Videogames: Who Are You Buying This For?

[Inigima]

Just finished Thamasa. The floating continent would be next, but I want everyone to master every esper, so I'm off to the Veldt.

Still the best game ever made.

[karaddin]

All the big expensive ME2 and 3 DLCs are worth it. All are amazing.

And all are ridiculously, crime-against-humanity-levels of overpriced.

Last I calculated it out, buying just the story DLC from ME2 and 3 comes out to $80.

No argument with any of that. At least not for the ones I've played, the latter is the reason I haven't played them all. They really should drop in price ffs.

[Enguerrand]

ME2's plot is perfectly self-contained, yes. That's why it's irrelevant. It's a side-story that progresses basically nothing in the Reaper story and that was true long before Arrival came out.

You miss the point, while Me2 doesn't lead to something significant to helps stop the Reapers Shepard doesn't know this. The Collector's ties to the Reapers seems as good lead he has as any I'm aware of to persue them. With Arrival Shepard has uncontrivable evidence of a imminent Reaper invasion making the collector problem and the plight of the human colonists a tertiary concern at best.

Yes, he could have returned but then they'd have faced stiffer opposition. The point of attacking the Citadel is to make the galaxy as easy to mop up as possible.

Yet in Me3 the Reapers shows no concern at all for that stiffer opposition, they totally ignore the Citadel, leaves the galactic government intact, and communication and ship movement free and even split up their forces and attack every major power at once. so the Citadel is obviously not needed. It might be a convenience feature as you suggest, yet the Reapers doesn't even shut down the mass relays after they take the Citadel so maybe the Citadel trap was just something they did out of boredom. Again ME3 clearly demonstrate that Sovereign died for nothing.

His attack should not have been a tough thing. We see this at the Battle of the Citadel. Why would you go 4 years out of your way and miss your nice opening strike when you can easily just set the plan back on track?

Because Sovereign has been plotting and seeking allies against the Citadel for millenia? why if it can just have all Reapers in the galaxy in 4 years? There isn't even a point hiding a relay in the citadel. I never suggested Sovereign should forgo the opening strike, just that it would be obviously preferable to do so with an unstoppable Reaper armada instead of a solo run that needlessly get himself killed for a objective thats merely a convinience, if that.

The Reapers aren't beatable conventionally though. Not because they are invulnerable but because they are simply too big, too numerous and too technologically advanced.

They became conventionally unbeatable in ME3 and the story and IP suffered tremendously for it. The Citadel trap, the mass relays and Dark Space were made out to be a crucial strategic concerns in ME1, implying that the absence of these things would put the Reapers at a serious relative disadvantage. Making all the Reaper's machinations into cleverness for stakes that didn't matter made me stop caring about them and the story.

That's one of the things the series does really well. You can see how the Reapers would want to soften the galaxy up first because while they will likely win eventually, it's not necessarily easy.

You must have played a different game, given that ME3 clearly demonstrate that the Reapers have no strategic need, or feel any need to "soften up the galaxy". The Reapers are so unconcerned about the opposition and own losses that they even split up their forces and engage the galaxy on multiple fronts. Even in possession of the Citadel they dont' cut of the mass relays and just end it, but allow the galaxy to throw everything they have against them and the Reapers accept this engagement headon with a partial force and still kick their asses.

The superweapon plot, of course, was cliched bullshit but what do you expect from Bioware?

Popcorn space opera, like you know ME1 and ME2. babes are banged, and space monsters are killed, and it's not so much that the superweapon plot is cliche as it's the most badly use of it I ever encountered.

[Lyanna Stark]

Popcorn space opera, like you know ME1 and ME2. babes are banged, and space monsters are killed, and it's not so much that the superweapon plot is cliche as it's the most badly use of it I ever encountered.

Granted, I haven't played all Bioware games, but I am at a loss as to why Bioware in particular are getting singled out to be slapped with the superweapon/McGuffin fail!plot club?

I mean, out of BG1, BG2, DA:O, DA2 and Star Wars online (haven't played KoToR) none of them contain the superweapon/McGuffin story line apart from possibly DA:O is you really stretch it. The ME storyline has a lot of "OMG superweaponz" in it, but then the extinction of the galaxy is what the story line is ultimately about, so it feels that in that case, the objection is against the story line as a whole?

[MerenthaClone]

The Reapers aren't beatable conventionally though. Not because they are invulnerable but because they are simply too big, too numerous and too technologically advanced.

That's one of the things the series does really well. You can see how the Reapers would want to soften the galaxy up first because while they will likely win eventually, it's not necessarily easy.

