thought they all got progressively better up to and through UC4 (never played Lost Legacy), with UC2 night and day better than UC1, UC3 slightly better than UC2, and UC4 significantly better than UC3. Though I played them on PS4. I heard on PS3 that UC3 ran like shit.

[spurraider21]

I didn't think the graphics were so bad, but the control feels very dated in Uncharted 1. The control is indeed leaps and bounds better in Uncharted 2 and beyond. Also no way The Last of Us is a high end PS4 game graphically.
True true. But the motion capture/facial expressions during cutscenes were still as good as anything I’ve seen. Especially compared to uncharted 1’s cutscenes

[apalisoc_9]

Man I thought they all got progressively better up to and through UC4 (never played Lost Legacy), with UC2 night and day better than UC1, UC3 slightly better than UC2, and UC4 significantly better than UC3. Though I played them on PS4. I heard on PS3 that UC3 ran like shit.

True. I thought 3 was better than 2.

[Xevious]

Man I thought they all got progressively better up to and through UC4 (never played Lost Legacy), with UC2 night and day better than UC1, UC3 slightly better than UC2, and UC4 significantly better than UC3. Though I played them on PS4. I heard on PS3 that UC3 ran like shit.
I think the main problem with UC3 is the story and pacing. I didn't play it that long ago and I can't even tell you what the fuck was going on other than very broad strokes. It's as if they came up with the biggest and craziest action set pieces they could come up with (which were fucking awesome) and then shoehorned a story around it. It doesn't really explain why Nate is doing what he's doing, etc. The best part about it (other than the set pieces) is the evolution of Nate and Sully's relationship, which was never really delved into before.

I just think UC2 and UC4 are on another level, storywise. You can definitely see TLoU influence on UC4, which has a much more down-to-earth, human story than the others, with Nate's internal struggle between helping his brother and having to lie to Elena about it.

[Chris]

Hitman First Season free on PS+ liking the training missions + they haven't changed the mechanics from the original games :tu

[baseline bum]

Started playing God of War 2 tonight on my PS3 and I'm bored to death by it. The quicktime event fights have not aged well IMO. Screw playing the games in sequence, I think I'll just start the PS4 game tomorrow. Either that or Resident Evil 2.

[redzero]

I keep telling myself that I would get to Witcher 3 after I finish the first two, but I think I'll just skip the first one. The second chapter is so long and tedious.

[baseline bum]

So does Resident Evil 4 play a lot like this remake of RE2? RE2 is pretty killer so far.

[baseline bum]

So am I the only one just brute forcing the combination locks in Resident Evil 2? With only 6*6*6 = 216 combinations it's pretty quick to do.

[apalisoc_9]

Playing apex legends right now. Great tactical battle royal imo. Very focused on teamwork though

[apalisoc_9]

Some of these faggots just running around like idiots. But to be fair to apex legends..game really forces you to stick together.

Might be the goat battle royal game so far.

[Chris]

So does Resident Evil 4 play a lot like this remake of RE2? RE2 is pretty killer so far.

RE4 is arguably the best game in the series though I was pretty blown away by RE7. I haven't played the remake yet, but excited to after seeing overwhelming positive reviews. I've been trying to avoid watching gameplay though ( I hate spoilers)

[baseline bum]

RE4 is arguably the best game in the series though I was pretty blown away by RE7. I haven't played the remake yet, but excited to after seeing overwhelming positive reviews. I've been trying to avoid watching gameplay though ( I hate spoilers)

I'd definitely recommend picking up a copy when it's on sale. Or if you have a gaming PC there is the CODEX sale :lol

[Chris]

I'd definitely recommend picking up a copy when it's on sale. Or if you have a gaming PC there is the CODEX sale :lol

I abandoned the pirate life a long time ago tbh, but I've been playing RE since PS1 so it's just a matter of time before I get my hands on it.

[baseline bum]

I abandoned the pirate life a long time ago tbh, but I've been playing RE since PS1 so it's just a matter of time before I get my hands on it.

While the game is amazing, it also seems to be pretty short. Maybe better as a rental than a $60 buy. Do the storylines continue or are the games independent? This is actually my first RE game and I'm really interested in playing RE4 some time later.

[apalisoc_9]

Man you're not gonna like RE4.

RE4 is my favourite RE too though. I just dont see you liking the more action oriented resident evil 4.

[DJR210]

So am I the only one just brute forcing the combination locks in Resident Evil 2? With only 6*6*6 = 216 combinations it's pretty quick to do.

I haven't done any of the combination locks other than the ones at Leon's desk using the first letter of the other cops first names..


So does Resident Evil 4 play a lot like this remake of RE2? RE2 is pretty killer so far.

Resident Evil 4, 5, 6 are all pretty much the same as far as gameplay.. RE2 is similiar but the control scheme is more polished

[Joseph Kony]

hopefully will be able to beat RE2 today. Just arrived at the umbrella facility on claires playthrough. after playing this superb remake, i really hope they do a remake of RE3, which was my favorite of the original 3. or even do a remake of the first like this one, i tried to play the remake of it but the wonky camera angles just dont work in the current era of gaming tbh

[baseline bum]

Hey DJR210, is the actual gameplay of Shadow of the Tomb Raider as cpu bound as the last section of the built-in benchmark seems to be? Never thought I'd see the day when my hyperthreaded Xeon E3-1231v3 is a massive bottleneck, but no matter what resolution, textures, AA I choose I always drop into the 30s in that open air market section of the ingame benchmark, so it's gotta be a cpu bound section. Think I'll play this at 1600x900 with TAA on since it looks way better than 1920x1080 with TAA off.

[chunticakes]

hopefully will be able to beat RE2 today. Just arrived at the umbrella facility on claires playthrough. after playing this superb remake, i really hope they do a remake of RE3, which was my favorite of the original 3. or even do a remake of the first like this one, i tried to play the remake of it but the wonky camera angles just dont work in the current era of gaming tbh

I'm in the sewers with Claire. I personally thought it was more difficult with Leon. Claire seems to have more ammo not to mention more powerful weapons.

[baseline bum]

I'm in the sewers with Claire. I personally thought it was more difficult with Leon. Claire seems to have more ammo not to mention more powerful weapons.

That where I'm at on my Leon playthrough. Is there much reason to play a second time with Claire? Or is it just the same game with everything in different areas? Aside from the weapons and ammo you mentioned.

[Chris]

While the game is amazing, it also seems to be pretty short. Maybe better as a rental than a $60 buy. Do the storylines continue or are the games independent? This is actually my first RE game and I'm really interested in playing RE4 some time later.

The story lines continue but the main characters Leon Kennedy and Chris Redfield have separate storylines that eventually coincide. You can play RE4 independently of any of the other games as it sets a new story with a new type of t-virus focused exclusively on Leon. Also don't sleep on RE5 which has a great story but people got frustrated with the teamwork co-op stuff.

[baseline bum]

The story lines continue but the main characters Leon Kennedy and Chris Redfield have separate storylines that eventually coincide. You can play RE4 independently of any of the other games as it sets a new story with a new type of t-virus focused exclusively on Leon. Also don't sleep on RE5 which has a great story but people got frustrated with the teamwork co-op stuff.

Thanks. I'll definitely check RE4 at some point. Might skip RE3 until there is a remake.

[Chris]

Thanks. I'll definitely check RE4 at some point. Might skip RE3 until there is a remake.

It's a pretty weak entry in the series - definitely skippable and something you can come back to. I bought a digital copy for $5 on my ps3 and it hasn't aged well imo.

[chunticakes]

That where I'm at on my Leon playthrough. Is there much reason to play a second time with Claire? Or is it just the same game with everything in different areas? Aside from the weapons and ammo you mentioned.

From what I've seen, Leon and Claire interact with different characters and travel through different parts of the police station en route to the hive. It's similar but the different in a way? It's hard to explain without sounding like Fabbs.

I did notice that with Claire I encountered lickers a whole lot more and a lot less of the douchey Tyrant.

I think it's worth it playing it with both characters, tbh.

[Leetonidas]

That where I'm at on my Leon playthrough. Is there much reason to play a second time with Claire? Or is it just the same game with everything in different areas? Aside from the weapons and ammo you mentioned.

It's obviously similar since you're going through the same areas but it's still fairly different. Definitely need to play both ways to get the full story.

[baseline bum]

From what I've seen, Leon and Claire interact with different characters and travel through different parts of the police station en route to the hive. It's similar but the different in a way? It's hard to explain without sounding like Fabbs.

I did notice that with Claire I encountered lickers a whole lot more and a lot less of the douchey Tyrant.

I think it's worth it playing it with both characters, tbh.



It's obviously similar since you're going through the same areas but it's still fairly different. Definitely need to play both ways to get the full story.

So for instance I'm not going to pull bookcases in the library as Claire like I did as Leon? So worth doing the Claire playthrough immediately after the Leon one? I think I'm pretty close to the end of the Leon playthrough.

[Trainwreck2100]

While the game is amazing, it also seems to be pretty short. Maybe better as a rental than a $60 buy. Do the storylines continue or are the games independent? This is actually my first RE game and I'm really interested in playing RE4 some time later.

RE4 competely changed how the game plays, but it's still a really good game, 5 and 6 are pretty meh but if you like 4 you'd probably like them

[apalisoc_9]

Seriously no one playing apex legends? Awesome game

[chunticakes]

So for instance I'm not going to pull bookcases in the library as Claire like I did as Leon? So worth doing the Claire playthrough immediately after the Leon one? I think I'm pretty close to the end of the Leon playthrough.

Yes exactly. I finished Leon's story in one weekend and started playing Claire's story the next week.

