Videogames: The War (for equality) Has Just Begun

[AndrewJ]

I have no knowledge of what version is on Steam. But I know there was a PC release at or around the time the playstation version came out. (I know, because that's where I played it. I didn't have a PS1). So whether it's that version on steam or a port of an iOS version... no idea.

[Rhom]

I checked the App Store and there is no iOS version of FFVII to my knowledge. I'm guessing it's the PC port.

[Aerys Blackfyre]

Pillars of Eternity gameplay video.

Looks solid for a new Infinity Engine experience, but a bit more 2D than I think people were expecting. I think there may a fear of Divinity: Original Sin (which cost slightly less to make) making PoE look a little tired visually when it comes out, although I expect PoE to have stronger writing.

seems nice!!

[KiDisaster]

I checked the App Store and there is no iOS version of FFVII to my knowledge. I'm guessing it's the PC port.

Might be a different FF game I'm thinking of then. I remember they added some to Steam recently and I read that they were just ports of the iOS versions.

[Aerys Blackfyre]

this is going to be awesome!

[KiDisaster]

this is going to be awesome!

As one of the three or four people in the world who loved Risen 2 despite how shitty the combat was I can't wait for this.

[KiDisaster]

I'm loving seeing all these people whining about the raids in Destiny not supporting matchmaking, so you have to be a premade group to do them. "There's no way I can get 6 people together to play at the same time." I'm looking back at 40 mans in vanilla WoW and dying with laughter. IMO the worst thing to ever happen to WoW was the increased pug-ability of raids culminating in the Looking For Raid system. Clearing a raid used to feel like an actual accomplishment. You did it with a guild or a group of friends, people you interacted with on a day to day basis. It was a huge challenge and when you finally did it...damn it felt good. You achieved something with your friends through teamwork and perseverance. Raiding now is a joke. It's piss easy and you can do it without ever talking to anyone else in the group. The social aspect of the game is dead.

Seems like this is exactly what Bungie want to avoid with raiding in Destiny, and I for one fully support the lack of matchmaking. Welcome to the oldschool style of MMOs kids, where you actually have to interact with people (*gasp*) to see all the content.

[Inigima]

The PC port of FF7 is fine and always has been. The people maligning it are nitpickers. Assuming it's the PC port, and there's no reason it wouldn't be as frankly using that should be less work than porting an iOS version for no reason, it will be no problem.

I believe the iOS port thing is for the ones that never had PC versions, like FF3.

To answer the original question, I was the target market for FF7 and loved it, but I'm not confident it will hold up for someone older than I was. We'll see, I guess.

[Fez]

I'm loving seeing all these people whining about the raids in Destiny not supporting matchmaking, so you have to be a premade group to do them. "There's no way I can get 6 people together to play at the same time." I'm looking back at 40 mans in vanilla WoW and dying with laughter. IMO the worst thing to ever happen to WoW was the increased pug-ability of raids culminating in the Looking For Raid system. Clearing a raid used to feel like an actual accomplishment. You did it with a guild or a group of friends, people you interacted with on a day to day basis. It was a huge challenge and when you finally did it...damn it felt good. You achieved something with your friends through teamwork and perseverance. Raiding now is a joke. It's piss easy and you can do it without ever talking to anyone else in the group. The social aspect of the game is dead.

Seems like this is exactly what Bungie want to avoid with raiding in Destiny, and I for one fully support the lack of matchmaking. Welcome to the oldschool style of MMOs kids, where you actually have to interact with people (*gasp*) to see all the content.

I completely disagree, nostalgia like this ruins games. This is the exact problem Wildstar is having right now, not with pugs specifically, but with this attempt to get back to vanilla WoW; in Wildstar's case its endless attunement requirements before being able to start on endgame content. Stuff like that, and forcing people to get online together, its not fun, its a time sink to block you from having fun. The fun in games should come from doing the content, not overcoming barriers to get to the content. There's a reason WoW changed. Maybe Blizzard went too far the other way, but I haven't played since WotLK came out, so I don't know for sure.

[Gears of the Beast]

That Pillars of Eternity video looks awesome. I love the aesthetic of that game and that godlike character looks fucking awesome. Obsidian don't fuck around. Although I'm still supremely disappointed their next game is some goddamn tank MMO and not a new Fallout game :frown5:

[Rhom]

Might be a different FF game I'm thinking of then. I remember they added some to Steam recently and I read that they were just ports of the iOS versions.