The superweapon plot, of course, was cliched bullshit but what do you expect from Bioware?

So...its not easy for them to win, but its simultaneously impossible for them to lose? That's interesting.

And the Protheans held of for multiple generations, and they a) had their government cut off in one stroke. B) had their entire logistics operations for their entire fleet destroyed c) didn't have two thousand years of preparation the way the current Cycle did d) didn't have a dead Reaper to reverse-engineer before the big onslaught e) didn't have the Protagonist. They totally could have handled that invasion better. ME3 made ME1 completely pointless. Yay I stopped the invasion that actually wasn't important. Why did the Reapers wait 2k years after the Rachni Wars? It was a four year trip, max. Why did they bother with Sovereign? Why bother with the Collector plot? One thing the series does is give you the idea that this time, this time, the Reapers can be beaten. And I guess that happens, but...in a really stupid way. Part of what rubbed me so wrong about ME3 was how they threw out all of these perfectly reasonable ideas about how the Reapers could be beaten in a more normal way and...nope. They're still utterly invincible.

A normal Reaper invasion is a series of tiny islands against a navy capable of eliminating any one island without an issue. Sure, the islands might have twice the firepower, but that means fuckall if they can't work together. ME1 meant that the positions were reversed: the galaxy controlled the Relay network for the first time in any invasion. That's so fucking huge in terms of a power difference its unreal. Then you can handwave stuff like "The reapers burned a lot of fuel/power slowboating it" and some other stuff and suddenly its totally plausible. ME1 (with the Relay network secure) and ME2 (with the massive increase in galaxy tech thanks to reverse-engineered Sovereign stuff and with the implication that the Geth can be flipped from being front-line troops of the Reapers to being allies) and some other stuff really, really set up the possible differences. ME3 just ignores them because, imo, they had to appeal to all the people that picked up the series at ME3.

edit:

Granted, I haven't played all Bioware games, but I am at a loss as to why Bioware in particular are getting singled out to be slapped with the superweapon/McGuffin fail!plot club?

I mean, out of BG1, BG2, DA:O, DA2 and Star Wars online (haven't played KoToR) none of them contain the superweapon/McGuffin story line apart from possibly DA:O is you really stretch it. The ME storyline has a lot of "OMG superweaponz" in it, but then the extinction of the galaxy is what the story line is ultimately about, so it feels that in that case, the objection is against the story line as a whole?

I don't think they're getting slapped with the "OMG superweapons" so much as the "cliche" concept. DA:O was actually closer to what ME3 should have been: go get dudes to help you kill the bad guys. Bioware just took their usual "go to 4 places, get thing, go to endgame" plot structure and slapped a really bad Macguffin plot around it. DAO at least did that better, and to DA2's credit, they tried to avoid that formula too.

[Jon AS]

ME1 (with the Relay network secure) and ME2 (with the massive increase in galaxy tech thanks to reverse-engineered Sovereign stuff and with the implication that the Geth can be flipped from being front-line troops of the Reapers to being allies) and some other stuff really, really set up the possible differences. ME3 just ignores them because, imo, they had to appeal to all the people that picked up the series at ME3.

This sums it up pretty well. If they had bothered with a coherent plot, they had all the pieces for one there. But they were too concerned about new players feeling lost, too enarmored with the "twist" that the Reapers had a "good" reason for what they were doing (see also the abandoned, silly "dark energy is destroying the universe" plot) and on top of that probably wanted some specific set pieces, like the Reaper invasion of Earth, to be in the game at any cost.

I don't think they're getting slapped with the "OMG superweapons" so much as the "cliche" concept. DA:O was actually closer to what ME3 should have been: go get dudes to help you kill the bad guys. Bioware just took their usual "go to 4 places, get thing, go to endgame" plot structure and slapped a really bad Macguffin plot around it. DAO at least did that better, and to DA2's credit, they tried to avoid that formula too.

DAO and ME3 are pretty similar in terms of plot. Shepard isn't actively gathering parts for the superweapon until Thessia, before that it's very much about getting everyone to pool their resources to fight the Reapers. The diffrerence is one of structure, with DAO more strictly adhering to Bioware's favourite "90% of the game can be accessed in any order" formula than ME3 which, similar to DA2, breaks the plot down into several acts in which the formula applies on a smaller scale.

[Rhom]

Gameplay trailer for Arkham Knight.

I'm sold. (But I don't know about giving Batman a Robocop-esque suit of cybernetic armor.)

[KiDisaster]

Gameplay trailer for Arkham Knight.

I'm sold. (But I don't know about giving Batman a Robocop-esque suit of cybernetic armor.)

