Videogames: Who Are You Buying This For?

[Muttering Bill]

So, I went and got a PS4. Not that there's anything I wanted it for now. It was just because I have the money for it now, and if I wait until there's a game I really want, then I probably won't.

Figured I should get a game for it, I picked up Assassin's Creed 4 and a PS+ card. AC4 is good so far. Burned out on the series with Revelations, and skipped AC3. But I'm enjoying this one, at least for now. I always liked the multiplayer, so there's that to do as well.

Loving Resogun. And I have that other free game to check out too.

As for the system itself, the menu is a little too cluttered. But it's much quieter than the PS3 at least. I like the updates the trophy listings, that it shows how common/rare they are, and seperate categories for DLC. Dig the new controller too. Very comfortable. Don't see the point of the touch pad though.

So, anybody else that's got one of these... any games I should be looking at?

[Tony Soprano]

Ubisoft fanboy checking in.

I've come across a few leaked gameplay videos from Watch Dogs. To be honest, I'm not seeing a huge difference between these and the E3 trailer from a couple of years ago. The game still looks damn good, especially in the first video, which is basically a showcase about rain and wet roads.

Just a warning, though, the videos are really hard to watch. The people playing them have no idea what they're doing (the first two even have dubstep intros, eww), but the game still looks amazing.

[TheEvilKing]

Looks like cyber-GTA with better graphics.

[Gears of the Beast]

Looks like cyber-GTA with better graphics.

Pretty much. Doesn't seem as innovative as it did when they first showed it off at E3 all those years ago.

[sToNED_CAT]

Want to play: Tesla Effect. I loved the old Tex Murphy games. Anyone try this yet?

So I tried it, I'm in 5th gameday and I'd say it's an average game (6/10so far). I did not play the original games during 90ties so I don't know if this one is different or not, but I thought the atmosphere and the main character will be different. Tex is more comedic,than serious PI and I didn't like the actor too much (his voice is great, but he overplays - hehe it's pretty funny I'm commenting on acting in video game). Also to the adventure part - I had more difficulties to find needed items, than deciding what to do with them, and that's a thing I dislike in adventures.

[Tony Soprano]

Looks like cyber-GTA with better graphics.

Pretty much. Doesn't seem as innovative as it did when they first showed it off at E3 all those years ago.

To be fair though, it was never meant to be anything more. That's literally what it was presented as being - GTA with hacking. I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that's what everyone who jumped aboard the hype train was looking for. They never showed anything really innovative. Neither now, nor at E3 two years ago. It's still the same game, it's always been - an open world sandbox game with some cool features to set itself apart.

Plus, it's unfair to compare it to GTA. That's like saying every FPS that came after Doom is a Doom-clone. It's an open world game, just like GTA, and it's bound by core conventions of the genre, but that's where the similarities end. The gameplay ( to me, anyway ) seems to be more of a mix of other Ubisoft games - the stealthy gunplay from Conviction, procedural unlocking of the world from Assassin's Creed, and Far Cry 3's sandbox objectives.

[TheEvilKing]

You're right that they're copy & pasting the procedural unlocking that they already use in Assassin's Creed and Far Cry into this new game.

I think the success of this game will depend entirelyon how fun and varied the hacking stuff you can do is.

[Werthead]

I specialised in melee in Skyrim with a side-order in archery, healing and destruction magic. I ended up with a pretty capable character who could handle most things he went up against. The dragon fights were a bit tedious but if you do the main quest first and get Dragonrend ASAP, they become a formality.

Anyway, new Elite: Dangerous gameplay video shows the galactic map (which is basically a whole programme in itself, being a 3D map of the entire Milky Way) and hyperspace. They've just announced that the tie-in novels will get a hardcover release on 16 October, which may be their thinking for the final release date.

[Durckad]

So I tried it, I'm in 5th gameday and I'd say it's an average game (6/10so far). I did not play the original games during 90ties so I don't know if this one is different or not, but I thought the atmosphere and the main character will be different. Tex is more comedic,than serious PI and I didn't like the actor too much (his voice is great, but he overplays - hehe it's pretty funny I'm commenting on acting in video game). Also to the adventure part - I had more difficulties to find needed items, than deciding what to do with them, and that's a thing I dislike in adventures.

I'd probably agree with this. It's a pretty standard adventure game so far (I'm only on day 2) but it's humorous and the characters are fun so I'm not complaining much yet.