There are iOS ports of FF1-6 and Tactics. :dunno:

I'm loving seeing all these people whining about the raids in Destiny not supporting matchmaking, so you have to be a premade group to do them. "There's no way I can get 6 people together to play at the same time." I'm looking back at 40 mans in vanilla WoW and dying with laughter. IMO the worst thing to ever happen to WoW was the increased pug-ability of raids culminating in the Looking For Raid system. Clearing a raid used to feel like an actual accomplishment. You did it with a guild or a group of friends, people you interacted with on a day to day basis. It was a huge challenge and when you finally did it...damn it felt good. You achieved something with your friends through teamwork and perseverance. Raiding now is a joke. It's piss easy and you can do it without ever talking to anyone else in the group. The social aspect of the game is dead.

Seems like this is exactly what Bungie want to avoid with raiding in Destiny, and I for one fully support the lack of matchmaking. Welcome to the oldschool style of MMOs kids, where you actually have to interact with people (*gasp*) to see all the content.

I'll never forget the first night we downed Ragnaros. We weren't the top guild on our server (Laughing Skull) by any means, but IIRC the top content at the time was still just BWL. When we got back to Ironforge and word hit that we had downed Rag, general chat was filled with congrats from everywhere. It was a recognized accomplishment as a "gatekeeper" status and even guilds who had long since passed that content were very supportive.

Its a social dynamic that is long gone. I do however agree with Fez that attunement requirements and such were just a pain. Especially ones that required you to run a ridiculously difficult five man instance dozens of times in order to eventually run a 25 man raid. As the main tank for the guild and married to the main healer, I can't tell you how many DPS types we dragged through those places. :stillsick:

[Shryke]

I completely disagree, nostalgia like this ruins games. This is the exact problem Wildstar is having right now, not with pugs specifically, but with this attempt to get back to vanilla WoW; in Wildstar's case its endless attunement requirements before being able to start on endgame content. Stuff like that, and forcing people to get online together, its not fun, its a time sink to block you from having fun. The fun in games should come from doing the content, not overcoming barriers to get to the content. There's a reason WoW changed. Maybe Blizzard went too far the other way, but I haven't played since WotLK came out, so I don't know for sure.

WoW didn't go too far the other other way. The whinging in that post is ridiculous.

WoW has PUG-raids through a matchmaking system. But still has normal raids for organized groups that want a challenge.

Destiny not having a matchmaking system is just fucking stupid. Sometimes your friends aren't online. Sometimes your friends don't play the game.

Especially since their entire online design for the game is based around randomly grouping people together.

[Rhom]

WoW didn't go too far the other other way. The whinging in that post is ridiculous.

WoW has PUG-raids through a matchmaking system. But still has normal raids for organized groups that want a challenge.

Destiny not having a matchmaking system is just fucking stupid. Sometimes your friends aren't online. Sometimes your friends don't play the game.

Especially since their entire online design for the game is based around randomly grouping people together.

I've not played a lot of games online with a console, and when I do its never been an MMO type game. (ETA: I take that back... I did play some Phantasy Star Online on the Dreamcast over a decade ago. Even that primarily used emoticons and precanned conversation bubbles.) I don't recall if I saw a "general chat" in my limited time with the Destiny Beta. How would you make your initial friend contacts? Does it necessitate a blue tooth keyboard?

[KiDisaster]

I'll never forget the first night we downed Ragnaros. We weren't the top guild on our server (Laughing Skull) by any means, but IIRC the top content at the time was still just BWL. When we got back to Ironforge and word hit that we had downed Rag, general chat was filled with congrats from everywhere. It was a recognized accomplishment as a "gatekeeper" status and even guilds who had long since passed that content were very supportive.

Its a social dynamic that is long gone. I do however agree with Fez that attunement requirements and such were just a pain. Especially ones that required you to run a ridiculously difficult five man instance dozens of times in order to eventually run a 25 man raid. As the main tank for the guild and married to the main healer, I can't tell you how many DPS types we dragged through those places. :stillsick:

Right, but no one is talking about attunements or having to farm some specific item for hours before a raid or any of that other nonsense that no one wants to go back to. Just a need to play with a dedicated group.

WoW didn't go too far the other other way. The whinging in that post is ridiculous.

WoW has PUG-raids through a matchmaking system. But still has normal raids for organized groups that want a challenge.