With each character I think you explore certain areas you can't with the other. For example, with Claire you have access to the police chief's office and the graveyard just to name a few (which I never saw as Leon).

[spurraider21]

Started playing God of War 2 tonight on my PS3 and I'm bored to death by it. The quicktime event fights have not aged well IMO. Screw playing the games in sequence, I think I'll just start the PS4 game tomorrow. Either that or Resident Evil 2.
2 and 3 played very very similarly. I thought 2 was fun at the time, not sure how well it has aged. I just remember 3 being more satisfying because you are literally dismantling Olympus one god at a time

[baseline bum]

2 and 3 played very very similarly. I thought 2 was fun at the time, not sure how well it has aged. I just remember 3 being more satisfying because you are literally dismantling Olympus one god at a time

Maybe I'll give it a second chance on Vita some time but I got pretty bored in that second part of the first colossus fight where you can barely hit his hands and then you do button presses for quicktime events. Though Heavenly Sword has to be the worst game for quicktime events, as it gives you no time to respond. I was really disappointed by Heavenly Sword as it was one of the first I got when I bought a PS3 a couple of years ago, since that was supposed to be one the first impressive PS3 game that wasn't a FPS.

[DJR210]

Hey DJR210 (https://www.spurstalk.com/forums/member.php?u=42671), is the actual gameplay of Shadow of the Tomb Raider as cpu bound as the last section of the built-in benchmark seems to be? Never thought I'd see the day when my hyperthreaded Xeon E3-1231v3 is a massive bottleneck, but no matter what resolution, textures, AA I choose I always drop into the 30s in that open air market section of the ingame benchmark, so it's gotta be a cpu bound section. Think I'll play this at 1600x900 with TAA on since it looks way better than 1920x1080 with TAA off.

I don't know.. I installed it and played like 5 mins.. Will get back around to it at some point soon.

[baseline bum]

I don't know.. I installed it and played like 5 mins.. Will get back around to it at some point soon.

Damn I thought that was one of the games you were hyped about this year. Hopefully CPY is fast on Sekiro next month, though I may just buy that shit since I love From Software. Unless it's a garbage port.

[Joseph Kony]

So for instance I'm not going to pull bookcases in the library as Claire like I did as Leon? So worth doing the Claire playthrough immediately after the Leon one? I think I'm pretty close to the end of the Leon playthrough.

No, that is still something you do :lol but for instance where the game starts is different, X pursues you from the beginning with Claire whereas he doesnt appear until you put the fire out on that helicopter with Leon. Leon also has the Ada story in his playthrough whereas Claire has the Sherry arc which you see the orphanage in her playthrough. The objectives may be slightly different too, like Leon is trying to secure the G virus at the end, whereas Claire is trying to secure the antivirus. Some stuff is still the same (like getting the chess plug pieces to open that garbage door, but instead of Ada it will be Sherry, but the plugs go in different places). Claire also has more weapons and the boss fights at the end are different with her. plus the whole train thing at the end of Leons playthough makes sense when you play as claire. i was wondering why tf a train was just going by as the place was falling apart when i escaped with Leon :lol

[Joseph Kony]

Damn I thought that was one of the games you were hyped about this year. Hopefully CPY is fast on Sekiro next month, though I may just buy that shit since I love From Software. Unless it's a garbage port.

nah that was me. it's a solid game, but it's definitely not better than ROTR imo which is the best of the trilogy. although some poster here thinks its basically the same game as AC Odyssey :lol so take it how you will

[apalisoc_9]

I cant wait for sekiro tbh. Will be my first "new game" buy in 2019..

[baseline bum]

I cant wait for sekiro tbh. Will be my first "new game" buy in 2019..

Sekiro, Dying Light 2, and then whichever of the exclusives shown off at last E3 (Death Stranding, The Last of Us Part II, and Ghost of Tsushima) that release in 2019 are the games I'm really interested in this year. Normally I'd be really into Metro Exodus also but I know my gpu will have no chance to run that game at 60 fps, and Metro games aren't made to be played at console settings. And while Shin Megami Tensei V is by far my most anticipated title, I doubt we see western localization in 2019. Probably a Japanese release though. I'll probably buy Spiderman this year too when it drops to $20, and then wait for Kingdom Hearts 3 to hit $20 also. Speaking of Kingdom Hearts, it's hilarious seeing the HD 1.5+2.5 Remix selling for $60 used. I think I paid $20 for my copy.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B01M32FMUL/ref=dp_olp_all_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=all

[apalisoc_9]

Man shooters...lol. its a sturggle for single player gamers like us.

Some of these dudes are so skillled. I'm almost always the weakest player.

Only FPS shooter ive ever played is resistance. Some of these dudes have crazy aim

[baseline bum]

Man shooters...lol. its a sturggle for single player gamers like us.

Some of these dudes are so skillled. I'm almost always the weakest player.

Only FPS shooter ive ever played is resistance. Some of these dudes have crazy aim

Metro 2033 and Metro Last Light are awesome SP shooters but the Metro games generally require state of the art gaming PCs when they're released to play at high settings with good framerates.

[Xevious]

Replayed Uncharted 4 on crushing difficulty. I thought it was pretty easy until I reached the island and you have all those massive enemy encounters. It's so unforgiving if you get noticed at all.

[spurraider21]

im about 40% through Uncharted 1... the game is pretty boring tbh. shootouts just feel like a chore. and there is little to no story to at least keep it compelling. i'll still finish it, obviously, and i'm aware that the first one is widely considered to be the worst, so its not going to stop me from continuing through the series. also maybe i'm missing something but there's basically no stealth mechanic in this entry... and that's what makes it boring. in every sequence with enemies, they already know you're there so they just pour out guns blazing, and it gets monotonous.

i'm playing on Hard... not brutal or crushing. but its not the difficulty level that's bothering me.

[apalisoc_9]

UC1 felt outdated even playing with a ps3. Srs.

Granted I played Uncharted 1,2,3 in a span of a month at ps3 end of life cycle.

I think people should lower their expectations with older tittles.

[apalisoc_9]

Its also part of the reason why Uncharted 2 was such a huge hit. As someone who played UC2 an hour after finishing 1, i was mindblown with the difference. Graphics is significantly different, better dialouge and story, much improved combat etc.

2 set the the standard for uncharted. And I honestly think 3 was an overall better game but its hard to sing praises because it only improved in small areas.

[spurraider21]

Its also part of the reason why Uncharted 2 was such a huge hit. As someone who played UC2 an hour after finishing 1, i was mindblown with the difference. Graphics is significantly different, better dialouge and story, much improved combat etc.

2 set the the standard for uncharted. And I honestly think 3 was an overall better game but its hard to sing praises because it only improved in small areas.
honestly i dont care all too much about the graphics. uncharted 1 is fine as far as i'm concerned, on that front. the gameplay is just lackluster. its just a very basic third person cover shooter. the platforming isn't anything special. the melee is terrible. even the guns feel stupid. i honestly feel the basic 9mm pistol is the only weapon i really trust. the AK feels inefficient.

nathan is pretty funny, but there's almost zero plot, at least so far.

[baseline bum]

Just finished the Leon playthrough of RE2. Excellent game so far, but howlongtobeat.com is full of shit saying it's a 7 1/2 hour game. I spent about 11 1/2 on the Leon playthrough. Probably will start a Claire playthrough tomorrow.

[baseline bum]

Its also part of the reason why Uncharted 2 was such a huge hit. As someone who played UC2 an hour after finishing 1, i was mindblown with the difference. Graphics is significantly different, better dialouge and story, much improved combat etc.

2 set the the standard for uncharted. And I honestly think 3 was an overall better game but its hard to sing praises because it only improved in small areas.

UC2 is for the most part great (and far superior to UC1) but I do hate how every enemy is such a bullet sponge in UC2. I don't remember UC3 nor UC4 being so over the top in how many shots each enemy can absorb, at least in comparison to UC2.

[spurraider21]

Just finished the Leon playthrough of RE2. Excellent game so far, but howlongtobeat.com is full of shit saying it's a 7 1/2 hour game. I spent about 11 1/2 on the Leon playthrough. Probably will start a Claire playthrough tomorrow.
yeah i think often times they rely on people who have already played/beaten the game, and second playthroughs will generally be shorter. i use it to get a general sense of how big a game is.

[spurraider21]

also i have no idea what all these RE titles are. so many remakes, i have no clue how many main entries there are and how many are remakes

[Xevious]

I started God of War... and honestly I'm having a hard time getting into it. I've never played the other games in the series so I kind of went into this blind. They never really appealed to me as they just looked like button mashers and quick time events vs large creatures from Greek mythology. But since the game play this time around looked different and there was so much hype surrounding it, I thought I'd give it try. But the controls feel really awkward to me for some reason. I've tried switching the button configuration around but can't seem to find one that feels comfortable. And on top of that I really have no idea what's going on storywise, or if it even matters. Going to keep trying though.

[apalisoc_9]

I started God of War... and honestly I'm having a hard time getting into it. I've never played the other games in the series so I kind of went into this blind. They never really appealed to me as they just looked like button mashers and quick time events vs large creatures from Greek mythology. But since the game play this time around looked different and there was so much hype surrounding it, I thought I'd give it try. But the controls feel really awkward to me for some reason. I've tried switching the button configuration around but can't seem to find one that feels comfortable. And on top of that I really have no idea what's going on storywise, or if it even matters. Going to keep trying though.

GOW combat is closer to Bloodborne. It's a more strategic combat system and usually in these kind of games the control feels awkward to start.

Dont worry about the story for now. Brief background..Kratos decided to leave sparta for a peaceful life but his past is hunting him now because the Gods of his new world knows him.him.

Its a 9.0 story with 10/10 dialogue amd voice acting.

