Video Games: Now with a Chance to Win a Complimentary Membership to Gambler's Anonymous

[Red Tiger]

2 hours ago, aceluby said:

The first few levels were very tight with the setting, it was the later game stuff (giant pigs, aliens, the brain guys) that garnered the most complaints.  But I've played enough of these games to know they are going to throw some weird shit into them.  Gameplay, level design, varied builds (biggest complaint for me on DS3), skill progression, and punishing difficulty is what gets me coming back over and over again.  It's one of the reasons I've enjoyed hollow knight so much, besides varied builds, it hits all those notes.

The aliens and brain guys were explained and tied into the story, though. I saw a walkthrough of DS2 and I must sayl....nah it's not for me, it looks ugly as sin. DSR on the other hand, im gonna re-try. I feel like I kinda owe it to myself to at least finish a playthrough of it.

[Werthead]

Interesting. Eugen's next wargame is Steel Division 2, which will focus on Operation Bagration. Arguably the most vitally important military operation of WWII (it's where the Soviet Union utterly shattered the German armies in the east, threw them off Russian soil and invaded Poland), it's rarely been the focus of games before.

Meanwhile, my replay of Age of Mythology has reached the new Chinese expansion, which appears to have been made by amateur modders. The maps are interesting, but the Chinese side itself is weird (with an awful lot of Alexander the Great-style units rather than Chinese ones; WTF) and the cut scenes and writing are utter dogshit. Disappointing.

[KiDisaster]

Banner Saga 3 is out today!!!! 

Getting good reviews so far too. I can't wait to get home and play it. I only wish I'd taken the time to play through the first two again recently cause I can barely remember what happened in my game up to this point but I think I'll be alright. 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

Must. Finally. Buy. A. Console!  

[aceluby]

Looks like I've got another game to hold me off until DS is finally released on the switch.  Salt & Sanctuary is getting a release next Thursday for $17.99.

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2018-07-25-dark-souls-inspired-2d-action-adventure-salt-and-sanctuary-comes-to-switch-this-august

[Werthead]

5 hours ago, KiDisaster said:

Banner Saga 3 is out today!!!! 

Getting good reviews so far too. I can't wait to get home and play it. I only wish I'd taken the time to play through the first two again recently cause I can barely remember what happened in my game up to this point but I think I'll be alright. 

Excellent! Although I forgot to keep back enough money for it, so it'll have to wait until next week.

There's a "story so far" bit at the start of the third game, apparently. And if you haven't got your saves from BS1 and 2, you might want to consider a replay (thankfully they're pretty short), as the third game does not hold back on the difficulty spikes and the pregen characters may not be as tough as imported veterans.

[KiDisaster]

57 minutes ago, Werthead said:

Excellent! Although I forgot to keep back enough money for it, so it'll have to wait until next week.

There's a "story so far" bit at the start of the third game, apparently. And if you haven't got your saves from BS1 and 2, you might want to consider a replay (thankfully they're pretty short), as the third game does not hold back on the difficulty spikes and the pregen characters may not be as tough as imported veterans.

Thankfully I had the sense to never uninstall Banner Saga 2 because I knew I'd eventually need the save file so I should be good to go there. From what I saw the recap isn't save-specific unfortunately, so I'm just looking through some walkthroughs trying to remember which choices I made. The major ones are coming back to me, and those should be the only ones that matter anyway so I think I'm good. 

[Werthead]

Yeah, the PC I played Banner Saga 1 and 2 on died last year. Haven't checked to see if the Steam saves synched. If they did I should be fine, but I wouldn't mind playing them again. Banner Saga 1 is about 10-12 hours long, the second game is about 8 hours, so not too outrageous to get through.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

So after doing some research I’m still unsure of which system I should get. I’ve crossed the Switch off of the list even though it looks like a lot of fun, is extremely mobile and has exclusive games that I’d like. I’m mainly looking for one that can double as a Blu-ray player and has access to streaming services like Netflix and Hulu while allowing me to play sports games like Madden and FIFA and I’ll occasionally pick up something that looks interesting. I can’t tell if the PS4 or Xbox One fits that better.

