Video Games Thread: For the Love of Zeus, Give Me One!

[Slurktan]

For those who have PS Plus and a PS4 to go with it, Grim Fandango is free this month.  I love the game and cant wait to play it again.

[The Human Abstract]

Played around 4 hours of MGS5. I had to connect to the internet the first time I turned on the game, but I turned on the new firewall rule I made before the game even got the main menu and have been offline since (and haven't had to connect when I've turned on the game since); so I think that worked out.

...

But that's not too important. I'm not really here for the story. I'm here to tranq, shoot, or punch-out every last person and animal I see and fulton all the ones still alive when they aren't moving anymore. And on that level the game is aces so far.

I played MGSV as my first MGS and the plot was completely inexplicable.

 

But the game play was so fun.  So many ways to play and great adaptive AI.  I played it for months.  

[Rhom]

Trending on my Facebook feed is a graphic mod for Fallout 4 that changes the graphics to cell shaded appearance.  Thought it looked really neat.

 

...

I played MGSV as my first MGS and the plot was completely inexplicable.

 

But the game play was so fun.  So many ways to play and great adaptive AI.  I played it for months.  

That's pretty much all the MGS games.  I've had the game for months, but just started playing it seriously this week.  Having a ton of fun with it.  Probably extracting too many random Russians at this point though. 

[GallowKnight]

Trending on my Facebook feed is a graphic mod for Fallout 4 that changes the graphics to cell shaded appearance.  Thought it looked really neat.

I think the mod that makes every deathclaw into Macho Man is better.

[Rhom]

I think the mod that makes every deathclaw into Macho Man is better.

Also liked the one that turns them into Thomas the Train.

[Red Tiger]

I believe Rhom is showing Thomas the Tank Engine the respect it deserves...

[briantw]

Got The Talos Principle on sale during the Steam Holiday shindig.  Really digging it.  Some of the puzzles really take some thought.  It's definitely more difficult than Portal 2, which is the closest comparison I can think of.  The tone of the game is totally different from Portal 2, though, which sets it apart.  It's like a philosophical rather than comical Portal.  I like finding the little tidbits of what happened on the computers in the game, and I also like the conversations the computer AI (I don't know if it's an AI or not but that's what I'll call it for now) has with you and all the difficult questions it poses for you on the nature of humanity and similar topics.  

The gameplay is rock solid.  There are half a dozen different puzzle elements that are slowly added, and the puzzles themselves tend to utilize some mixture of them as you progress.  I particularly like the rewind ability, which records what you're doing and then plays it back, allowing you to work with your "clone" to solve puzzles.  It makes for some fun solutions to the various problems the game throws at you.

Really my only complaint with the game is that the solutions for some of the hidden stars are ridiculously obtuse.  

[Pecan]

Got The Talos Principle on sale during the Steam Holiday shindig.  Really digging it.  Some of the puzzles really take some thought.  It's definitely more difficult than Portal 2, which is the closest comparison I can think of.  The tone of the game is totally different from Portal 2, though, which sets it apart.  It's like a philosophical rather than comical Portal.  I like finding the little tidbits of what happened on the computers in the game, and I also like the conversations the computer AI (I don't know if it's an AI or not but that's what I'll call it for now) has with you and all the difficult questions it poses for you on the nature of humanity and similar topics.  

The gameplay is rock solid.  There are half a dozen different puzzle elements that are slowly added, and the puzzles themselves tend to utilize some mixture of them as you progress.  I particularly like the rewind ability, which records what you're doing and then plays it back, allowing you to work with your "clone" to solve puzzles.  It makes for some fun solutions to the various problems the game throws at you.

Really my only complaint with the game is that the solutions for some of the hidden stars are ridiculously obtuse.  

I'm pretty interested in this game. I don't really have anything to play right now and so I'm doing another Far Cry 4 playthrough, which is fun, but not really absorbing.