Its not going to have the same amount of lore depth as HZD but its still amazing.

[Cry Havoc]

Apex Legends is fucking amazing. I'm pouring hours into it.

[baseline bum]

Apex Legends is fucking amazing. I'm pouring hours into it.

You checking the Nintendo Direct today? Sounds like we might get a Metroid Prime Trilogy announcement, possibly a new 2D Zelda, and Mario Maker 2 from the source who leaked the direct a few days ago.

[DJR210]

Man shooters...lol. its a sturggle for single player gamers like us.

Some of these dudes are so skillled. I'm almost always the weakest player.

Only FPS shooter ive ever played is resistance. Some of these dudes have crazy aim

Try playing a cult following shooter like Insurgency.. the only people that play are the most devoted. I've ranked to level 28 on that and I'm barely learning the maps enough to avoid popular camping kill trap locations and advance to the objectives.. Switching to a game with a ton of people playing like PUBG and you can see a huge increase in less skilled players to feast on..

Speaking of PUBG I finished 2nd the other day.. have yet to get the elusive chicken dinner..

[DJR210]

also i have no idea what all these RE titles are. so many remakes, i have no clue how many main entries there are and how many are remakes

Don't worry about anything other than Resident Evil Remake, Resident Evil 2 (new one).. If you enjoy them then I'd worry about the rest then..

[DJR210]

Just finished the Leon playthrough of RE2. Excellent game so far, but howlongtobeat.com is full of shit saying it's a 7 1/2 hour game. I spent about 11 1/2 on the Leon playthrough. Probably will start a Claire playthrough tomorrow.

That timeframe is bullshit anyway..

You only completed 1 playthough of 4+ to see everything in just the main game.. You have the two regular campaigns for both characters, then after completing those you get the alternate playthrough for both characters (Spoiler Alert)































(of course the alternate playthrough being arguably more fun than the original due to the addition of Mr. X in the mix) then after that there is some other shit to accomplish with speedruns, and objectives being met that unlock shit like Hunk and Tofu (assuming they're included in the remake)

[spurraider21]

about 75% through uncharted now... and i know i've complained about the game already, but i have 1 legit question:

nathan spends his time meticulously solving ancient riddles, positioning statues, etc... prompting a secret door to open up. goes inside, solves more puzzles, leading to another secret entrance.

and then that area behind the entrance is swarming with bad guys with guns.

are they equally gifted puzzle solvers and wall climbers or am i doing all this shit for no reason because there's a front door :lol

[apalisoc_9]

Apex Legends is fucking amazing. I'm pouring hours into it.

Word. Yakuza 0 is still the best game ive played this year, but this is the first shooter multiplayer that got me playing hrs.

Tight shootint, awesome legend skills. Its perfect.

Now if I can only stop panic shooting, id do so much better.

The Ping system really makes it so that you dont need heaphone. Plus you're almost always playing as a team. Synegerigzing your combine skills unless you get matched with a douche noob but that rarely happens because of the great game design.

[apalisoc_9]

We should form a spurstalk apex legend team :lol

[spurraider21]

why do you need an xbox live subscription to play these F2P games but not PS+

not that im complaining... but just wondering

[Joseph Kony]

civilization? srsly?

[spurraider21]

Just finished Uncharted 1

well, the third act certainly wasn’t boring. And fuck naughty dog for making these creepy ass “generator room” levels :lol... was the same shit in Last of Us. But man, i kept catching myself holding my breath during those scenes. And the last showdown was the first truly tough portion but was still fun.

Trying to to decide what to play next... god of war? Or squeeze in one of uncharted 2 (supposed to be a huge upgrade to 1), Arkham city, or ratchet and clank

[baseline bum]

Trying to to decide what to play next... god of war? Or squeeze in one of uncharted 2 (supposed to be a huge upgrade to 1), Arkham city, or ratchet and clank

NieR Automata tbh

[spurraider21]

NieR Automata tbh
phaggot

nier will likely be included in my next round of purchases, along with bioshock collection, bloodborne, witcher 3, skyrim, yakuza 0... maybe arkham knight, AC odyssey, and RDR1

edit: also shadow of the colossus

[baseline bum]

phaggot

nier will likely be included in my next round of purchases, along with bioshock collection, bloodborne, witcher 3, skyrim, yakuza 0... maybe arkham knight, AC odyssey, and RDR1

oh yeah forgot about bloodborne and yakuza, play those next

[Leetonidas]

Nier is a game unlike most and you have to enjoy JRPG games to find it fun tbh. But imo one of the better games to come out in the last 5 years. I would say play UC2. Like I said before imo it's the best in the series

[apalisoc_9]

Just finished Uncharted 1

well, the third act certainly wasn’t boring. And fuck naughty dog for making these creepy ass “generator room” levels :lol... was the same shit in Last of Us. But man, i kept catching myself holding my breath during those scenes. And the last showdown was the first truly tough portion but was still fun.

Trying to to decide what to play next... god of war? Or squeeze in one of uncharted 2 (supposed to be a huge upgrade to 1), Arkham city, or ratchet and clank

Id go ratchet and Clank, UC2, God of war.

[spurraider21]

Id go ratchet and Clank, UC2, God of war.
:tu

[apalisoc_9]

Niers comabt is top notch tbh. Story is convulated per JRPG standards though :lol

[baseline bum]

Niers comabt is top notch tbh. Story is convulated per JRPG standards though :lol

Honestly find the story to be pretty clear by JRPG standards.

[apalisoc_9]

Honestly find the story to be pretty clear by JRPG standards.

Maybe. Its been a while. I really mostly enjoyed the combat.

Yakuza 0, if considered a JRPG is probably the best storywose though. After chapter 4 man..damn

[diego]

phaggot

nier will likely be included in my next round of purchases, along with bioshock collection, bloodborne, witcher 3, skyrim, yakuza 0... maybe arkham knight, AC odyssey, and RDR1

Just finished Arkham Knight... I had low expectations due to bad reviews but I enjoyed it, the car combat is pretty lame but you can avoid most of it (unless you want 100%). It's a good idea to spend money on car weapon upgrades early on to make it less tedious. Its been a long time since I played Arkham city but I would say this one is about on par.

[spurraider21]

Just finished Arkham Knight... I had low expectations due to bad reviews but I enjoyed it, the car combat is pretty lame but you can avoid most of it (unless you want 100%). It's a good idea to spend money on car weapon upgrades early on to make it less tedious. Its been a long time since I played Arkham city but I would say this one is about on par.
the consensus seems to be that the combat is awesome and everybody hates the batmobile sequences. i haven't played arkham city yet, just asylum. i do have city in my backlog, while probably play it after god of war

[redzero]

Arkham City is the best by far. Arkham Knight shoehorned batmobile sequences every chance it got, and it ran horrendously on the PC. Knight took out the Catwoman sequences (she was fun to play as, in my opinion) and replaced them with shit.

I liked the story and acting, but some of the decisions by the developers were questionable.

[diego]

There are a few Catwoman sections, though considerably less. Bugs no longer an issue mostly

[baseline bum]

Arkham City is the best by far. Arkham Knight shoehorned batmobile sequences every chance it got, and it ran horrendously on the PC. Knight took out the Catwoman sequences (she was fun to play as, in my opinion) and replaced them with shit.

I liked the story and acting, but some of the decisions by the developers were questionable.

Arkham Knight performance has been drastically improved on PC by now, though I think the Batmobile is still supposed to suck (though nowhere near as bad as at launch). Rocksteady was eventually forced to fix the port themselves after pulling the game from Steam for months after all the negative reviews and people returning the game. The broken Arkham Knight port was the reason Steam started allowing buyers to return games. It was done by some crap mobile game company with like twelve employees. Hopefully Rocksteady never pulls that shit again.

[DJR210]

Arkham City is the best by far. Arkham Knight shoehorned batmobile sequences every chance it got, and it ran horrendously on the PC. Knight took out the Catwoman sequences (she was fun to play as, in my opinion) and replaced them with shit.

I liked the story and acting, but some of the decisions by the developers were questionable.

They fixed all performance issues on PC if you quit playing because of it.. I have a meager 1060 and it runs beautifully now.. I skipped the mess at launch completely

[baseline bum]

They fixed all performance issues on PC if you quit playing because of it.. I have a meager 1060 and it runs beautifully now.. I skipped the mess at launch completely

CPY Store just released Ace Combat 7 bro

[DJR210]

CPY Store just released Ace Combat 7 bro

Nice, will download today

[apalisoc_9]

Hopefully other multiplayer games follow or copy apex ping system. Just GOAT level system. Granted ive yet to play re2 and Kingdom hearts, but apex legends is pretty close to a 10/10 game.

Huge contender for GOTY.

[vander]

civilization? srsly?

I still play Civ 5 occasionally, there's a Community Overhaul patch for balances and AI and such, and it's still active and being updated

[baseline bum]

Hey Reck man, since you're into Ace Combat I wanted to pass on the news that your last chance to get Ace Combat 5 for PS4 is to buy the Ace Combat 7 Launch Edition before February 18th. No idea how good a port it is or whether it's worth getting for PS4 vs playing the PS2 original, but gotta jump on it quick if you want it.

https://store.playstation.com/en-us/product/UP0700-CUSA05636_00-AC7LAUNCHSTANDRD

[redzero]

I have 190 hours invested in Monster Hunter World, and I am still complete shit at it. It's amazing how complicated a "one-note" game can be. I haven't even used half the weapons in the game.

The end-game monsters are ridiculous, by the way. Behemoth is way harder than it ever was in Final Fantasy. I haven't fought the Ancient Leshen, but I hear it is even worse.