Also, I'm going way, way back to the late 80's/early 90's and I'm replaying The Legend of Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link. Why? Because it's the white whale of my youth, a game I loved but never managed to finish. I think the furthest I ever got was the 5th palace and then my save game got erased on my NES. I was pretty pissed off at that as it took a lot of work to get that far.

Looking back on it, it's actually a pretty awesome game. It's a difficult platformer but not punishingly so. Except I'm now stuck on the end boss of the Island Palace. Fuck that guy, seriously. Once I unhorse him, I just end up chasing him across the screen until he disappears and I can't hit him anymore. It becomes a game of trying to draw him out and then he hits me with his damn sword beams and he hits pretty hard. I'm fairly decent at fighting the ironknuckles but since he can retreat off screen, he just becomes incredibly annoying to fight.

[Fez]

My resurrected New Vegas save is still working fine, fortunately, and I've played another 8 hours or so. I'm very nearly at the point where I need to pick a side, and right before I do I figure is a good time to get started on the DLC (my courier cracks under pressure and decides to get out of town for a while). Unfortunately, I've run into a glitched mission. Its not a main quest, so its nothing gamebreaking, just annoying. Its No, Not Much, the one where you need to get reinforcements for Bitter Springs, and I've finished up except that Hsu at McCarren refuses to help. I've done every quest from McCarren, and I'm at Good-Natured Rascal, so my fame is maxed out, but he just says no. Annoying.

I also picked up Dynasty Warriors 8 on the cheap. Gotta say, its a lot better than 7 was, although some of the hypothetical objectives are awfully hard to fill.

And I continue to play ROTK10 on my PS2, because there's something incredibly addictive about that game, even after all these years.

[Muttering Bill]

I also picked up Dynasty Warriors 8 on the cheap. Gotta say, its a lot better than 7 was, although some of the hypothetical objectives are awfully hard to fill.

Care to elaborate in what ways it's better than DW7?

I'm thinking of picking this up for PS4. I spent a couple hundred hours between DW7, DW7XL and WO3, so I'm not sure if I'm ready for another one yet. But I don't have much to do with the PS4 either.

[Fez]

Care to elaborate in what ways it's better than DW7?

I'm thinking of picking this up for PS4. I spent a couple hundred hours between DW7, DW7XL and WO3, so I'm not sure if I'm ready for another one yet. But I don't have much to do with the PS4 either.

The story mode doesn't feel as lazily done. There are unlockable side battles that you can reach by meeting optional objectives in the main battles, and each kingdom has its set of historical final few battles, and a set of hypothetical final few battle that can be unlocked if you meet all the optional objectives for each stage before the branching off point (Fan Castle for Shu, Chi Bi for Wei, Hei Fei for Wu, I don't know what Jin's is yet). There's no voiceover narration between battles, just text, but there's significantly more character cutscenes, and more dialogue during battles. Its all still pretty poorly written, and badly voice-acted (although sometimes hilariously so), but the characters feel slightly more like character than usual. Story mode still kingdom based, but you get to pick from 2-4 characters for each stage, so that's nice. There's also a number of non-connected "Other" story battles where you can play non-Kingdom characters. Some are just the other side of battles you already fought, like the Yellow Turbans, others are entirely new battles, like Diaochan and Lu Bu's assassination of Dong Zhou.

Also, although its still mostly up to you, in some battles you're allies are not entirely worthless! There are some times where you are sent down one path and some of your allies another, and when you reach the meeting point, they'll have actually made it too; killing whichever enemies were in their way. So that's fun.

The new Ambition Mode is repetitive, but less so than Conquest Mode was.

Finally, the actual gameplay just feels better designed. Some of the move sets have been carried over, but others are new, and are really fun. The weapon system is broadly the same, but there are improvements, such as every character now having their own unique weapon type, and weapons now having an affinity (think rock-paper-scissors), so your best weapon might not be too useful against an enemy general with the wrong affinity.

[Muttering Bill]

<snip>

Thanks for answering. Sounds good. I think I'll have to get it now. Especially where the PS4 version comes with XL and (supposedly) all the DLC. Hopefully that means they released all the DW7 DLC costumes and I'll get them included.

Yeah, I'm going to need a Wang Yuanji fix soon.

Story mode still kingdom based, but you get to pick from 2-4 characters for each stage, so that's nice.

Does that mean it has character switching like Warriors Orochi 3 did? I liked that feature a lot.

[Rhom]

So, I went and got a PS4. Not that there's anything I wanted it for now. It was just because I have the money for it now, and if I wait until there's a game I really want, then I probably won't.

...