[briantw]

I'm pretty interested in this game. I don't really have anything to play right now and so I'm doing another Far Cry 4 playthrough, which is fun, but not really absorbing.

I'd recommend it if you like 3D puzzle games like Portal.  As I mentioned, the tone is nothing like Portal, but the gameplay is similar enough.

[Fez]

Got The Talos Principle on sale during the Steam Holiday shindig.  Really digging it.  Some of the puzzles really take some thought.  It's definitely more difficult than Portal 2, which is the closest comparison I can think of.  The tone of the game is totally different from Portal 2, though, which sets it apart.  It's like a philosophical rather than comical Portal.  I like finding the little tidbits of what happened on the computers in the game, and I also like the conversations the computer AI (I don't know if it's an AI or not but that's what I'll call it for now) has with you and all the difficult questions it poses for you on the nature of humanity and similar topics.  

The gameplay is rock solid.  There are half a dozen different puzzle elements that are slowly added, and the puzzles themselves tend to utilize some mixture of them as you progress.  I particularly like the rewind ability, which records what you're doing and then plays it back, allowing you to work with your "clone" to solve puzzles.  It makes for some fun solutions to the various problems the game throws at you.

Really my only complaint with the game is that the solutions for some of the hidden stars are ridiculously obtuse.  

I'm a big fan of The Talos Principle. The puzzles really hit that level of 'complicated enough that you feel great when you figure it out but not so complicated that you bang your head on the wall forever,' especially some of the later ones. A lot of the more complicated puzzles actually have multiple solutions too, some of which weren't intended but the developers said if people were clever enough to figure them out they deserve to stay in. The last few levels before the end stages do drag a little bit, using bits you've seen before, but that's my only complaint.

I really dig the atmosphere and philosophical nature of the game too, it made me think more than most games do. Pretty surprising from the developers of the Serious Sam franchise. Some of the AI conversations were overly frustrating though, especially towards the end, when there weren't options to say the things I wanted to say. The music is pretty great too.

By the by, don't worry too much about the stars. The game has two regular endings (one of which two variations) and a third hidden ending that is unlocked with the stars, but that hidden ending isn't satisfying at all. Its more there just to get the achievement of finding all the stars. The stars unlock 3 areas (sets of 10 stars each to unlock), but those areas' puzzles aren't as good as the regular ones, imo. And finishing those 3 areas unlocks yet another area, which if you beat gives you that hidden ending. I think of it as more something to do if you want more puzzles and not something to worry that much about on your first playthrough.

I'd also recommend The Road to Gehenna DLC. The puzzles in that are turned up to 11, although not as complicated as some of the stars in the main game. The stars in that DLC are damn near impossible to figure out though, and unlock the main game you actually do want the stars to get the best ending. Fortunately you don't need all of them to unlock the that ending. If do you get it, it launches from the main menu rather than being an area you get to through the main game, and I'd recommend playing it right before you beat the main game. There's too many spoilers to the main game to play it before than, but playing it after fully beating the main game doesn't quite feel right either.

[Werthead]

Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak comes out in 11 days. There's a new trailer which does a better job of making it more feel like Homeworld, which is great.

Still concerned over possible lore conflicts with the originals, but if that is the price we get for a new, decent, story-driven RTS, so be it.

[Jack Bauer 24]

Any updates on Dark Souls III?

[Fez]

So for my gaming, I stopped Dark Souls. I was in the Tomb of the Giants and I'd beaten O&S and Four Kings, so I don't think there was that much more of the game left; just the other 3 lord souls and Gwyn (although I hadn't made any progress towards Seath or the Witch yet). But I wasn't having fun anymore. Everything post-Anor Londo just felt anti-climatic and there more to pad the game out than anything else. Also I thought the game really lost something once the areas weren't all so interconnected anymore; I just didn't notice at first because Sen's Fortress and Anor Londo were so good on their own.