[Joseph Kony]

playing Far Cry New Dawn. fun game but nothing ground breaking here, though i enjoy it a lot more than FC5

[baseline bum]

Just finished the Claire playthrough of RE2. Definitely worth playing after finishing the Leon playthrough, and much easier IMO.

[vander]

haven't gamed in a while, but I think I'm going to try out these RE games y'all talking about, and the new Metro game. will a slightly OC i5-6600 + GTX 960 still get the job done or should I upgrade first

[baseline bum]

haven't gamed in a while, but I think I'm going to try out these RE games y'all talking about, and the new Metro game. will a slightly OC i5-6600 + GTX 960 still get the job done or should I upgrade first

You'll want to turn down settings like shadows, global illumination, ambient occlusion, and you might need to disable TAA and say run FXAA through the Nvidia Control Panel, but after that I imagine you could get a really good experience on a 960 in RE2. A 960 craps all over the 1080p console gpus. You can't do FXAA through the game itself sadly, and the game does need some form of AA. Metro Exodus looks like a monster to run though.

[vander]

You'll want to turn down settings like shadows, global illumination, ambient occlusion, and you might need to disable TAA and say run FXAA through the Nvidia Control Panel, but after that I imagine you could get a really good experience on a 960 in RE2. A 960 craps all over the 1080p console gpus. You can't do FXAA through the game itself sadly, and the game does need some form of AA. Metro Exodus looks like a monster to run though.

thanks, guess I'll do RE now and Metro after upgrade

[baseline bum]

Just starting up God of War. So I take it the game is best on the challenging mode and not the balanced mode, apalisoc_9? If this really has Bloodborne level combat I'd hate to play it on a casual game setting.

[spurraider21]

Just starting up God of War. So I take it the game is best on the challenging mode and not the balanced mode, apalisoc_9 (https://www.spurstalk.com/forums/member.php?u=11260)? If this really has Bloodborne level combat I'd hate to play it on a casual game setting.
i almost always just play the hard difficulty

my rule of thumb for difficulty levels, generally:

easy, normal, hard - i play hard
easy, normal, hard, extreme - hard on first play-through, extreme if i feel like going back to it again

[spurraider21]

also, just gonna say ratchet and clank has been an absolute delight. just got past the 2nd major boss, the big Mrs. Zurkon robot, so i'm probably in the home stretch.

i've been very stingy with my bolts though :lol... i dont want to waste currency on shit weapons, but honestly have no clue what to save them for. i'm still using the fusion grenades that you unlock right near the beginning :lol... might splurge on the big missile launcher thing. but i've just noticed that the weapons get exponentially more expensive and i dont want to suddenly be short on bolts when some amazing gun drops for like 500k bolts or some shit

[baseline bum]

i almost always just play the hard difficulty

my rule of thumb for difficulty levels, generally:

easy, normal, hard - i play hard
easy, normal, hard, extreme - hard on first play-through, extreme if i feel like going back to it again

I usually play default modes since I mostly want to play the game as the developer intended, but apa has me intrigued by the combat with the Bloodborne comparison. Usually hard mode is just give the enemy more health and harder hitting attacks as opposed to giving better AI though.

[baseline bum]

also, just gonna say ratchet and clank has been an absolute delight. just got past the 2nd major boss, the big Mrs. Zurkon robot, so i'm probably in the home stretch.

i've been very stingy with my bolts though :lol... i dont want to waste currency on shit weapons, but honestly have no clue what to save them for. i'm still using the fusion grenades that you unlock right near the beginning :lol... might splurge on the big missile launcher thing. but i've just noticed that the weapons get exponentially more expensive and i dont want to suddenly be short on bolts when some amazing gun drops for like 500k bolts or some shit

I think Ratchet & Clank is best when you use all the weapons. Some of them are pretty ridiculous in a good way. I thought that game looked so stupid but apa kept hyping it here and he was absolutely right, that game is a blast. I hope we have another coming quick on PS5.

[spurraider21]

I usually play default modes since I mostly want to play the game as the developer intended,
thats how they intended it for the mainstream audience which would also include gamers far less experienced/competent than you, though.


but apa has me intrigued by the combat with the Bloodborne comparison. Usually hard mode is just give the enemy more health and harder hitting attacks as opposed to giving better AI though.
varies game to game... but yeah in some games its just a damage/health adjustment which is a pretty lazy way to implement difficulty, but still forces you to play more strategic/defensive instead of being some juggernaut who can just slay the full game. Veteran difficulty in COD games has always been a notorious abuser of this. you basically had to memorize every enemy position, all lines of sight. it takes away from the game imo. i imagine brutal/crushing difficulty in Uncharted is the same thing, so i dont bother with those unless i'm really drawn to the game.

in some games there are noticeable differences though. in arkham asylum (and presumably the whole arkham series), in hard mode, you dont get the warning/notification to counter an attack, you have to gauge based on enemy movement. in TLOU, you lose listen mode, supplies are infrequent, and the AI is supposedly better.

but if you're going to compare to bloodborne (and as you know, i haven't played it), wouldn't you say that your health relative to enemy health (or damage they can dish out) was one of the contributing factors to the difficulty of that game? if that's the case, i dont see why you'd compromise on that aspect for God of War

[spurraider21]

I think Ratchet & Clank is best when you use all the weapons. Some of them are pretty ridiculous in a good way. I thought that game looked so stupid but apa kept hyping it here and he was absolutely right, that game is a blast. I hope we have another coming quick on PS5.
i bought the pixel gun which is pretty funny. but the range on it is ass, it felt dumb dumping currency into that. the groovetron thing is hilarious. it even makes enemy tanks stop and dance :lol. the last thing i bought was the buzz blades, and that just completely outclasses your starting semi auto thingy, so thats a purchase i havent regretted. but i have like 4-5 unpurchased weapons because i dont want to be short on bolts and have to farm by having boxes respawn

but this game is basically exactly what i was looking for. just some good stupid fun, more hit than miss comedy. just enough challenge to keep it compelling (at least on hard difficulty). great filler game in between some monster 30+ hour games. but with all these incredible 20-30+ hour games that have been coming out, i dont think i'd ever be able to justify dropping $60 on this type of game upon release. i got this one for free, though.

[baseline bum]

thats how they intended it for the mainstream audience which would also include gamers far less experienced/competent than you, though.


varies game to game... but yeah in same games its just a damage/health adjustment which is a pretty lazy way to implement difficulty, but still forces you to play more strategic/defensive instead of being some juggernaut who can just slay the full game. Veteran difficulty in COD games has always been a notorious abuser of this. you basically had to memorize every enemy position, all lines of sight. it takes away from the game imo. i imagine brutal/crushing difficulty in Uncharted is the same thing, so i dont bother with those unless i'm really drawn to the game.

in some games there are noticeable differences though. in arkham asylum (and presumably the whole arkham series), in hard mode, you dont get the warning/notification to counter an attack, you have to gauge based on enemy movement. in TLOU, you lose listen mode, supplies are infrequent, and the AI is supposedly better.

but if you're going to compare to bloodborne (and as you know, i haven't played it), wouldn't you say that your health relative to enemy health (or damage they can dish out) was one of the contributing factors to the difficulty of that game? if that's the case, i dont see why you'd compromise on that aspect for God of War

From playing couple of hours it just seems like challenge mode enemies hit hard, standard mode they don't. Nothing special about difficulty settings. Either way the God of War combat seems like button mashing somewhat like the previous games. It's fun combat for sure but it is no way Bloodborne level. Bloodborne has a lot more risk/reward you need to factor in. For instance, do I want to dodge a lot and snipe with quick hits or do I want to do a much more dangerous parry/riposte that requires pinpoint timing? If I get hit hard do I run from cover and use one of my limited stash of potions, or do I try to counter to gain some health back? Do I dodge away? Do I dive towards an attack? In Bloodborne fighting multiple enemies at once is mostly a death sentence but God of War so far it's just roll until you get the enemies ahead of you, shield out to absorb their attack, and then wail away with a combo of light and heavy attacks as you juggle them through the air until the other guy attacks and it's turn towards him and block, then wail away.

It's a great game so far though. I can definitely see why it got so much GOTY hype. I never played the Arkham games so can't comment there, but like you said, TLOU is a completely different game on grounded vs normal, and a far superior one on grounded.

[spurraider21]

From playing couple of hours it just seems like challenge mode enemies hit hard, standard mode they don't. Nothing special about difficulty settings. Either way the God of War combat seems like button mashing somewhat like the previous games. It's fun combat for sure but it is no way Bloodborne level. Bloodborne has a lot more risk/reward you need to factor in. For instance, do I want to dodge a lot and snipe with quick hits or do I want to do a much more dangerous parry/riposte that requires pinpoint timing? If I get hit hard do I run from cover and use one of my limited stash of potions, or do I try to counter to gain some health back? Do I dodge away? Do I dive towards an attack? In Bloodborne fighting multiple enemies at once is mostly a death sentence but God of War so far it's just roll until you get the enemies ahead of you, shield out to absorb their attack, and then wail away with a combo of light and heavy attacks as you juggle them through the air until the other guy attacks and it's turn towards him and block, then wail away.

It's a great game so far though. I can definitely see why it got so much GOTY hype. I never played the Arkham games so can't comment there, but like you said, TLOU is a completely different game on grounded vs normal, and a far superior one on grounded.
https://segmentnext.com/2018/04/20/god-of-war-difficulty-settings-guide/

this outlines the actual differences from one level to the next. it looks like going from balanced to challenge is purely a damage input/output change whereas there seems to be some legitimate changes when you ramp up to god of war (in addition to more damage input/output stuff). its also more difficult to stun/stagger an enemy, from what ive read

[apalisoc_9]

Just starting up God of War. So I take it the game is best on the challenging mode and not the balanced mode, apalisoc_9? If this really has Bloodborne level combat I'd hate to play it on a casual game setting.

