Video Games: In the Grim Darkness of licensed Games.

[Mexal]

1 hour ago, Jace, Basilissa said:

You either can't or basically can't stealth kill Clickers. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

You just have to crouch, go really slow and get behind them with a shiv. You'll get an option when you get close enough to use it.

[Rhom]

39 minutes ago, Mexal said:

You just have to crouch, go really slow and get behind them with a shiv. You'll get an option when you get close enough to use it.

Yeah, you've got to go slow with those.  No real other option.  

[Mexal]

In other news, this blows. Playing Red Dead online as a black character means enduring racist garbage.

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he joys of Red Dead Redemption 2’s open world are in its details. You must eat, you must bathe, you must shave, you must clean your guns. Minor characters all have elaborate routines, suggestions of a life beyond the player. Even background scenery demands attention. This onerous devotion to a rewarding cowboy fantasy birthed a culture that expects that developers Rockstar Games have accounted for nearly anything the player might do within its digital borders. Red Dead also takes place in 1899 — three years after the Supreme Court legalized racial segregation, midway through the presidency of a man who fought in the Civil War — which means, for some fans, era-specific racism becomes a part of the experience.

To play Red Dead Redemption 2 is to test the boundaries of what is possible within its elaborate simulation. One YouTuber in particular, Shirrako, has a channel full of taboo situations that he concocts for the viewing pleasure of his audience (like feeding an in-game feminist to a virtual alligator). But by far, his most popular video is “What Happens If You Bring Black Man To KKK?”, a three-minute Red Dead Redemption 2 clip that has been viewed over 8 million times. As it turns out, nothing happens.

“The KKK video was an idea many viewers wanted me to test,” Shirrako told The Verge. The top comment on the footage, which has 11,000 upvotes, bemoans that Rockstar didn’t account for a player forcing a black man and a KKK member to meet. After all, the spectator says, Red Dead Redemption is so detailed that it wouldn’t be a stretch to assume Rockstar might have hidden something special for curious players. What to make of that expectation? Is the cowboy fantasy inextricably linked with racism for players, even in this digital world? Should it be in a game?

 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

8 hours ago, Mexal said:

I'm the opposite. I much prefer a more linear, story driven game because I enjoy the story aspect of it. I lose a ton of momentum in open games because there is so much to do. It's why I never finished Fallout IV or played Skyrim. I'm doing well in RDR2 though.

Truth be told, I haven't played enough games to have a great opinion on this subject. I wasn't kidding when I said it's been ages since I played video games outside of a few free downloaded ones (like LoL and Hearthstone). And prior to that, I would say that >90% of my gaming experience has been the Diablo franchise, Madden, Counterstrike and Pokemon (play a ton as a kid). I really haven't branched out too much.

And on that note, I have obtained my fourth games, GTA V. I've always wanted to play it. 

4 hours ago, Mexal said:

You just have to crouch, go really slow and get behind them with a shiv. You'll get an option when you get close enough to use it.

I know how to do it. It just seems like every time I get close to getting passed that stage one comes from nowhere and kills me. 

[Mexal]

23 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

Truth be told, I haven't played enough games to have a great opinion on this subject. I wasn't kidding when I said it's been ages since I played video games outside of a few free downloaded ones (like LoL and Hearthstone). And prior to that, I would say that >90% of my gaming experience has been the Diablo franchise, Madden, Counterstrike and Pokemon (play a ton as a kid). I really haven't branched out too much.

And on that note, I have obtained my fourth games, GTA V. I've always wanted to play it. 

I know how to do it. It just seems like every time I get close to getting passed that stage one comes from nowhere and kills me. 

Keep checking Joel’s tracking thing. He can see through the walls where they are. When they start clicking, just stop until they go back to normal.

[A True Kaniggit]

Or use the brick/ Molotov combo. Throw a brick, have 3 clickers cluster around it, burn them all. 

