Videogames: Ultimate Evil Edition

[Rhom]

Destiny PS4 bundle pre-ordered. I will have a white console adorning my shelf in just a few weeks.

TLoU and MGSV will be my other two purchases.

[The Anti-Targ]

:thumbsup:

And in all seriousness, if you really are looking at playing it, you really should't be looking at gameplay videos. Despite what Kal says, you will be missing a significant amount of the experience if you merely watch it as a "movie" on Youtube.

Of course it IS going to be a movie, written by the original writer of the game and produced by Sam Raimi. So I guess you could always wait for that to come out. Maisie Williams is being touted as the possible Ellie.

[Sivin]

I don't think Maisie would fit as Ellie. She lacks... subtlety.

[Frances Bean Corbray]

After my experience with Dragon Age II, I am definitely going to keep a keen eye on this thread (or its successor) and wait and see what all of you think of it before committing anything.

Anyone play much of the ASOIAF-themed mod for Mount & Blade? I dipped my toe in the water the other day and boy is it brutal to start off

[Queen Ayras Lord Commander]

The most evil game, solely because of the players, is League of Legends.

[Kalbear]

Ellie having subtlety is an amusing thought, given that she essentially parades around the game while you sneak.

[Sivin]

Ellie having subtlety is an amusing thought, given that she essentially parades around the game while you sneak.

I meant more about the depth of the character. Ellie has a lot of shit going on in her life.

[KiDisaster]

The most evil game, solely because of the players, is League of Legends.

I've just started muting everyone at the very beginning of the game. Pings are all you need to communicate and it makes it a much more pleasant experience. Not bothering with ranked anymore was another good decision, people troll way more in ranked than in normals for some reason and I'm too shit at it to climb the ladder anyway :P. Highest I made it was silver and I was stuck in bronze this season although I only played about 20 games, good times. Team builder and ARAM + muted chat or premades with friends is the way to go IMO. Actually started to enjoy LoL again rather than stressing over it.

[The Anti-Targ]

Ellie having subtlety is an amusing thought, given that she essentially parades around the game while you sneak.

I'm sure you'll earn your Microsoft employee of the month award the way you are sniping at this game at every opportunity. I mean shit, Sivin was talking about the movie casting possibilities nothing at all to do with the gameplay elements of TLOU.

[Fez]

And in all seriousness, if you really are looking at playing it, you really should't be looking at gameplay videos. Despite what Kal says, you will be missing a significant amount of the experience if you merely watch it as a "movie" on Youtube.

I don't disagree with this. I'd never just sit there and watch youtube cutscene vids. However, apparently that is becoming a growing trend, enough so that Game Informer had a short think piece about the concern that story-heavy single player game sales will become affected enough that developers will shift even more to multiplayer and "casual" games.

[Muttering Bill]

And in all seriousness, if you really are looking at playing it, you really should't be looking at gameplay videos. Despite what Kal says, you will be missing a significant amount of the experience if you merely watch it as a "movie" on Youtube.

If you are planning to play it, then you'd probably want to avoid spoilers anyway. And with the story being so integrated it would be hard not see them.

I don't disagree with this. I'd never just sit there and watch youtube cutscene vids. However, apparently that is becoming a growing trend, enough so that Game Informer had a short think piece about the concern that story-heavy single player game sales will become affected enough that developers will shift even more to multiplayer and "casual" games.

Or they could try putting a little more effort into making the games fun, instead of foucssing on their (usually) mediocre stories. I'm personally done with paying full price for single serving story based games.

Not to say story based games can't be good. I would have been satisfied having rented TLoU, but I don't regret buying it either. I've also bought Tomb Raider twice and won't hesitate to get the sequel. But it's rare that these types of games give any reason to come back a second time.

They've already been doing this for years by stuffing multiplayer into everything. But it isn't going to help if they don't put in the initial effort of making the gameplay fun. MP in most games dies out within a month or so of release.

[Alex.]

And in all seriousness, if you really are looking at playing it, you really should't be looking at gameplay videos. Despite what Kal says, you will be missing a significant amount of the experience if you merely watch it as a "movie" on Youtube.

Of course it IS going to be a movie, written by the original writer of the game and produced by Sam Raimi. So I guess you could always wait for that to come out. Maisie Williams is being touted as the possible Ellie.

Dreadful idea. I hope this doesn't happen.

[Fez]

Or they could try putting a little more effort into making the games fun, instead of foucssing on their (usually) mediocre stories. I'm personally done with paying full price for single serving story based games.

Not to say story based games can't be good. I would have been satisfied having rented TLoU, but I don't regret buying it either. I've also bought Tomb Raider twice and won't hesitate to get the sequel. But it's rare that these types of games give any reason to come back a second time.

They've already been doing this for years by stuffing multiplayer into everything. But it isn't going to help if they don't put in the initial effort of making the gameplay fun. MP in most games dies out within a month or so of release.

Well, yeah, gameplay is important, but, to me, very few games are fun for more than 20 hours or so anyway, so I'd much rather have a focus on improving the stories and characters rather than improving the gameplay or (more likely) focusing on making the graphics as shiny as possible. And I'm only going to replay a game if I want to be in that world again, not because the gameplay was so fun that I want to experience that again.

And there were quite a few games last-gen that I was perfectly happy paying $60 for based on their characters and stories, including Bioshock Infinite, a game with really rather lackluster gameplay.

[Jabronius Maximus]

I don't disagree with this. I'd never just sit there and watch youtube cutscene vids. However, apparently that is becoming a growing trend, enough so that Game Informer had a short think piece about the concern that story-heavy single player game sales will become affected enough that developers will shift even more to multiplayer and "casual" games.