Challenging mode is the sweet spot.

[apalisoc_9]

also, just gonna say ratchet and clank has been an absolute delight. just got past the 2nd major boss, the big Mrs. Zurkon robot, so i'm probably in the home stretch.

i've been very stingy with my bolts though :lol... i dont want to waste currency on shit weapons, but honestly have no clue what to save them for. i'm still using the fusion grenades that you unlock right near the beginning :lol... might splurge on the big missile launcher thing. but i've just noticed that the weapons get exponentially more expensive and i dont want to suddenly be short on bolts when some amazing gun drops for like 500k bolts or some shit

Glad you like it. Its a fun stupid game. And as far Baselineb saying a ps5 release for a new game, i think they're done with ratchet and clank. They pretty much placed the weapon mechanics on spiderman and thats probably going to be their focus from now one.

Maybe a remake of an old tittle is possible though.


From playing couple of hours it just seems like challenge mode enemies hit hard, standard mode they don't. Nothing special about difficulty settings. Either way the God of War combat seems like button mashing somewhat like the previous games. It's fun combat for sure but it is no way Bloodborne level. Bloodborne has a lot more risk/reward you need to factor in. For instance, do I want to dodge a lot and snipe with quick hits or do I want to do a much more dangerous parry/riposte that requires pinpoint timing? If I get hit hard do I run from cover and use one of my limited stash of potions, or do I try to counter to gain some health back? Do I dodge away? Do I dive towards an attack? In Bloodborne fighting multiple enemies at once is mostly a death sentence but God of War so far it's just roll until you get the enemies ahead of you, shield out to absorb their attack, and then wail away with a combo of light and heavy attacks as you juggle them through the air until the other guy attacks and it's turn towards him and block, then wail away.

It's a great game so far though. I can definitely see why it got so much GOTY hype. I never played the Arkham games so can't comment there, but like you said, TLOU is a completely different game on grounded vs normal, and a far superior one on grounded.

You're just starting, but the combat in GOW is def very diverse.

[apalisoc_9]

My guess Insomanic will move on from Ratchet and Clank the same way Nauhghty dog moved on from Jack and Daxter.

Both are profitable tittles but very niche.

Just still crazy stupid that ratchet and clank sold at 49.99 and not fulll price. So many dumb and unifnished games now selling at 60.

[spurraider21]

Glad you like it. Its a fun stupid game. And as far Baselineb saying a ps5 release for a new game, i think they're done with ratchet and clank. They pretty much placed the weapon mechanics on spiderman and thats probably going to be their focus from now one.

Maybe a remake of an old tittle is possible though.
my understanding is that this one basically was a remake/reimagining of the original game. and i like how the game was very self aware of that. one of the characters when leaving the screen said "see ya in the next reboot!"... or the opening cinematic when the guy says they're making a game based on a movie based on his life, etc.

i will say that as a character, ratchet is very dull.

spider man was a masterpiece in its own right.

[apalisoc_9]

my understanding is that this one basically was a remake/reimagining of the original game. and i like how the game was very self aware of that. one of the characters when leaving the screen said "see ya in the next reboot!"... or the opening cinematic when the guy says they're making a game based on a movie based on his life, etc.

i will say that as a character, ratchet is very dull.

spider man was a masterpiece in its own right.

Yeah its a remake. Im saying in terms of new r&c tittles...thats never going to happen.

[spurraider21]

My guess Insomanic will move on from Ratchet and Clank the same way Nauhghty dog moved on from Jack and Daxter.

Both are profitable tittles but very niche.

Just still crazy stupid that ratchet and clank sold at 49.99 and not fulll price. So many dumb and unifnished games now selling at 60.
i think at this point in gaming, i'd need a VERY compelling reason to pay $60 for a 10-15 hour linear game (current backlog notwithstanding)

[baseline bum]

OK I can definitely see why apalisoc_9 and ElNono were giving me so much shit for putting off God of War. This is easily the best game I have played that came out in 2018 and so far it's better than it looked in the E3 demo from 2016 that was the whole reason I even bought a PS4. Sony is just killing it with exclusives this gen. Even at 30 fps I'm extremely impressed Santa Monica could do these kind of graphics on hardware equivalent to an HD 7850. I hope PS5 has a 60 fps remaster like they did on PS4 with The Last of Us, God of War 3, and the Uncharted games.

[baseline bum]

i think at this point in gaming, i'd need a VERY compelling reason to pay $60 for a 10-15 hour linear game (current backlog notwithstanding)

If you ever buy a Switch you'll be stuck paying $60 a game. On PS4 though the only reason to ever pay $60 is if you want to play it on launch (and even then sometimes you can find the blockbusters for $45 to $50 on launch date). It's amazing how quickly PS4 game prices drop.

[baseline bum]

The only PS4 game I have ever seen hold $60 for a long time was Persona 5.

[spurraider21]

If you ever buy a Switch you'll be stuck paying $60 a game. On PS4 though the only reason to ever pay $60 is if you want to play it on launch (and even then sometimes you can find the blockbusters for $45 to $50 on launch date). It's amazing how quickly PS4 game prices drop.


The only PS4 game I have ever seen hold $60 for a long time was Persona 5.
yeah and given that i bought the ps4 near the end of its cycle, there's not going to be much of that going forward. maybe TLOU 2... but i might still have enough of a backlog by that point to wait that one out a bit too. ghost of tsushima also looks great.

[Joseph Kony]

Far Cry New Dawn has been ok thus far. they really missed an opportunity by not adding some kind of irradiated freak humans that come out at night or something. yeah "mutated" boars and mountain lions are cool but it'd be cooler if there were ghouls or something like in Fallout

[spurraider21]

OK I can definitely see why apalisoc_9 (https://www.spurstalk.com/forums/member.php?u=11260) and ElNono (https://www.spurstalk.com/forums/member.php?u=8054) were giving me so much shit for putting off God of War. This is easily the best game I have played that came out in 2018 and so far it's better than it looked in the E3 demo from 2016 that was the whole reason I even bought a PS4. Sony is just killing it with exclusives this gen. Even at 30 fps I'm extremely impressed Santa Monica could do these kind of graphics on hardware equivalent to an HD 7850. I hope PS5 has a 60 fps remaster like they did on PS4 with The Last of Us, God of War 3, and the Uncharted games.
how many 2018 releases have you played though tbh

[baseline bum]

yeah and given that i bought the ps4 near the end of its cycle, there's not going to be much of that going forward. maybe TLOU 2... but i might still have enough of a backlog by that point to wait that one out a bit too. ghost of tsushima also looks great.

Nice thing about having a backlog is we won't be all that eager to jump on PS5 at launch most likely either. Unless PS5 is fully BC with PS4, both digital and disc games. If so I'll sell my PS4 and buy PS5 at launch but otherwise I don't want to pay launch console prices, especially for a launch console library. PS4 library was complete dogshit at launch, just like PS3's launch library. Funny that only Nintendo ever seems to have epic launch titles on their consoles (Super Mario World on SNES, Tetris on Game Boy, Super Mario 64 on N64, and Zelda BOTW on Switch).

[baseline bum]

how many 2018 releases have you played though tbh

Aside from God of War I have played at least a couple of hours each of RDR2, AC Odyssey, Super Smash Bros Ultimate, Dead Cells, Octopath Traveler, Mario Tennis Aces, Pokemon Let's Go Eevee, Monster Boy, Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze, the two Persona dancing games, and finished Resident Evil 2, Shadow of the Colossus remake, and Yakuza Kiwami 2. Oh and Donut County, god that game is hilarious in a Dumb and Dumber kind of way. So far God of War is the best 2018 game I have played by a good margin, though I have played none of Spiderman yet.

Not a 2018 game, but if you're ever looking for a really good palate cleanser in between large games, What Remains of Edith Finch is on sale for $10 and is a great 3 hour story game with some very creative minigames for each substory.

https://store.playstation.com/en-us/product/UP2470-CUSA06886_00-EFINCHPS4GAME001

It's one of the most memorable stories in this gen of games.

[ElNono]

OK I can definitely see why apalisoc_9 and ElNono were giving me so much shit for putting off God of War. This is easily the best game I have played that came out in 2018 and so far it's better than it looked in the E3 demo from 2016 that was the whole reason I even bought a PS4. Sony is just killing it with exclusives this gen. Even at 30 fps I'm extremely impressed Santa Monica could do these kind of graphics on hardware equivalent to an HD 7850. I hope PS5 has a 60 fps remaster like they did on PS4 with The Last of Us, God of War 3, and the Uncharted games.

Lots of pretty good games in '18, IMO, but GOW was amazing... first game ever I actually platinum'ed...

[baseline bum]

Lots of pretty good games in '18, IMO, but GOW was amazing... first game ever I actually platinum'ed...

Where do you rank 2018 this gen? 2015 is prob my favorite year because of Bloodborne, Dying Light, and The Witcher 3, with 2017 next thanks to NieR Automata, Persona 5, Super Mario Odyssey, Horizon Zero Dawn, and Zelda BOTW. God 2014 was a pretty shit year though unless you were one of the five people who bought a Wii U.

[redzero]

Dude, the Wii U has Mario Maker, Splatoon, Smash 4, Bayonetta and Mario Maker.

[baseline bum]

Dude, the Wii U has Mario Maker, Splatoon, Smash 4, Bayonetta and Mario Maker.

Yeah Wii U had some really good exclusives but no one bought it. What a fail by their marketing team.

