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  1. #2251
    Club Rookie of The Year DJR210's Avatar
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    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/compe ive 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 les 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.

  2. #2252
    Klaw apalisoc_9's Avatar
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    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.

  3. #2253
    SeaGOAT midnightpulp's Avatar
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    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 le 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.

  4. #2254
    Take the fcking keys away baseline bum's Avatar
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    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.

  5. #2255
    Take the fcking keys away baseline bum's Avatar
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    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 ing 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).

  6. #2256
    Savvy Veteran spurraider21's Avatar
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    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 les, 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.
    Last edited by spurraider21; 01-22-2019 at 03:31 PM.

  7. #2257
    The Timeless One Leetonidas's Avatar
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    I picked up Hollow Knight for the switch the other day. Pretty fun game. Soundtrack is amazing. But this game is pretty difficult, been awhile since I've played a metroidvania

  8. #2258
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    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

  9. #2259
    Club Rookie of The Year DJR210's Avatar
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    If y'all liked Hotline Miami check out The Hong Kong Massacre

  10. #2260
    The Timeless One Leetonidas's Avatar
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    I picked up Hollow Knight for the switch the other day. Pretty fun game. Soundtrack is amazing. But this game is pretty difficult, been awhile since I've played a metroidvania
    Seriously why is this game so damn hard

  11. #2261
    SeaGOAT midnightpulp's Avatar
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    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.

  12. #2262
    SeaGOAT midnightpulp's Avatar
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    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 les, 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 ty 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.

  13. #2263
    Veteran chunticakes's Avatar
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    Anyone get the Resident Evil 2 remake? It's ing legit.

  14. #2264
    what uganda do about it? Joseph Kony's Avatar
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    Anyone get the Resident Evil 2 remake? It's ing legit.
    been playing it most of the evening, ing awesome so far

  15. #2265
    Klaw apalisoc_9's Avatar
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    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.

  16. #2266
    non-essential Chris's Avatar
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    RE7 was very good

  17. #2267
    what uganda do about it? Joseph Kony's Avatar
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    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

  18. #2268
    Savvy Veteran spurraider21's Avatar
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    Having never played the BioShock series, glad to see you can get the full collection on PS4 for ~20

  19. #2269
    Take the fcking keys away baseline bum's Avatar
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    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.

  20. #2270
    Take the fcking keys away baseline bum's Avatar
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    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.

  21. #2271
    Club Rookie of The Year DJR210's Avatar
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    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..

  22. #2272
    Club Rookie of The Year DJR210's Avatar
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    Anyone get the Resident Evil 2 remake? It's ing legit.
    Did you play the original?

  23. #2273
    SeaGOAT midnightpulp's Avatar
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    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.

  24. #2274
    SeaGOAT midnightpulp's Avatar
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    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 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.

  25. #2275
    Take the fcking keys away baseline bum's Avatar
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    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.
    Last edited by baseline bum; 01-27-2019 at 11:57 PM.

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