I really hope it doesn't come to that. But I can see why the trend is there - $60 may seem like a steep price to many for a game they'll end up playing for only a few days. Instead, by watching a let's play, even getting half the experience for free looks like a compelling value compared to the $60. And of course, we'd never see a price drop for new games. I don't like this trend.

[Muttering Bill]

Well, yeah, gameplay is important, but, to me, very few games are fun for more than 20 hours or so anyway, so I'd much rather have a focus on improving the stories and characters rather than improving the gameplay or (more likely) focusing on making the graphics as shiny as possible. And I'm only going to replay a game if I want to be in that world again, not because the gameplay was so fun that I want to experience that again.

Exactly, they're not fun for more than a few hours because developers don't care about making them fun. It's all about pushing out the next game of the week. The AAA industry spent the last gen trying to remove the game from games, and then complaining when we don't want to buy them.

I'd rather spend my $60 on a game that I can get sink a couple hundred hours into, just because, than for one that I'll finish in 3 days and never touch again. If that's what they're calling "casual" then I'm all for going back to that. I've spent more time playing Fruit Ninja for $1 than most $60 games.

Maybe I'm just old and grumpy. Kids these days with their cutscenes and dialogue trees. Back in my day games didn't have stories. We had a square and two buttons. Story? Get rid of the other sqaures; there's your story! :tantrum:

[eyenon15]

Dreadful idea. I hope this doesn't happen.

If it was 10-15 years ago, Ellen Page would have been perfect as Ellie

[Fez]

Exactly, they're not fun for more than a few hours because developers don't care about making them fun. It's all about pushing out the next game of the week. The AAA industry spent the last gen trying to remove the game from games, and then complaining when we don't want to buy them.

I'd rather spend my $60 on a game that I can get sink a couple hundred hours into, just because, than for one that I'll finish in 3 days and never touch again. If that's what they're calling "casual" then I'm all for going back to that. I've spent more time playing Fruit Ninja for $1 than most $60 games.

Maybe I'm just old and grumpy. Kids these days with their cutscenes and dialogue trees. Back in my day games didn't have stories. We had a square and two buttons. Story? Get rid of the other sqaures; there's your story! :tantrum:

When it comes to gameplay, I'm harder to please than just about anyone, which is why I'd rather devs didn't try to devote too many resources to that. Or rather, they should try to make the gameplay good, but not at the expense of the stuff I care more about. Quite literally, the only games I've ever put more than a hundred hours into have been strategy games, MMOs, and maybe Morrowind; that's it. Nothing else has held my interest that long, and I don't want anything to hold my interest that long either. Even if we lowered the threshold to 50 hours, from the last-gen that would only add Skyrim, Fallout New Vegas, Mass Effect 2, and Diablo 3, and Borderlands 2.

I much prefer a well-crafted experience that lasts a short, set amount of time that I can enjoy and then move on from. I don't just want an interactive movie (and QTEs are the absolute worst), but I don't want devs trying to craft a gameplay system that will sustain hundreds of hours either; for me, that's just a waste. To me, paying $60 for a game that lasts about a week (maybe more, maybe less, depending on how much time I have), that's good value, so long as I enjoyed the experience.

[Muttering Bill]

I much prefer a well-crafted experience that lasts a short, set amount of time that I can enjoy and then move on from. I don't just want an interactive movie (and QTEs are the absolute worst), but I don't want devs trying to craft a gameplay system that will sustain hundreds of hours either; for me, that's just a waste. To me, paying $60 for a game that lasts about a week (maybe more, maybe less, depending on how much time I have), that's good value, so long as I enjoyed the experience.

The best part is that there is plenty of room for us both to get what we want. I'll happily spend the next several months playing Diabo 3 and Destiny over and over. And leave the rest to those who like a more story driven approach.

It just irriates me when the industry blames the consumers for poor sales instead of looking at it self-critically, realizing that most of their games are just shit, and then taking steps to improve them. Maybe I'll change my mind on story driven games once they figure out a better of keeping the player involved, instead of just a series of cut-scenes and QTE's with a couple of shooty bits in between.

[Fez]

The best part is that there is plenty of room for us both to get what we want. I'll happily spend the next several months playing Diabo 3 and Destiny over and over. And leave the rest to those who like a more story driven approach.

It just irriates me when the industry blames the consumers for poor sales instead of looking at it self-critically, realizing that most of their games are just shit, and then taking steps to improve them. Maybe I'll change my mind on story driven games once they figure out a better of keeping the player involved, instead of just a series of cut-scenes and QTE's with a couple of shooty bits in between.

That's certainly true. Its a multibillion dollar industry, it should be able to cater to all tastes instead of fumbling badly on one fad after another all while pouring money into graphics instead of anything else; which, because that's so expensive, in turn drives up costs and prevents studios from taking nearly any interesting risks.

[Queen Ayras Lord Commander]

I've just started muting everyone at the very beginning of the game. Pings are all you need to communicate and it makes it a much more pleasant experience. Not bothering with ranked anymore was another good decision, people troll way more in ranked than in normals for some reason and I'm too shit at it to climb the ladder anyway :P. Highest I made it was silver and I was stuck in bronze this season although I only played about 20 games, good times. Team builder and ARAM + muted chat or premades with friends is the way to go IMO. Actually started to enjoy LoL again rather than stressing over it.

It doesn't matter. I got reported a shit ton last night in one game in which I never typed a word. Went 6-1-5 and the 4 man premade kept spamming I was ksing. Then they reported me. After I dragged their sorry asses to victory.

It's just not a fun game anymore unless you're on a 5 person premade.