As for the system itself, the menu is a little too cluttered. But it's much quieter than the PS3 at least. I like the updates the trophy listings, that it shows how common/rare they are, and seperate categories for DLC. Dig the new controller too. Very comfortable. Don't see the point of the touch pad though.

Ironically... that's the biggest question I had about it. My PS3 sounds like a damn jetplane taking off half the time. :tantrum:

Thanks for answering. Sounds good. I think I'll have to get it now. Especially where the PS4 version comes with XL and (supposedly) all the DLC. Hopefully that means they released all the DW7 DLC costumes and I'll get them included.

Yeah, I'm going to need a Wang Yuanji fix soon.

Does that mean it has character switching like Warriors Orochi 3 did? I liked that feature a lot.

I had a lot of fun with DW: Gundam on the PS3. I don't know if there's any plans to do another one of those for the next gen, but I'd pick it up in a heartbeat. Mindlessly mowing down waves of enemies in a giant robot? What's not to love?!!?

[Lyanna Stark]

In my "Four years late Mass Effect 2 noobtastic playthrough" I am finally nearing the suicide mission. I only have loyalty missions left for Zaeed, Thane, and Samara and then the IFF mission. I've done just about every sidequest I have come across and I am waiting to do the DLC missions. Have really enjoyed the game. The first few hours took me a bit to get used to because I had to get the hang of the gameplay being different than ME1.

I have diligently stayed away from spoilers so I was actually surprised when I found out Archangel's identity and the fact that Jack wasn't a guy. :lol: Also, if you will recall the repeated frustration and difficulty I had with ME1's button mashing minigame to open every goddamned locker; I must say that I readily welcome the hacking and bypass minigames in this one.

Also, I picked up the Mass Effect: Infiltrator game on my iPhone the other day and its a fun little time waster when I'm away from home.

I'm trying to decide if once I finish ME2 if I want to go straight to ME3 or take a quick break and play through Stick of Truth. :dunno:

Yay, welcome to the latecomers who love ME2 club! :) It is a totally awesome game. Like you, I was totally unspoilt and got really sentimental about Archangel, among other things.

Once you finish ME3, let me know what you think about the final mission there and how you picked your team mates for it. :)

Yeah, I was really shocked and pissed off initially. I got over it about seven minutes later.

:lol: pretty much.

ME2 also has so much replayability, unlike ME1, I thought. Altho I was devastated to learn that the default start had Urdnot Wrex dead :bawl: :crying: but someone nice on here pointed me in the direction of save games you could download, so I will never again lack Urdnot Wrex!!!

[Rhom]

Finished up Tali and Zaeed's loyalty last night. I saved my game in the system for the Operation Overlord mission. Therein lies my next question; I've been loosely following a mission order guide I saw online and the author says he likes to do Lair of the Shadow Broker and Arrival after the Suicide Mission.

Does that sound like something I should wait on? If you do it that way, are you basically just reloading your game and playing that through? He said that Arrival in particular just feels like the perfect segue storywise into ME3.

[paddington]

I finished ME1 last year :). Overall I kind of ended up liking it a bit more than I thought I would. I tried a few times to get into it, but the starting bit in the citedal just did it for me. ME2 got about 20 hours in and lost interest, wasn't that anything was out-right bad, it just felt like I was running between cut-scenes where the important stuff was happening.

[WrathOfTinyKittens]

So I've been playing Heroes of Might and Magic III like crazy for the past few weeks. It's an old game but almost infinitely replayable, splendid fun, and addicting. And for $9.99 you can get it plus both expansions on GOG.

Sidenote: GOG is awesome. I've bought so many great nostalgia titles from them.

[Lyanna Stark]

Finished up Tali and Zaeed's loyalty last night. I saved my game in the system for the Operation Overlord mission. Therein lies my next question; I've been loosely following a mission order guide I saw online and the author says he likes to do Lair of the Shadow Broker and Arrival after the Suicide Mission.

Does that sound like something I should wait on? If you do it that way, are you basically just reloading your game and playing that through? He said that Arrival in particular just feels like the perfect segue storywise into ME3.

Sorry, don't have the DLCs :( But checking the storyline for it, at least the shadowbroker feels like it should be between ME2 and ME3.

[Muttering Bill]

Ironically... that's the biggest question I had about it. My PS3 sounds like a damn jetplane taking off half the time. :tantrum:

I know. The majority of my game time is late at night after the kids have gone to bed, so I keep the volume down. Half the time I can't hear the game over the PS3's fan. And it only takes about 5 minutes before it kicks in.