Video Games- Game of the Year

[Slurktan]

3 hours ago, Rhom said:

I read about the problems on the PS4.

Any word on stability of the game on PS5?

It runs.  Does it run well?  Your mile may very.  Does run well mean that it loads fast?  Then yes.  If runs well means lack of visual glitches and bugs (including every hour or so the game just closes by itself) then absolutely not.

EDIT:  I would avoid buying it until they can at least prove to Sony it's stable enough so they put it back on the store.

[Ran]

2 minutes ago, Slurktan said:

(including every hour or so the game just closes by itself)

Heard far fewer stories of that after the 1.06 hotfix, and I think a third minor hotfix that was console-only in late December.

[Slurktan]

8 minutes ago, Ran said:

Heard far fewer stories of that after the 1.06 hotfix, and I think a third minor hotfix that was console-only in late December.

Given that it still happens as of Jan 8 (last time I bothered to try playing it) thank god they rolled out those fixes in December.

[Werthead]

Yeah, the console versions are still very hit-and-miss, even the PS5/XBX versions. It may be worthwhile grabbing it anyway at a cheaper price to play it later on, but by that logic you might as well hold off to see when the console versions are at least on a par with the PC version, which they're not right now. The PS5/XBX versions are better than the PS4/XB1 versions, but still lagging some way behind PC.

Anyway, on a total whim I fired up GTA3 to relive some nostalgia (the game is twenty years old this year, which seems blatantly impossible). I used a fan patch that Steam directs you to use to make it a bit saner to play and it helps with some things - it makes the game work in HD and in widescreen - but the base game is still kind of janky. There's no aiming, so you're either just standing there or firing, there's no between step, which feels really weird, and you don't have mouselook in the cars. I'm pretty sure both of those were introduced in Vice City. Also, on a multi-monitor setup the game gets confused if your mouse drifts onto the second screen (or would, if your movement would take you there) and keeps minimising the game (although not pausing it, so if you're mid firefight, good luck with that). It's generally a problem during action sequences, a lot of the other activities are fine.

One of the things I'm enjoying is how minimalist it is. No 5-minute cutscene to wade through to get to the mission objective unlike 4 and 5 (even San Andreas was starting to drift in that direction) and it's very direct and in your face. On the flipside, the city (especially the opening district of Portland) feels so mind-bogglingly tiny compared to modern open-world games. Yet I remember playing the game for the first time in 2003 (it wouldn't work on my PC before my upgrade in that year) just gawping at the freedom you had to do stuff, the graphics and the animations, which are all...barely acceptable, at best, by 2021 standards.

I did say a while ago that GTA3 had a better police response system than Cyberpunk 2077 and that turns out to be 100% true. I wasn't expecting the car handling to also be on a par, which is really disappointing for CP77. No motorbikes in GTA3 though.

Not sure I'll have the patience to replay the whole game, especially as you need to do the incredibly long-winded ambulance and police missions to unlock the weapons and armour upgrades, without which the game is much tougher. But I do remember this is one of the very few games I've ever actually 100%ed.

[Clueless Northman]

1 hour ago, Werthead said:

Not sure I'll have the patience to replay the whole game, especially as you need to do the incredibly long-winded ambulance and police missions to unlock the weapons and armour upgrades, without which the game is much tougher.

Good to know. I tried it 6 years ago, graphics were indeed subpar, though great for their time, and I was massively annoyed by the save system. Plenty of good things, of course I loved the radios, had a laugh when I noticed one station basically was the entire soundtrack from Scarface, but I stopped right in the middle of the game, halfway through the 2nd neighbourhood (out of 3 I think). If I ever want to continue, I'll keep that in mind, though it was more the tricky driving that was the issue, more than gunfights, if I remember it right.

Though that will have to wait. Right now, having watched Chernobyl a couple of weeks ago, I'm in a mood to try Metro 2033.

[IlyaP]

2 hours ago, Werthead said:

Anyway, on a total whim I fired up GTA3 to relive some nostalgia (the game is twenty years old this year, which seems blatantly impossible). I used a fan patch that Steam directs you to use to make it a bit saner to play and it helps with some things - it makes the game work in HD and in widescreen - but the base game is still kind of janky.