[baseline bum]

Looks like CODEX Store has a sale going on Yakuza Kiwami. Get in here DJR210. :lol

[spurraider21]

the second hoverboard race in ratchet and clank was very frustrating to win the gold (at least on hard)... which was needed to get a ryno card.

got some ptsd flashbacks of the taskmaster drone challenges in spiderman

[baseline bum]

Ugh I hate the DualShock 4 and its terrible battery life. Got about 15 minutes into God of War today and then got the battery dead notification since I haven't charged it in a day and a half. I wonder if 8BitDo makes an adapter so I can use my Switch Pro Controller on my PS4? :lol

[Joseph Kony]

Ugh I hate the DualShock 4 and its terrible battery life. Got about 15 minutes into God of War today and then got the battery dead notification since I haven't charged it in a day and a half. I wonder if 8BitDo makes an adapter so I can use my Switch Pro Controller on my PS4? :lol

get one of those PS4 docks with the fan and charging docks. i just use that and put my controller back on it when im done. always charged tbh

[baseline bum]

get one of those PS4 docks with the fan and charging docks. i just use that and put my controller back on it when im done. always charged tbh

I usually plug mine into my PC since I keep that shit running at night but forgot.

[spurraider21]

the controller battery life is embarrassingly poor. dualshock 3 controllers would last for days. the new ones waste energy on shit like lights/speakers but you can change the settings to preserve some life.

[baseline bum]

the controller battery life is embarrassingly poor. dualshock 3 controllers would last for days. the new ones waste energy on shit like lights/speakers but you can change the settings to preserve some life.

You can dim the light, but it doesn't seem to do much for battery life.

[Xevious]

The XBone controller sucks down AA batteries like nobody's business also.

[DJR210]

Rising Storm 2: Vietnam

Bringing back great memories of Bad Company 2: Vietnam, only realistic and lethal

[spurraider21]

finished ratchet and clank. doing a limited playthrough on challenge mode just so i can unlock and level up weapons to god tier. the ryno is hilarious.

overall i give the game like a 7.5

Pros:
- Honestly, just good fun. Weapons/gadgets are cool.
- Aesthetically very pleasing
- Pretty good humor throughout (almost exclusively from Qwark's narration and sometimes a little quip from Clank).

Cons:
- Game is quite short, which in and of itself isn't necessarily bad... but even in the short runtime, it does feel very repetitive.
- Combat is very rudimentary. You just double jump horizontally while spamming the trigger. It can be exciting for short bursts but in longer combat sequences just gets tiring.
- While the Ratchet missions got a bit repetitive, all other missions were horrible. Clank missions felt very out of place and didn't fit with the pacing of the game. I love puzzles in games, but these just felt tacked on to try to break monotony of the game, not because they actually fit.
- Turret sequences are boring per par, and omg the flight combat missions were atrocious. The controls were awful and you couldn't configure them otherwise, from what I saw.
- The narrative was very weak and none of the characters were compelling besides Qwark. Ratchet has no personality. Clank is arite. Speaking of which, Ratchet just looks at him and says "I'll call you Clank." Ok... that seems very weak.
- I don't think there's much replay value. Playing again on challenge mode once to upgrade omega weapons, but that's about it. Can't imagine wanting to play this again from scratch though.

Seems like I'm bashing a lot, but I still enjoyed the play-through. It's a palate cleanser but imo it doesn't feel like the devs were going for a palate cleanser :lol.

Per apa's suggested route, I will be playing Uncharted 2 next, followed by God of War

[baseline bum]

Rising Storm 2: Vietnam

Bringing back great memories of Bad Company 2: Vietnam, only realistic and lethal

Why, do you get to rape?

[baseline bum]

Per apa's suggested route, I will be playing Uncharted 2 next, followed by God of War

Damn you're really plowing through games. I remember when you got that PS4 you were acting like you wouldn't be playing much for a year. :lol

Same experience I had getting a PS4. Thought I was only getting it for a couple of games at a time when PC gaming was getting boring and then I found out there were a boatload of great exclusives.

[spurraider21]

Damn you're really plowing through games. I remember when you got that PS4 you were acting like you wouldn't be playing much for a year. :lol

Same experience I had getting a PS4. Thought I was only getting it for a couple of games at a time when PC gaming was getting boring and then I found out there were a boatload of great exclusives.
:lol... i've had more time than i thought. before getting the ps4 i'd generally just play some fallout during weekends and maybe 2-3 hours during the week. since getting the ps4 i'd say during the week i've been getting about 6-7 hours in, and weekend can be about that much too. wasn't expecting to play as much during the week, but i think my wife has realized how much i enjoy this shit and so after 11pm or so she'll just stream her own shows.

and to be fair, the last few games i played were ~10 hours apiece if not shorter, so those are knocked out pretty quick.

the only time-eater i've played so far has been RDR2, and i dumped well over a month into that. spiderman was also decently sized but not huge. i still have god of war, horizon complete edition, fallout 4, MGS V as the mammoth titles i'm gonna have to slog through.

[baseline bum]

:lol... i've had more time than i thought. before getting the ps4 i'd generally just play some fallout during weekends and maybe 2-3 hours during the week. since getting the ps4 i'd say during the week i've been getting about 6-7 hours in, and weekend can be about that much too. wasn't expecting to play as much during the week, but i think my wife has realized how much i enjoy this shit and so after 11pm or so she'll just stream her own shows.

and to be fair, the last few games i played were ~10 hours apiece if not shorter, so those are knocked out pretty quick.

the only time-eater i've played so far has been RDR2, and i dumped well over a month into that. spiderman was also decently sized but not huge. i still have god of war, horizon complete edition, fallout 4, MGS V as the mammoth titles i'm gonna have to slog through.

Horizon was about an 80 hour game for me minus the DLC, but I progress pretty slowly through games. FO4 is really underrated. I love the main campaign but not so much the DLC, and the garbage city building (literally) is just a giant waste of time. Wish I could have cut off Preston Garvey's head and put it on a stake at the entrance to my garbage town.

[spurraider21]

Horizon was about an 80 hour game for me minus the DLC, but I progress pretty slowly through games. FO4 is really underrated. I love the main campaign but not so much the DLC, and the garbage city building (literally) is just a giant waste of time. Wish I could have cut off Preston Garvey's head and put it on a stake at the entrance to my garbage town.
i dont have any of the FO4 DLC, don't plan on buying it either.

[apalisoc_9]

I enjoyed Horizon story and lore better than GOW and GOW is probably the best game ive played in the last 15yrs...

Yeah 80hrs for Horizon is too much. I think i got the plat at 60ish hrs at the hardest difficulty. Not a perfect game by any means but it was overshadowed by Zelda Nostalgia machine.

I havent finished zelda since I borrowed someone else switch and played it about 40% through. Still an awesome game itself but nothing about Zelda was overrly impressive.

Graphics, lore, dialogue, story, combat horizon was clearly the better game.

But if you have a bunch of 30 year olds relieving their childhoods with a really good game..its going to be difficult to beat that.

[apalisoc_9]

I enjoyed Horizon story and lore better than GOW and GOW is probably the best game ive played in the last 15yrs...

Yeah 80hrs for Horizon is too much. I think i got the plat at 60ish hrs at the hardest difficulty. Not a perfect game by any means but it was overshadowed by Zelda Nostalgia machine.

I havent finished zelda since I borrowed someone else switch and played it about 40% through. Still an awesome game itself but nothing about Zelda was overrly impressive.

Graphics, lore, dialogue, story, combat horizon was clearly the better game.

But if you have a bunch of 30 year olds relieving their childhoods with a really good game..its going to be difficult to beat that.

I know If i was reviewer and Konami released Suikoden 6 and its maybe an 8.5/9 game ( real zelda score) you best fucking bet Im giving that game a 10. :lol

Jimsterling was getting death threats for not like Zelda so that should itself give you an idea of how Zelda garnered that much hype.

[baseline bum]

But if you have a bunch of 30 year olds relieving their childhoods with a really good game..its going to be difficult to beat that.

BOTW is nothing like any other Zelda ever made. Horizon is no question the better game, especially in combat. BOTW is the best game I have ever played for exploration though. I like the physics engine and the climbing is great (except when it rains). The story is terrible though, even by Zelda standards. BOTW is at its best when you play it as a big sandbox to screw around with.

I don't get why a lot of people seem to think Horizon's story sucks though. I thought it was really interesting and well acted.

[baseline bum]

I know If i was reviewer and Konami released Suikoden 6 and its maybe an 8.5/9 game ( real zelda score) you best fucking bet Im giving that game a 10. :lol

Jimsterling was getting death threats for not like Zelda so that should itself give you an idea of how Zelda garnered that much hype.

LMAO @ Jim Sterling getting DDOS'ed for rating BOTW a 7/10. I'd probably put it 8/10 but all the 10/10 hype was ridiculous. I have only played 8 games in my life that I'd rate 10/10 and BOTW was nowhere close. I don't even rate any Persona or Shin Megami Tensei games 10/10 even though they're my two favorite series. :lol

[spurraider21]

i dont care about graphics all that much. it's nice icing on the cake. that being said, from footage i've seen, BOTW isn't in the same ballpark as Horizon. doesn't like current gen at all imo.

my wife cares about graphics more than i do and she doesn't play games. when i started playing uncharted, she was keen enough to draw the similarity to TLOU (both naughty dog) and for a second asked if it was the same game. she also told me she wants me to play RDR2 again (i wont for at least a couple of years lol)... not just because it looked so nice, but she used to always get a kick out of arthur talking to his horse. thats mah boaaah

[DJR210]

Why, do you get to rape?

Can you rape in Bad Company 2??

[baseline bum]

Can you rape in Bad Company 2??

Not sure, know you could in Vietnam though tbh.

[DJR210]

Not sure, know you could in Vietnam though tbh.