I'm still progressing on MGSV a bit, but I've also started... Dark Souls II: SotFS edition. Last go round I played a lot more of original Dark Souls II, though I never beat it, than of Dark Souls, and I liked it a lot more. I now have a much better sense of the first game, but I still like the second game more. Again, I miss the interconnected areas; but I think each separate area is more interestingly designed (and filled with their own intra-shortcuts) than the first game's areas. I also like some of the unique mechanics a bit more; like being able to brute force areas if I have to by eventually being able to end respawns. Plus the music is better and the graphics in the SotFS are incredible compared to the first game.

Also, I really like Majula. Once you get enough NPCs there, it almost feels like a real town, and I really like being able to have downtime every once and while in games, running around town on shopping sprees and seeing if anyone has anything new to say. It helps with the pacing and lets the game breathe more, imo.

[briantw]

I'd also recommend The Road to Gehenna DLC. The puzzles in that are turned up to 11, although not as complicated as some of the stars in the main game. The stars in that DLC are damn near impossible to figure out though, and unlock the main game you actually do want the stars to get the best ending. Fortunately you don't need all of them to unlock the that ending. If do you get it, it launches from the main menu rather than being an area you get to through the main game, and I'd recommend playing it right before you beat the main game. There's too many spoilers to the main game to play it before than, but playing it after fully beating the main game doesn't quite feel right either.

Based on my experience with the main game, I'll almost definitely be picking up the DLC when I'm done.  I'm normally not a big fan of DLC, but if the base game is satisfying enough and feels complete, I don't mind paying a bit more for new content.  I'd say that definitely applies to Talos Principle so far.  I've played 12 hours already and am only on like the third stage of the C area.  Granted I've found all the stars in A and B and done the puzzles for the first three tower floors (the only thing I haven't done is the three B star bonus levels, which I will do next time I boot up the game), so I'm basically done with those areas.  Still, I anticipate 15-20 hours worth of great gameplay for a game I paid ten bucks for.  Not a bad deal at all.

[The Anti-Targ]

Just spent the last 4 days watching the Smite World Champs. It was a great tournament with some really high level play, and my favoured team, Epsilon, got the win, and $500K for their troubles. A shame the lads representing my region came out with zero wins, but they still got to bring home $10K just for showing up.

I assume it's a part of all major E-sports events, but I find a lot of the BM'ing that goes on by both analysts and commentators to be really unprofessional and it should be eliminated. I don't even like the trash talk that the players themselves engage in, especially given the competition actually deliberately provides a platform for each team to talk smack right before a match. It's good that some of the players actually used their trash talk moment to say something positive, but I'd rather the hosts didn't set the pre-match moment up as being intended for trash talk and that something respectful or positive is not the intention.

The other thing that sets this apart from traditional sports is that there is no acknowledgement of the losing opponent. Is it because most of these guys have not been raised in a sporting "culture" where good sportsmanship is integral to the spirit of competition? Traditional sports also have their shitty sides and shitty player who are always sledging the opposition. But these people are always regarded (sometimes by their own fans) and "bad boys". Their BM'ing is never seen as the norm and to be encouraged.

I know a lot of gamers think the idea of E-sports is crazy and an insult to sport. But the fact is professional gaming is here to stay, and if it wants to gain any sort of broader respectability it needs the participants, especially the organisers, administrators and commentators, but also the players themselves, to actually behave more professionally.

 

[Melphis Amekia]

Just spent the last 4 days watching the Smite World Champs. It was a great tournament with some really high level play, and my favoured team, Epsilon, got the win, and $500K for their troubles. A shame the lads representing my region came out with zero wins, but they still got to bring home $10K just for showing up.

I assume it's a part of all major E-sports events, but I find a lot of the BM'ing that goes on by both analysts and commentators to be really unprofessional and it should be eliminated. I don't even like the trash talk that the players themselves engage in, especially given the competition actually deliberately provides a platform for each team to talk smack right before a match. It's good that some of the players actually used their trash talk moment to say something positive, but I'd rather the hosts didn't set the pre-match moment up as being intended for trash talk and that something respectful or positive is not the intention.