WoW did go too far the other way, increasing the pugability of raids decreased the difficulty and quality of raiding as a whole. Bungie have said raids are being designed to be incredibly difficult, to require a level of communication and cooperation that would make doing them in a random, matchmade group nigh on impossible. If they gave the option to play them in a matchmade group, the very next thing people will whine about is that the raids are too hard to do in a macthmade group. Then begins the endless cycle of nerfing content into the ground so that everyone and anyone can do it because god forbid someone feels left out.

I just hate this idea that every game has to cater to every type of player. It's pervasive in the games industry today. Look at any triple A title besides the Souls series, every single one is aimed at being as casual friendly as possible. For once a big name developer comes along and says "You know what? No. This mode is not for the casual player, this is for people who want to put the work in and achieve something." and what happens? People whine and moan that one game out of tens of thousands isn't directed at them. The majority of players these days just expect to have everything handed to them. Not every game has to be directed at you or your play style.

Can't dedicate a few hours a couple nights a week to raiding? Raiding isn't for you. Not willing to get on forums and find a clan/group of people to raid with? Raiding isn't for you. Don't want a challenge that requires planning and skill to overcome? Raiding isn't for you. And that's fine. There's tons of other things to do in the game, you can still enjoy it without raiding. Hell I probably won't even raid much, if at all. I don't have the time I used to have, but I don't expect every game mode in every game to be tailored to me.

That's how it's always been. In any game with raids until WoW made it piss easy. If they changed those things, if they made it something you could just jump into whenever you want for a few minutes at a time, that required no communication or coordination, that wasn't challenging, it wouldn't be raiding anymore. It would be a boring as hell, watered down experience.

I really hope Bungie doesn't cave on this. One game mode in one game directed at people who miss the social element of MMOs and want a hell of a challenge. Just one, and the entitled players flip their collective shits as usual.

Now go ahead and call me a rose-colored glasses wearing elitist, I don't give half a fuck.

[broken one]

. I don't actually know anything about Elder Scrolls.

Check Morrowind (ES III). I find it much better than Oblivion. I have not experienced so much freedom in a computer game before.

[Batbob45]

in elder Scrolls Morrowind to Skyrim, the Orcs are the least jerk race of elves.

Malacath , who is Daedra prince of Orc created Scrouge(a mace) to aid mortals.the weapon can banish other daedra

[Centrist Simon Steele]

this is going to be awesome!

If you preorder it on Steam all the dlc is free too. I did it and can't wait to play. While Risen is no Gothic, I still love the games.

[Werthead]

Nonsense. Fallout 3 has tons of replayability. If it didn't have replayability then why have I replayed it 5 times? NV and FO3 both inherently have tons of replay value.

Well, you can play FO3 where you nuke Megaton or not, or you vary up whichever crappy version of the ending you want. Everything else is fairly vanilla.

The number of different end-states and combination of events for NV is far, far larger.

One problem I have with New Vegas though is the lost potential in moral relativity, the Legion was supposed to be much more grey in terms of motivations and methods, but in the final product they're essentially the token evil faction.

Yeah, they fell foul of the development time there. The Legion was going to be more complex and have a lot more quests, but they ran out of time and Bethesda may have gotten a bit uncomfortable with how far they were going to take it. If you choose to side with the Legion in the final game, you can complete the main quest in about half the time because you negate such a vast number of quests from the Republic and in New Vegas.

Both great games IMO, though personally I think VII is the most overrated of the FF series (but still great). Unfortunately as far as I know the version of FFVII that's on Steam is a really terrible port of the iOS version, but I don't know the specifics of what effect that's had on the game.

As mentioned above, it's the original PC version of FF7 that came out in 1998, just re-jigged to work on modern OSes. The character animations and models are far superior to the original, but the music is a bit shittier.

[Stannis Eats No Peaches]

I'm playing Fallout 3 for the first time, and I have the distinct impression that I suck. :D Fun game though. I just explored Vault 106 with the hallucinations.

[Galactus]

That's how it's always been. In any game with raids until WoW made it piss easy. If they changed those things, if they made it something you could just jump into whenever you want for a few minutes at a time, that required no communication or coordination, that wasn't challenging, it wouldn't be raiding anymore. It would be a boring as hell, watered down experience.

To be honest, I don't mind the way SWTOR did it, with a fairly easy "Story Mode" raids, and then increasingly brutal difficulty spikes. (Nightmare Mode Dread Fortress/Palace is not for the faint of heart)