Yeah I learned that here at Spurstalk

[baseline bum]

i dont care about graphics all that much. it's nice icing on the cake. that being said, from footage i've seen, BOTW isn't in the same ballpark as Horizon. doesn't like current gen at all imo.

my wife cares about graphics more than i do and she doesn't play games. when i started playing uncharted, she was keen enough to draw the similarity to TLOU (both naughty dog) and for a second asked if it was the same game. she also told me she wants me to play RDR2 again (i wont for at least a couple of years lol)... not just because it looked so nice, but she used to always get a kick out of arthur talking to his horse. thats mah boaaah

Switch doesn't have the horsepower to run a game like Horizon, not even close. When you look and see how much Doom had to be cut down for Switch it ain't pretty, and Doom is nothing difficult to run. I do think BOTW's art style works well though. I'm not a fan of cel shading in games usually (god I fucking hate the look of Borderlands), but it's really well done in BOTW IMO. I didn't like it in the previews I saw but actually playing it I think it works.

[Joseph Kony]

Yeah I learned that here at Spurstalk
:lol old faggot getting shat on in unrelated threads

[DJR210]

:lol old faggot getting shat on in unrelated threads

:lmao

[DJR210]

Looks like CODEX Store has a sale going on Yakuza Kiwami. Get in here DJR210 (https://www.spurstalk.com/forums/member.php?u=42671). :lol

Confused on which one to start with.. I want the most current gen release..

[apalisoc_9]

I'm surprised no one has played divinity original sin 2. I keep hearing that its the GOAT tactical RPG of all time with witcher like quest and story.

[ElNono]

I'm surprised no one has played divinity original sin 2. I keep hearing that its the GOAT tactical RPG of all time with witcher like quest and story.

DJR recommended it a while back

[baseline bum]

Confused on which one to start with.. I want the most current gen release..

0 is the best game. Kiwami is the sequel. They're both on the same engine, both look the same graphically. Though if you want most current gen game CPY just cracked Metro Exodus yesterday.

[DJR210]

0 is the best game. Kiwami is the sequel. They're both on the same engine, both look the same graphically. Though if you want most current gen game CPY just cracked Metro Exodus yesterday.

Nah, I meant most current of the Yakuza series.. I chose Kiwami, downloading now :tu

Did you get Ace Combat? It's exactly the same as I remember.. great graphics, ridiculous worthless story lines, fun dogfights :tu

[DJR210]

I'm surprised no one has played divinity original sin 2. I keep hearing that its the GOAT tactical RPG of all time with witcher like quest and story.

Recommended both games years ago.. Original Sin II is more technical, but I feel that the first one was better. The 2nd one introduces the armor mechanic which makes a ton of enemies early on nearly invincible.. It took a sheer act of God to allow me to get off the ground early on out of several attempts at building a team.

The game is unforgivably hard to begin with as you get zero prompts on what needs to happen, you simply must talk to EVERYBODY and read EVERYTHING..

[diego]

I always look for good local multiplayer and original sin 2 was rated highly so I tried it to play with my eldest son, it was too complicated for either of us really :lol doesn't help that Im not a fan of turn based games nor fantasy setting but that game was daunting

[baseline bum]

Nah, I meant most current of the Yakuza series.. I chose Kiwami, downloading now :tu

Did you get Ace Combat? It's exactly the same as I remember.. great graphics, ridiculous worthless story lines, fun dogfights :tu

Most current of the Yakuza series available in the US is Yakuza Kiwami 2, but that's only on PS4. Most current period is the Yakuza 4 remaster, but it's only in Japan right now. In order of release date the series goes:

Yakuza 1-2 on PS2
Yakuza 3-5 on PS3
Yakuza 0 on PS3/PS4/PC (PS3 Japan only)
Yakuza Kiwami 1 (remake of Yakuza 1) on PS3/PS4/PC (PS3 Japan only)
Yakuza 6 on PS4
Yakuza Kiwami 2 (remake of Yakuza 2) on PS4
Yakuza 3-4 Remasters on PS4 (only Japan)

0, Kiwami, and the 3-5 remasters use the same engine so are pretty much the same graphically. Kiwami 2 and 6 use a new engine that improve the graphics somewhat. I hope the whole series comes to PC so I can play Kiwami 2 and 6 at 60 fps like the 0, Kiwami, and the 3-5 remasters on PS4 run.

I haven't played Ace Combat yet, as I started up God of War after doing a couple of playthroughs of Resident Evil 2.

[baseline bum]

Recommended both games years ago.. Original Sin II is more technical, but I feel that the first one was better. The 2nd one introduces the armor mechanic which makes a ton of enemies early on nearly invincible.. It took a sheer act of God to allow me to get off the ground early on out of several attempts at building a team.

The game is unforgivably hard to begin with as you get zero prompts on what needs to happen, you simply must talk to EVERYBODY and read EVERYTHING..

Is Original Sin 1 hardcore like that too? I might have to put it near the top of my backlog if so.

[DJR210]

Is Original Sin 1 hardcore like that too? I might have to put it near the top of my backlog if so.

Yes.. it's definitely difficult, but doesn't feel unfair like OSII does at times.. There's no armor mechanic, you just need to find the correct path to explore based on enemy levels.. Classic formula of ranking up and upgrading to be able to access new areas and progress the story. During your progression you have your log book that collects all the missions you gain as you speak to people, and as you gain the next piece to a story line your log book will update and let you know you accomplished something.. The game is heavily based on exploration, but the combat is what is addicting as the key is finding the right combination of characters to make you an unbeatable squad

[spurraider21]

Nah, I meant most current of the Yakuza series.. I chose Kiwami, downloading now :tu

Did you get Ace Combat? It's exactly the same as I remember.. great graphics, ridiculous worthless story lines, fun dogfights :tu
i've only played ace combat 4: shattered skies and thought it was fantastic and had a pretty interesting story. the superweapons you had to destroy were fucking epic (stonehenge and megalith)

[JakeCuenca]

You guys need to get into that apex legends wave. Srs.

Age group seem to be at 25+ with pc gamers.

[Leetonidas]

Apex legends is fun but feels impossible to win if I don't have my own squad of FPS bros playing. Every time you team up with randos they're trash

[spurraider21]

Apex legends is fun but feels impossible to win if I don't have my own squad of FPS bros playing. Every time you team up with randos they're trash
this rings true... back when i used to play COD, the game was infinitely more fun when i was in a party. i mean sure, sometimes playing solo i would wind up in a lobby with no organized party on either side, and those would be fun. but anytime you ran across a group of 3 coordinated people on one side (even if they werent individually great), the matches were blowouts

[chunticakes]

Nice thing about having a backlog is we won't be all that eager to jump on PS5 at launch most likely either. Unless PS5 is fully BC with PS4, both digital and disc games. If so I'll sell my PS4 and buy PS5 at launch but otherwise I don't want to pay launch console prices, especially for a launch console library. PS4 library was complete dogshit at launch, just like PS3's launch library. Funny that only Nintendo ever seems to have epic launch titles on their consoles (Super Mario World on SNES, Tetris on Game Boy, Super Mario 64 on N64, and Zelda BOTW on Switch).

You're talking about GoW 3? The remastered one? Best game of 2018?!

[baseline bum]

You're talking about GoW 3? The remastered one? Best game of 2018?!

Nah, not God of War 3. I mean the one that came out on PS4 last April or so with Kratos and his son.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_MtcOznfM4

[apalisoc_9]

Apex legends is fun but feels impossible to win if I don't have my own squad of FPS bros playing. Every time you team up with randos they're trash

Are you serious? Its a fast game. Its fairly common to get grouped with 100+kills.

Ladt night got 2 kills and this dude carried us with 19kills.

[Leetonidas]

Are you serious? Its a fast game. Its fairly common to get grouped with 100+kills.

Ladt night got 2 kills and this dude carried us with 19kills.

Tbf I've only played like 6-7 games thus far but I feel that's my issue, I always get dudes who die in the first 2 seconds of the damn game or someone wants to go off on their own and be a hero. I have been one of the last 3 squads remaining but haven't been able to win yet

[apalisoc_9]

Tbf I've only played like 6-7 games thus far but I feel that's my issue, I always get dudes who die in the first 2 seconds of the damn game or someone wants to go off on their own and be a hero. I have been one of the last 3 squads remaining but haven't been able to win yet

Ps4?

[Leetonidas]

Ps4?

PC/xbone mostly

[baseline bum]

LOL Anthem is an even bigger piece of shit than it looked like at E3.

[hater]

Been playing Cities Skylines. This game is great old school city builder but with really good graphics

It works fucking well and has millions of free mods. I just spent 5+ hours building a replica of NYC and it wqs fucking fun!

[hater]

Also played a bit with Dirt a rally sim, pretty good but hard to freaking drive

And FrostPunk a weird game from makers of This War of Mine. Its a RTS pretty damn good

[baseline bum]

Been playing Cities Skylines. This game is great old school city builder but with really good graphics

It works fucking well and has millions of free mods. I just spent 5+ hours building a replica of NYC and it wqs fucking fun!

Can you re-enact 9/11? Did you use the planes or internal bombs?

[hater]

They have the twin towers as a free mod. Dont think u can crash planes into buildings but you can definitely conjure a tsunami or tornado to obliterate your city

[chunticakes]

Nah, not God of War 3. I mean the one that came out on PS4 last April or so with Kratos and his son.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_MtcOznfM4

I'm gonna go pick that up right now. What other games you recommend? Ratchet and clank?