[Jace, Extat]

2 hours ago, A True Kaniggit said:

Or use the brick/ Molotov combo. Throw a brick, have 3 clickers cluster around it, burn them all. 

This is how Jace does it .

[Pliskin]

On 1/15/2019 at 3:27 PM, Fez said:

My understanding though is that it's only around a 15 hour game, so there's not actually much time for that to happen.

If you burn through the main story missions maybe... but as an avid tomb raider and explorer, I played way way more than that and I'm only at 75% of the game. The game is really not just for enjoying the story and characters (Uncharted would be that game), its main appeal for me is the tombs/crypts/artefacts finding/etc, which is all optional. So I wouldn't call it a 15 hours game.

[aceluby]

On 1/14/2019 at 4:56 PM, Tywin et al. said:

The Last of Us is not exactly what I expected, and so far it feels like one of the hardest games I've ever played. This one is going to take a long time to beat. FML. 

Like I've said many times before, I thought LoU was a more boring and tedious version of Uncharted.  The storyline never made up for the bad gameplay that you have to suffer through the entire game.  I patiently waited for it to get better and then the game ended right when it started to get interesting.  I don't get the love.

Have you picked up Bloodborne yet?

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

1 hour ago, aceluby said:

Like I've said many times before, I thought LoU was a more boring and tedious version of Uncharted.  The storyline never made up for the bad gameplay that you have to suffer through the entire game.  I patiently waited for it to get better and then the game ended right when it started to get interesting.  I don't get the love.

Have you picked up Bloodborne yet?

I don’t think so, but don’t quote me on that.

Honestly I’m just going to set it aside and retackle it after I beat GTA V. I played it for like 90 minutes last night and found it to be far more enjoyable. I’ll also have to drop it to easy, which sucks.

[Ramsay B.]

I started to play Hollow Knight on the Switch. It’s a pretty fun time waster while at work. Loving the score and sad atmosphere of it.

I’m also playing Far Cry 4. I’ve never played any of these games and had it in my library so gave it a go. The animals can be annoyingly relentless. There’s been a few times where I see a vendor I need walking, and an eagle, or whatever, comes out of nowhere and kills him. 

8 hours ago, aceluby said:

Like I've said many times before, I thought LoU was a more boring and tedious version of Uncharted.  The storyline never made up for the bad gameplay that you have to suffer through the entire game.  I patiently waited for it to get better and then the game ended right when it started to get interesting.  I don't get the love.

I played a few hours of LoU and it didn’t click with me either. Maybe I didn’t give it enough time though. I tend to do that sometimes. 

[l2 0 5 5]

On 1/16/2019 at 9:49 AM, Tywin et al. said:

Yeah, pretty sure that's it. I've tried it like two dozen times now with no luck.

Nah, I’m keeping it specific to Madden, otherwise we’d also have to look at NFL Blitz.

 

On 1/16/2019 at 9:59 AM, Mexal said:

 That was my thought. I found it to be a bitch the first time I was there.

Assuming you're talking about when Joel picks the revolver up and jumps down below by himself, or the part immediately after that with 3-4 clickers. If talking about first part, eliminate the runners first, then deal with clicker last. If talking about the latter, you can do as Jace says, as the hardest level you could be on first time through is "Hard", and the ammo/supplies are plentiful, and throw a brick, let the infected gather, and throw a molly. 

It's certainly a hard game, especially when you play on Survivor or Grounded, the latter in which you can't see your health bar, the ammo/supplies are scarce, and 1-2 shots from a gun can kill you. The difficulty made me appreciate the game more. That and the story, which I found touching and gutting at the same time.

 

Oh, and you also don't need a shiv to kill a clicker. You can kill with a fully charged melee weapon (Yes, without blade). Approach slowly (preferably if the clicker is standing still), and start beating the shit out of it. It will fall.

[aceluby]

15 hours ago, Ramsay B. said:

I started to play Hollow Knight on the Switch. It’s a pretty fun time waster while at work. Loving the score and sad atmosphere of it.