Also, are there any new systems that are about to come out that I should just wait for?

[KiDisaster]

10 minutes ago, SpaceForce Tywin et al. said:

So after doing some research I’m still unsure of which system I should get. I’ve crossed the Switch off of the list even though it looks like a lot of fun, is extremely mobile and has exclusive games that I’d like. I’m mainly looking for one that can double as a Blu-ray player and has access to streaming services like Netflix and Hulu while allowing me to play sports games like Madden and FIFA and I’ll occasionally pick up something that looks interesting. I can’t tell if the PS4 or Xbox One fits that better.

Also, are there any new systems that are about to come out that I should just wait for?

New hardware is at least a couple of years out at this point, so I wouldn't recommend waiting. For the purposes you listed above either one of the systems will suit you, so really it comes down to which consoles exclusives you prefer and, if you want to play games with friends, which consoles they have. Personally I prefer Sony's first party selection, so I'd go with a PS4.  But you should take a look at what's available and decide for yourself. 

Worth mentioning also that if you're going to consider the upgraded options (PS4 Pro vs Xbox One X), the One X has better hardware and generally better performance in cross-platform games. It also has a 4K Blu-ray player which the PS4 Pro does not have (for some unfathomable reason). Actually I think even the Xbox One S has a 4K blu-ray player. So if UHD blu-ray is important for you you kinda have to go Xbox. 

Oh, and there's also the Xbox Gamepass that gives you access to a bunch of games for $10 a month (and a new console will probably include a 1-3 month trial) so that's something to consider as well. Especially if you haven't owned a console for a while. PS Plus gives a couple free older games a month but Xbox definitely has the better deal right now, since their service includes brand new games as well. 

[Jace, Extat]

The thing Play Station has going for it is exclusives. Xbone has them, but brands like Gears and Halo don't mean nothin no more.

[Inkdaub]

I have an XBox and it's great.  Jace is right, though.  PS4 has a far better slate of exclusive games.  The only exclusive game XBox has that I couldn't live without is Ori.  You can play Tomb Raider on either one, though, and that's all that really matters.

[Fez]

Playstation does generally have more exclusives, but Xbox does have others beyond just Gears and Halo. It depends what kind of games you're interested in. Personally, I don't care at all about simulation (or arcade for that matter) driving games, but my understanding is that the Forza games are the best of the bunch and those are Xbox only. Also, if you haven't had a console in a while, Xbox also has a ton of exclusives in its back catalog from previous generations (as does Playstation).

Of course, nearly all Xbox exclusives are also available on PC and Microsoft is promoting crossplay as much as it can, so if you have a gaming PC there is very little reason to go Xbox. Except if you really want that 4k Blu-ray player. And actually, crossplay is a relevant issue. If you have friends on other systems, it is much easier to play multiplayer games that support crossplay with an Xbox than a Playstation.

New systems will probably be coming in 2020, so it depends on how long you want to wait. If you do wait though, there's no point making a decision yet. There's no telling yet who will have the better exclusives or what they will be. Microsoft did announce buying four new studios back at E3, so they clearly are investing in new exclusives for the future, but Sony is certainly going to keep pushing as well.

 

 

[Red Tiger]

Getting deeper into Dark Souls Remastered, *Brad Pitt voice* focused on one thang and one thang only, killin' bawses!

[RumHam]

Well I finished Octopath. Reallly enjoyed it. As I said before I'm horrible at finishing story-driven games these days so that says something. Not sure if I'll go back for the post-game dungeon. My final party ended up being Olberic (Warmaster), Primrose (Starseer), Tressa (Runelord) and Aflyn (Sorcerer). Tressa's transfer run / sidestep combo makes a lot of fights trivial as you avoid all physical damage. 