[spurraider21]

I'm gonna go pick that up right now. What other games you recommend? Ratchet and clank?
Ratchet and Clank was solid fun but probably not something at the top of a recommended list. it's pretty cheap though. its retailing about about $20 most places

as far as recs, depends what you've played so far or if you have a preference of genre. do you care if a game is long/slow or do you prefer 15-20 hour games that are just action the whole way through

[baseline bum]

I'm gonna go pick that up right now. What other games you recommend? Ratchet and clank?

Ratchet & Clank is a really fun game, but wait for it to go on sale. You can find it for $6 to $8 a lot. I'd wait. My personal recommendations for best deals on games currently are:

1. Bloodborne Complete Edition for $21 on PSN - My favorite game on the system by far, though it's also pretty difficult so it's not for everyone. But if you're looking for interesting combat and great control this game really delivers. Plus this contains the DLC, which is IMO the best part of the game.

2. NieR Automata for $30 at Gamestop - Great action RPG with a really interesting story and killer soundtrack. This is probably on sale because there is a complete edition called NieR Automata Game of the Yorha Edition coming next month, but the DLC it includes isn't worth it IMO. But the base game is just incredible. Easily my second favorite game on PS4.

3. Persona 5 for $20 at Gamestop - This game is unbelievable if you like turn based RPG, and I love the soundtrack. There likely is an expanded version that will be teased next month in Japan, but the US voice actor for one of the main characters (Morgana) claims she knows nothing about the game yet. So if it's coming soon it'll only be in Japan.

4. Dying Light The Following Enhanced Edition for $20 MSRP everywhere - I know people are burned out on zombie games, but this one has such cool parkour action and the combat is ultra-violent and highly satisfying once you start getting swords and sickles three or four hours into the game. It plays out like a 1970s B-movie with the film grain and creepy low budget soundtrack too. God I love this game.

5. Witcher 3 Complete Edition for $20 on PSN - This a steal. It's about a 400 hour game if you're a completionist and the combat is great, plus a good story and pretty amazing lighting. The included DLC is among the greatest DLC ever released for a game. Especially the Blood and Wine DLC. If that was its own base game (it's about 40 hours or so) it would have been hands down my 2016 GOTY.

6. Horizon Zero Dawn Complete Edition for $20 MSRP everywhere - It's like a third person Far Cry if Far Cry was made by a dev who gave a shit instead of crap Ubisoft. Highly recommended.

7. God of War for $40 MSRP everywhere - Great game, though it goes on sale a lot. I paid $25 for my copy about a month ago, but even at $40 it's highly worth it.

8. Yakuza 0 for $20 MSRP everywhere - It's like a modern day Streets of Rage with some weird Japanese humor thrown in as well as a pretty compelling main storyline.

9. RDR2 for $45 on PSN - Not a bad price considering how well Rockstar game prices usually hold up.

Just check the reviews for these nine and see what interests you. I think these are the best nine games on the system (though I haven't played Spiderman or Dark Souls III) and all but two (GOW and RDR2) are at near fire sale prices.

[chunticakes]

Ratchet and Clank was solid fun but probably not something at the top of a recommended list. it's pretty cheap though. its retailing about about $20 most places

as far as recs, depends what you've played so far or if you have a preference of genre. do you care if a game is long/slow or do you prefer 15-20 hour games that are just action the whole way through

I'm like you dude I barely got the PS4 Pro towards the end of it's cycle deliberately. There's a ton of good games available nice and cheap now that'll keep me busy until the PS5 is out with better games than the launch titles.

In the past two months I've beat The Last of Us twice, Resident Evil 7, Resident Evil 2 (with both Leon and Claire), and Uncharted 4. Red Dead was too much so I've been taking breaks in between with these other titles.

Metal Gear was too complicated and I got bored out in the desert level lol. I need to go back and finish it along with RDR2.

I really don't have a preference. I just wanna make up for all the games I haven't played the past four years lol.

[baseline bum]

I'm like you dude I barely got the PS4 Pro towards the end of it's cycle deliberately. There's a ton of good games available nice and cheap now that'll keep me busy until the PS5 is out with better games than the launch titles.

In the past two months I've beat The Last of Us twice, Resident Evil 7, Resident Evil 2 (with both Leon and Claire), and Uncharted 4. Red Dead was too much so I've been taking breaks in between with these other titles.

Metal Gear was too complicated and I got bored out in the desert level lol. I need to go back and finish it along with RDR2.

I really don't have a preference. I just wanna make up for all the games I haven't played the past four years lol.

It's such a cheap console to game on this late in the generation with most of the best games on it highly discounted.

[spurraider21]

there's also a lot of really good deals on ps3 remasters. you mentioned how you played last of us, for example.

similarly batman return to arkham includes remasters of arkham asylum and arkham city. thats usually pretty cheap

there's also the Nathan Drake Collection which includes Uncharted 1, 2, and 3. you can find that for about $20

bioshock collection includes BioShock 1, 2, and 3... that one you can find for about $25

shadow of the colossus was another well received remake of a classic game

otherwise if you just want high end PS4 titles, yeah i'd defer to BB's list. the bigger ps4 exclusives of the last 2 years or so have been horizon zero dawn, god of war, spider man

[baseline bum]

there's also a lot of really good deals on ps3 remasters. you mentioned how you played last of us, for example.

similarly batman return to arkham includes remasters of arkham asylum and arkham city. thats usually pretty cheap

there's also the Nathan Drake Collection which includes Uncharted 1, 2, and 3. you can find that for about $20

bioshock collection includes BioShock 1, 2, and 3... that one you can find for about $25

shadow of the colossus was another well received remake of a classic game

otherwise if you just want high end PS4 titles, yeah i'd defer to BB's list. the bigger ps4 exclusives of the last 2 years or so have been horizon zero dawn, god of war, spider man

The Uncharted Nathan Drake Collection is indeed really good shit, but it goes on sale for $8 all the time on PSN. That game, The Last of Us Remastered, God of War 3 Remastered, Ratchet and Clank, Bloodborne base game (though the DLC is the best part of the game IMO), and inFAMOUS Second Son go on fire sale prices all the time on PSN. Then Uncharted 4 will drop to $10 every once in a while too I think. There are probably more big games that are consistently $10 or less in PSN sales but those are the ones I remember.

[chunticakes]

The Uncharted Nathan Drake Collection is indeed really good shit, but it goes on sale for $8 all the time on PSN. That game, The Last of Us Remastered, God of War 3 Remastered, Ratchet and Clank, Bloodborne base game (though the DLC is the best part of the game IMO), and inFAMOUS Second Son go on fire sale prices all the time on PSN. Then Uncharted 4 will drop to $10 every once in a while too I think. There are probably more big games that are consistently $10 or less in PSN sales but those are the ones I remember.

Damn that's pretty cheap. I have the uncharted remastered collection but I haven't played it. I beat all those and the entire Arkham series back in the day on the PS3.

[baseline bum]

Damn that's pretty cheap. I have the uncharted remastered collection but I haven't played it. I beat all those and the entire Arkham series back in the day on the PS3.

Funniest one was when I bought Ratchet & Clank for $10 at Gamestop. Then they had this crazy promotion a week later where they were paying $20 for the game so I sold it back to them. Then PSN was running the game for $6 at the time, so I basically bought the game for -$4. :lol

Also in that promotion I sold them Bloodborne for $20, The Last of Us Remastered for $20, and Uncharted Nathan Drake Collection for $20. Then bought back my copy of Bloodborne for $20.55 after tax and my copy of The Last of Us Remastered for $20.55 after tax, then used their Buy 2, Get 1 Free deal on used games to get back my copy of Uncharted Nathan Drake Collection free. So basically $18.90 in store credit for letting them hold on to three of my games for about a minute and a half. :lol

Gamestop runs the stupidest promotions sometimes. There were people going and buying games at Best Buy and Walmart for like $20 and trading them in for $60 trade credit in that promotion. People were using it to get $450 Switch + Zelda + Pro Controller bundles for like $200 out of pocket, and this was when Switch was impossible to find in stores (hence the need to buy bundles). So sometimes you can exploit the hell out of that retarded company. :lol

[apalisoc_9]

Yakuza 0 is like a netflix bing watc show. It's my favourite game in the last 20 years or so. Up there with HZD, even though id objectively say Last of us and God of war are the best games in the last 20 years.

After chapter 4..yakuza becomes too addicting storywise. Its a lot to say because baseline bum tells me i didnt even enjoy the best parts of the game.


But general advice to noob and casuals, just ignore everything and play the story mode.

[baseline bum]

Yakuza 0 is like a netflix bing watc show. It's my favourite game in the last 20 years or so. Up there with HZD, even though id objectively say Last of us and God of war are the best games in the last 20 years.

After chapter 4..yakuza becomes too addicting storywise. Its a lot to say because baseline bum tells me i didnt even enjoy the best parts of the game.


But general advice to noob and casuals, just ignore everything and play the story mode.

It sounded like you didn't do the really funny parts of Yakuza 0. Like one of the substories is a little kid who desperately wants a porno mag so you have to sneak your way through this alley to the porno vending machine while not letting any of the judgemental mothers see you trying to buy it. Or another one where a Chinese hooker who can't pronounce things says she desperately needs a bizza so she can work in Japan so you go get her a pizza and her pimp flips out and says no one could be stupid enough to mistake a pizza for a visa.

[apalisoc_9]

It sounded like you didn't do the really funny parts of Yakuza 0. Like one of the substories is a little kid who desperately wants a porno mag so you have to sneak your way through this alley to the porno vending machine while not letting any of the judgemental mothers see you trying to buy it. Or another one where a Chinese hooker who can't pronounce things says she desperately needs a bizza so she can work in Japan so you go get her a pizza and her pimp flips out and says no one could be stupid enough to mistake a pizza for a visa.

:lmao

Wow yakuza 0 is probably better than i though