For a gameplay trailer it doesn't show much gameplay.

[Rhom]

For a gameplay trailer it doesn't show much gameplay.

What are you talking about? I clearly saw Batman punch somebody in one frame that absolutely maybe possibly could have been gameplay!

(And there were a couple scenes of driving the Batmobile.)

[Nictarion]

Just got a PS4. It's my first PlayStation since the original. I had Xbox and 360, but decided on PS4 this time around. I knew there wasn't many games out, but I hadn't realized the selection was this scarce. I bought Kill Zone Shadow Fall because it was cheap and looked decent and i might buy Assassins Creed Black Flag, even though I haven't played one since the original. Tbh the only game im exited about at the moment is Destiny.

[Rhom]

Just got a PS4. It's my first PlayStation since the original. I had Xbox and 360, but decided on PS4 this time around. I knew there wasn't many games out, but I hadn't realized the selection was this scarce. I bought Kill Zone Shadow Fall because it was cheap and looked decent and i might buy Assassins Creed Black Flag, even though I haven't played one since the original. Tbh the only game im exited about at the moment is Destiny.

I thought about picking one up and getting Metal Gear Ground Zeroes. The problem with PS4 right now is that just about every game I would want to play currently is also available on PS3. :dunno:

[Inigima]

Tell me why I should/shouldn't buy Transistor.

[Muttering Bill]

Just got a PS4. It's my first PlayStation since the original. I had Xbox and 360, but decided on PS4 this time around. I knew there wasn't many games out, but I hadn't realized the selection was this scarce. I bought Kill Zone Shadow Fall because it was cheap and looked decent and i might buy Assassins Creed Black Flag, even though I haven't played one since the original. Tbh the only game im exited about at the moment is Destiny.

I just got one over the weekend myself. I already knew that games were scarce. I picked up Black Flag. I had fallen out of love with the series a few years ago but so far I'm enjoying this one a lot. Maybe because it's pirates. AC is one of only a few games that I enjoy for multiplayer. If you've only played the first one, they are a lot different now.

Also got Dynasty Warriors 8, which is good if you're into them.

If you have a PS+ membership, then go and download Resogun. Awesome game, and currently free. And if you didn't get PS+, then go get it because you'll need that to play online anyway.

There's a few interesting looking indie games to check out. I'll likely be getting Transistor and Don't Starve in the near future.

Aside from those, there's really nothing I'm interested in until Diablo 3 in August. And then nothing again after that for probably the rest of the year. Unless there are some interesting E3 reveals.

[KiDisaster]

Tell me why I should/shouldn't buy Transistor.

You definitely shouldn't buy Transistor if you don't like sci-fi action RPGs with beautiful, hand drawn art, flexible combat options (you can go full action RPG with real time combat or pause and issue commands with an action point system, both are viable), a massively customizable set of abilities, a great soundtrack and an interesting story.

I haven't started it yet, still finishing Bastion, but I watched TB's video on it and holy shit it looks awesome.

[Fez]

Just got a PS4. It's my first PlayStation since the original. I had Xbox and 360, but decided on PS4 this time around. I knew there wasn't many games out, but I hadn't realized the selection was this scarce. I bought Kill Zone Shadow Fall because it was cheap and looked decent and i might buy Assassins Creed Black Flag, even though I haven't played one since the original. Tbh the only game im exited about at the moment is Destiny.

The new Wolfenstein seems like its getting reasonably average reviews, so that's something if you really need a game.

As for later in the year, I haven't paid too much attention to PS4/Xbone yet, but The Order 1886 I think is still supposed to come out later this year, and a new Uncharted has been announced, but I dunno if that's this year.

There's also a bunch of cross-gen games coming out this year, like Watch Dogs, like Far Cry 4, Dragon Age Inquisition, Murdered: Soul Suspect, Shadows of Mordor, and The Evil Within. I doubt there's any difference between. I doubt there's any difference besides graphics between the two generations, but since you already upgraded you might as well get them for the PS4 if you're interested in any of them.

[Enguerrand]

Granted, I haven't played all Bioware games, but I am at a loss as to why Bioware in particular are getting singled out to be slapped with the superweapon/McGuffin fail!plot club?

The ME storyline has a lot of "OMG superweaponz" in it, but then the extinction of the galaxy is what the story line is ultimately about, so it feels that in that case, the objection is against the story line as a whole?

As I believe I wrote, I have no issue with superweapon plots as such,

The issue with ME3 is how horribly contrived, circumstanstial and also totally unnecessary it is.

So the Reapers arrive at the galaxy and are invincible no matter what. At the same time Liara manage to find the only way to stop the Reaper by sheer circumstance at the exact time as they arrive, Wow they really dodged a bullet there.