[GallowKnight]

I started playing Banner Saga 3. It's the first time in a long time that I bought a game on release day but it definitely feels worth it. I love these games. I still haven't had time to play that much though, so I've only gotten a little bit through it.

Spoiler

I just beat Rugga to death. That felt nice.

 

[Werthead]

Started playing Dragon Age: Inquisition (might take a break next week for Banner Saga 3 though) after having it on the backburner for about 2 years.

So far, okay story, decent graphics apart from whenever high-scale magical stuff goes down, when the game inexplicably turns into a disco, good to see some of the DA2 crowd showing up again (even if you become part of the Inquisition with ridiculous ease), poor combat (the combat's not even as good as DA2, which was mediocre at best, and a far cry from DA:O, which only reached acceptable) and utterly, utterly terrible camera controls. The over-the-shoulder mode is hamstrung by having to hold down a button to change your view (why?) rather than just have freelook, and the "tactical" mode is laughably pathetic, since it doesn't zoom out far enough to see your entire party, let alone the battlefield.

The game also definitely suffers from having played The Witcher 3 beforehand, which did story, accessibility and even combat (although that's far from that game's strongest point) much better. DA:I is only okay at the moment.

[Jace, Extat]

17 minutes ago, Werthead said:

Started playing Dragon Age: Inquisition (might take a break next week for Banner Saga 3 though) after having it on the backburner for about 2 years.

So far, okay story, decent graphics apart from whenever high-scale magical stuff goes down, when the game inexplicably turns into a disco, good to see some of the DA2 crowd showing up again (even if you become part of the Inquisition with ridiculous ease), poor combat (the combat's not even as good as DA2, which was mediocre at best, and a far cry from DA:O, which only reached acceptable) and utterly, utterly terrible camera controls. The over-the-shoulder mode is hamstrung by having to hold down a button to change your view (why?) rather than just have freelook, and the "tactical" mode is laughably pathetic, since it doesn't zoom out far enough to see your entire party, let alone the battlefield.

The game also definitely suffers from having played The Witcher 3 beforehand, which did story, accessibility and even combat (although that's far from that game's strongest point) much better. DA:I is only okay at the moment.

The tac camera is so bad because EA shoved the frostbite 3 engine into every orifice of the company's dominions and it wasn't designed for 'tactical' uses. I believe they had an extra character crammed into the game to get the existing view at all.

[Luzifer's right hand]

I have reinstalled Skyrim SSE on my PC and played I'm playing a slightly modded sneak archer game right now.

Even more fun with a lighting mod and darker nights(I installed a better AI defection mod though so no sneaking in front of people outside of shadows). 

[The Anti-Targ]

On 7/28/2018 at 2:49 AM, SpaceForce Tywin et al. said:

So after doing some research I’m still unsure of which system I should get. I’ve crossed the Switch off of the list even though it looks like a lot of fun, is extremely mobile and has exclusive games that I’d like. I’m mainly looking for one that can double as a Blu-ray player and has access to streaming services like Netflix and Hulu while allowing me to play sports games like Madden and FIFA and I’ll occasionally pick up something that looks interesting. I can’t tell if the PS4 or Xbox One fits that better.

Also, are there any new systems that are about to come out that I should just wait for?

If you have access to a decent PC for gaming then as gaming goes there's not much point in getting Xbox One. As already mentioned, if you want the 4K Blu-ray as a specific console feature then you have to get Xbox One.

Most pundits think PS5 will be out some time in 2020 (probably late in the year), and Xbox One-Two possibly a bit earlier, Xmas 2019 is a possibility. Xbox One didn't get as much of a sales lift from the OneX launch, so I expect MS are looking to hit the reset button as soon as they can make a new system, that is considerably more powerful and can be sold at $399 without taking too much of a hit. Hard to know if all those planets will be aligned for 2019. It's possible that OneX is too powerful for a notably more powerful unit to be released at a reasonable cost before 2020. One thing is for sure, MS does not want to go to market after PS5 is released.