The other thing that sets this apart from traditional sports is that there is no acknowledgement of the losing opponent. Is it because most of these guys have not been raised in a sporting "culture" where good sportsmanship is integral to the spirit of competition? Traditional sports also have their shitty sides and shitty player who are always sledging the opposition. But these people are always regarded (sometimes by their own fans) and "bad boys". Their BM'ing is never seen as the norm and to be encouraged.

I know a lot of gamers think the idea of E-sports is crazy and an insult to sport. But the fact is professional gaming is here to stay, and if it wants to gain any sort of broader respectability it needs the participants, especially the organisers, administrators and commentators, but also the players themselves, to actually behave more professionally.

 

As of recently I started watching StarCraft 2 tournaments and I can say, at least there, it is not that much a part of the major eSports events - the bad mannering there is rather rare and not really prevalent. Only a few progamers go out of the line(I have not been part of the scene since early Wings of Liberty era so besides the retired NA zerg Idra I can only provide hearsay examples like the EU Swedish Protoss NaNiWa). While there is pre-match talking about rivalries and trash talks between players(if there are such), most of it is professional analysis and commentary for the whole match. Also, the handling of both the winning and the losing player is done professionaly, acknowledging easily the strengths and weaknesses that both players showed in the games. For example, I watched Homestory Cup XII last month which had hilarious non-SC2 related offline stuff which had a lot of banter and trash talk involved. However, when it came to the games themselves, where the other currently-not playing players casted the games(it is the only tournament that I know of where the players themselves cast the games of other players) it was done professionaly.

Basically, the SC2 scene is much more professional than the Smite scene, from my experiences and from what I gather from you.

I think there is also a lot of correlation between the skill needed to master and popularity of the games invloved. While there is a lot of skill involved in Smite and other MOBA games, it is nowhere near the level needed for professional SC2 play at the highest level. I do not know how much you played online SC2, but even in the lower leagues it is brutal. I am ranked TOP 8 platinum league(which is the middle league and also I should be promoted to diamond league soon) and I am probably better than at least half of the SC2 players anywhere and I am still nowhere near the level I can play competitively or earn money by streaming. The difficulty of the game is part of what makes casting be more professional because no one would understand what the hell they were looking and every single caster I've ever seen has been both professional and, which is more important, damn enthusiastic about SC2 and wanting it to have more popularity which they understand they need professionalism to achieve. Popularity of a game can also reduce the overall quality of the casting and organization because of more expense needed to cover it, but at least in SC2's case Blizzard is nothing if not willing to support SC2 as best they can.

It is a shame to hear that Smite tournaments are handled rather badly by the casters and players since I wish for every good eSport game to succeed(though for me SC2 will always be at the top). Rivalries are fine, but going over the top is off-putting.

[The Anti-Targ]

Casters weren't BM'ing the players in the tournament. But rather crassly BM'ing some of the pro-players who's teams didn't qualify for the worlds and so they were brought in as analysts and commentators for the event. There's friendly banter, and then there's the sort of trash talk that causes awkward silences. And there were too many awkward silences through the 4 days of broadcasting. Though I think on the final day things improved between the casters and analysts because I think someone on the organisational side must have had a word to a few people and said they need to pull their heads in a bit and make things more professional. Hopefully in the post event debrief there will be discussion on the level of banter that is right for having a bit of a laugh but not causing awkward silences or embarrassment to pro-players that have been invited to be part of the broadcast team. The pro-players provide by far the best insight and analysis.

I think in E-sports there are 3 skill elements: strategic, tactical and mechanical. Games emphasis each element differently but definitely in MOBAs and RTSs all 3 elements are there and at the pro level each player needs to excel in all areas. Not sure about how much strategy and tactics come into the likes of the Halo and CoD pro-scenes as these are completely foreign to me. I've never played any Star Craft. The only RTSs I've put much time into are Age of Empires and Age of Mythology, but even then nothing online.