These are plans for a device that release "vast amounts of energy through the mass relays" which for some reason is supposed to take care of the reaper problem because a thousand previous cycles of species all worked on this device and inherited it from their successor. Despite they all somehow being destroyed by a surprise attack from the Citadel, yet still always manage to hide the crucible plans and only that information. It's also kinda touching how not a single one of the species were selfish bastards that didn't care what happened to some monkeys 50000 years into the future.

Now someone sane might conclude that since all previous attempts to construct the crucible resulted in annihilation, it's probably not a good a idea to be the 12347 cycle to try it. Or might be concerned that no one can explain what it does or how it does it but nah, everyone conclude it's the only way to go instead of hoping for something vastly likelier like the return of Jesus Christ.

It's also funny how the plan make no allowances for the Reapers, what if they in a million years discovered something that makes them immune against this weapon? What if they do something obvious which they usually do like shutting down the Mass relays? Then wouldn't our heroes feel silly!

But thankfully none of these things happens. So of to send the Crucible through titanic space battle and hope it all works on the first try, whatever "it" is. Now when you implement new devices or technology in our world it's a rare exception nothing goes wrong and adjustments need to be made and that is with stuff you know how what it does. Or like what if the Crucible or the Citadel suffered battle damage, or the reapers made some adjustments that made an interface difficult without extensive workarounds?

None of these things happens or are a concern for our heroes of course. And what happens when everything works?

Turns out it was not a weapon at all but a "power source" that gives the Reaper Overlord ability to wield his god like powers everywhere instantly. Now you would think the galaxy got its just reward for it's bottomless stupidity in creating the Crucible blindly but it turns that despite slaughtering and torturing sentient life on astronomical scale for eons the Reapers have our best interests at heart!

And despite ending up with every card in the deck and the winning hand the Reaper Overlord are so impressed with Shepard's cluelessness that it commits suicide and let him take over the job. Or kill all his reapers when asked nicely or put all stuff through a blender which creates a paradise.

Seriously it's epic. It's like the writers are performing social experiment in how poorly you can can make a story and get away with it.

[Jon AS]

Seriously it's epic. It's like the writers are performing social experiment in how poorly you can can make a story and get away with it.

Of course then they realised that they'd overshot the mark by a significant margin.;)

[aceluby]

I just got one over the weekend myself. I already knew that games were scarce. I picked up Black Flag. I had fallen out of love with the series a few years ago but so far I'm enjoying this one a lot. Maybe because it's pirates. AC is one of only a few games that I enjoy for multiplayer. If you've only played the first one, they are a lot different now.

Also got Dynasty Warriors 8, which is good if you're into them.

If you have a PS+ membership, then go and download Resogun. Awesome game, and currently free. And if you didn't get PS+, then go get it because you'll need that to play online anyway.

There's a few interesting looking indie games to check out. I'll likely be getting Transistor and Don't Starve in the near future.

Aside from those, there's really nothing I'm interested in until Diablo 3 in August. And then nothing again after that for probably the rest of the year. Unless there are some interesting E3 reveals.

Check out Lords of the Fallen

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=7&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CD8QtwIwBg&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DK423anCBKKo&ei=sfZ8U4ORAYTQ8AHqjIHwBQ&usg=AFQjCNHHGgJujgw8GlAMa5DnjrRzfyQ5Lw&bvm=bv.67229260,bs.1,d.b2U

It's supposed to come out this fall and is the game I'm waiting for before jumping on the PS4 bandwagon.

[Jabronius Maximus]

Outlast is also free on PS+, if you want to give that a try.

Gave the Steam in home streaming a shot today, and it works really well. I moved my hulk PC back upstairs, and now I hooked up my cheapo laptop to my TV and stream to that. It's all wired LAN, so I didn't notice any latency, but I'm not the best judge of that. Everything was very playable, and I see myself using it for the foreseeable future.

[KiDisaster]

Check out Lords of the Fallen

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=7&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CD8QtwIwBg&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DK423anCBKKo&ei=sfZ8U4ORAYTQ8AHqjIHwBQ&usg=AFQjCNHHGgJujgw8GlAMa5DnjrRzfyQ5Lw&bvm=bv.67229260,bs.1,d.b2U

It's supposed to come out this fall and is the game I'm waiting for before jumping on the PS4 bandwagon.

Potentially awesome.

I hope there's a way to ramp the difficulty or at least make it more punishing though. The few times he got hit he barely took any damage. I'd want to push it closer to Dark Souls difficulty personally. Looks awesome visually.