It's a great little game.  I still have to go back and beat the previous DLC, the new DLC, and get the good ending.  It's one of my faves.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

I appreciate the advice. I'll give it a second shot and drop the difficulty level after I beat GTA V. And now that I think about it, I've owned three versions of GTA games now and I don't think I've completed any of them. 

[aceluby]

On 1/18/2019 at 5:21 PM, Tywin et al. said:

I appreciate the advice. I'll give it a second shot and drop the difficulty level after I beat GTA V. And now that I think about it, I've owned three versions of GTA games now and I don't think I've completed any of them. 

I only completed Vice City.  In 3, I never got past the part after you open up the last area and then proceeded to just use that character for random carnage.  In 4, I got sidetracked by the part where you have to defend your areas, finally destroyed everyone, then a mission reset all my hard work.  Put it down shortly after that.  Still have yet to pick up 5.

Made it to chapter 4 in RDR2, have an awesome horse, a satchel that can hold 99 of everything, and just picked up a brand new gambler outfit for free for helping some dude with a snakebite twice.  Sitting at $3500 in my wallet and $500 at the camp with everything upgraded at the camp.  Think I'll just play the main missions from here on out unless I get some side missions that pop up.  So far I think I've done everything except the hunting/fishing stuff and the challenges.

[Fez]

Think I'm done with Catherine. I got midway through Night 6 and am just too frustrated by the camera controls to keep going. I'm at the point where it's becoming necessary to go behind the front row of blocks, but because the camera doesn't spin all the way around, I can't see what I'm doing. It's very annoying and I'm not exactly interested in the story. The men all suck and I want the three women to all just meet up, become friends, leave, and be glad that all these horrible men are out of their lives.

I've gone back to Mutant Year Zero though. It's kind of a slog, but every once in a while I just have an itch for iso, turn-based tactics and I've beaten all the other games of that type in my library and there's no new ones out right now that look good.

I've also started Baldur's Gate up again, the EE on steam. I've started it a few times over the years, but I haven't stuck with it and beaten it in probably close to 15 years. Maybe this will be the time.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

1 hour ago, aceluby said:

I only completed Vice City.  In 3, I never got past the part after you open up the last area and then proceeded to just use that character for random carnage.  In 4, I got sidetracked by the part where you have to defend your areas, finally destroyed everyone, then a mission reset all my hard work.  Put it down shortly after that.  Still have yet to pick up 5.

I'm moving through the story pretty quickly. I have no idea where I'm actually at, but it feels pretty deep into the game. GTA 5 is a blast, but it feels like the game is on easy mode. Only a couple of missions have been really hard, which contrasts significantly with my memory of GTA 3.  

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Made it to chapter 4 in RDR2, have an awesome horse, a satchel that can hold 99 of everything, and just picked up a brand new gambler outfit for free for helping some dude with a snakebite twice.  Sitting at $3500 in my wallet and $500 at the camp with everything upgraded at the camp.  Think I'll just play the main missions from here on out unless I get some side missions that pop up.  So far I think I've done everything except the hunting/fishing stuff and the challenges.

That's pretty dope. The only downside to all that side work is that you sunk a ton of time into things you don't need to do to beat the game. I did jack and found the game to be pretty easy to beat. I think I skipped a total of two missions, and one was really early on in the game. 

[Mexal]

I'm still in Chapter 4 of RDR2 and slowing down. Hoping I can pick up the desire to keep pushing onward. Really hope there is a narrative payoff. 

[Rhom]

I decided to pre-order Anthem.  What can I say, I’m a sucker for BioWare and I like Destiny... so it’s worth a try.   

[Ferrum Aeternum]

35 minutes ago, Rhom said:

I decided to pre-order Anthem.  What can I say, I’m a sucker for BioWare and I like Destiny... so it’s worth a try.   

I've considered it, but I think I'm gonna hold off for now. Need to sort through both extremes of the initial reactions before I decide.