[Melphis Amekia]

Casters weren't BM'ing the players in the tournament. But rather crassly BM'ing some of the pro-players who's teams didn't qualify for the worlds and so they were brought in as analysts and commentators for the event. There's friendly banter, and then there's the sort of trash talk that causes awkward silences. And there were too many awkward silences through the 4 days of broadcasting. Though I think on the final day things improved between the casters and analysts because I think someone on the organisational side must have had a word to a few people and said they need to pull their heads in a bit and make things more professional. Hopefully in the post event debrief there will be discussion on the level of banter that is right for having a bit of a laugh but not causing awkward silences or embarrassment to pro-players that have been invited to be part of the broadcast team. The pro-players provide by far the best insight and analysis.

I think in E-sports there are 3 skill elements: strategic, tactical and mechanical. Games emphasis each element differently but definitely in MOBAs and RTSs all 3 elements are there and at the pro level each player needs to excel in all areas. Not sure about how much strategy and tactics come into the likes of the Halo and CoD pro-scenes as these are completely foreign to me. I've never played any Star Craft. The only RTSs I've put much time into are Age of Empires and Age of Mythology, but even then nothing online.

Yeah, some of the players of the Smite scene are the bigger problem then, my apologies. As I said, the SC2 scene does seem much more professional and the trash talk is friendly(99% of the time). I do hope they really warn the players invited for analysis to be more professional, though I disagree that pro-player offer the best insight and analysis by far - they might be a bit better at it but casters can do more than good enough of a job whilst not being pro so long as they do play regularly and understand the game.

I would say in shooters too, even twitch shooters like CoD(don't know about Halo) need all 3 skills because coordination amongst your teammates or even in 1v1's if there are such tournaments is important because positioning and decision-making is super important. As far as RTS's go, both SC1 and 2 are really good gameplay-wise(even though SC1 suffers from bad pathfinding AI and not having convenience features you cannot expect a game released in 1998 to have) and the story is really great in SC1 whilst becoming veeery cliche, if decently executed in Wings of Liberty(original game) and Legacy of the Void(second stand-alone expansion). I would not recommend it to you for multiplayer unless you're willing to sink in a ton of time learning the game to become even as good as I am, and pros would obliterate me with a blindfold. It is also a much faster game now in Legacy of the Void - matches last around 10 minutes on average where before they lasted somewhere between 15-25 on average.  Age of Empires and Age of Mythology have the problem of being too slow with games taking a huuuge amount of time, which the ardent fans won't mind but makes the game much more inaccessible for watching for non-fans because it takes so long for the game to really get going, though it would probably be much easier to master both AoE II and III than either SC1 or 2.

[The Anti-Targ]

Yeah, some of the players of the Smite scene are the bigger problem then, my apologies. As I said, the SC2 scene does seem much more professional and the trash talk is friendly(99% of the time). I do hope they really warn the players invited for analysis to be more professional, though I disagree that pro-player offer the best insight and analysis by far - they might be a bit better at it but casters can do more than good enough of a job whilst not being pro so long as they do play regularly and understand the game.

No no, it was the casters being dicks and the pro-players invited to be part of the analysis team who were more professional. It's only Smite's second year running a professional world championships, so hopefully it matures.

[Melphis Amekia]

No no, it was the casters being dicks and the pro-players invited to be part of the analysis team who were more professional. It's only Smite's second year running a professional world championships, so hopefully it matures.

Then I misunderstood you again. And yeah, also the fact that the game is so new has an impact on professionalism. StarCraft is one of the oldest eSports scenes ever and organizational problems like that are minimal - and I would assume so with other older games (CoD, Halo, Unreal Tournament if it had such tournaments) and even with LoL and Dota 2 even though they are running such championships only a couple years more than Smite.