Tried this out myself recently, with fan patches et al. Found it to be a fantastically bizarre experience. The city was *tiny*, the player movements a bit herky-jerky, and the mission goals occasionally a bit perplexing. While antiquated graphics are not a concern for me, the gameplay felt like it was lacking, or at least - to be optimistic - like a proof of concept for a better game waiting in the wings, which I'm told is what GTA 5 is. (Having recently tried GTA 5, though, when it was released for free on the Epic Games store, I found the insane install size, multiple layers of registration to *log in* to play a single-player campaign, and console-centric UI to be a package that as a whole ultimately didn't work for me.)

[The Anti-Targ]

A potentially significant move by Valve?

Quote

Valve Corporation gaming tycoon Gabe Newell says there is "strong interest" from his employees to move to New Zealand — and that the prospect of holding the company's multi-million dollar International and Majors esports tournaments here "gets more realistic all the time".

He and his family, along with a group of friends, came to New Zealand on a family holiday in early 2020, but as the Covid-19 pandemic worsened, they decided the "most sensible" option would be to stay here.

In an extensive interview with 1 NEWS, Newell said he has now been granted New Zealand residency in principle, and that he plans to continue down the citizenship path to stay here "for the foreseeable future".

VALVE EMPLOYEES EXPRESS INTEREST IN MOVING TO NEW ZEALAND

Newell revealed that there is "strong interest" from Valve employees to move to New Zealand, after last year saying there were no active plans to make that happen.

https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/realistic-possibility-48m-esports-tournament-could-held-in-nz-says-gaming-tycoon-gabe-newell

Would be the biggest thing to ever happen in the NZ game development industry. Last year the NZ video game development sector grossed about $350 million and is looking to become out next $1 billion export sector. Small on the world scale, but for New Zealand there aren't many sectors worth $1 billion in exports per year. Valve moving a significant amount of its operations here would probably make it >$1 billion instantly. Doesn't seem likely though, the core of Valve will probably always be in the USA.

At least Gabe is living and working his way to NZ citizenship, unlike most billionaires who just buy their way in without ever setting foot here.

[Fez]

38 minutes ago, The Anti-Targ said:

A potentially significant move by Valve?

https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/realistic-possibility-48m-esports-tournament-could-held-in-nz-says-gaming-tycoon-gabe-newell

Would be the biggest thing to ever happen in the NZ game development industry. Last year the NZ video game development sector grossed about $350 million and is looking to become out next $1 billion export sector. Small on the world scale, but for New Zealand there aren't many sectors worth $1 billion in exports per year. Valve moving a significant amount of its operations here would probably make it >$1 billion instantly. Doesn't seem likely though, the core of Valve will probably always be in the USA.

At least Gabe is living and working his way to NZ citizenship, unlike most billionaires who just buy their way in without ever setting foot here.

I wonder how strong that desire would be if, by this summer, things are well on their way back to normal around the world. It's a big deal to move internationally to a place that's a 15 hour flight (and almost never direct) to where you currently live and where your friends and family are. I'm sure Gabe could establish a corporate presence in New Zealand and hire plenty of people to staff it up; but unless he fires everyone in Bellevue who doesn't make the move I think a lot of Valve staff would remain where they are. But I don't blame him. I'd strongly consider moving to New Zealand myself at this point if I could.

 

In other gaming news, I'm now 60 hours into that Troubleshooter game, and I'm only near the start of Chapter 4 still. I believe there are 6 chapters, which would mean I'm only halfway through. But I think I'm actually less into it than that because of the increasing frequency of "side-quest" missions I've been getting (sort of, there's usually very little story to them, but they are non-repeatable missions; often on unique maps; which makes them different from the repeatable grinding missions). I also only 6 of the 10 party members so far. I definitely feel myself fading. It's a good game, but feels so stretched out. I'll probably keep playing for a while though, since right now nothing else I've got seems that interesting besides my ongoing CP2077 replay.

[The Winged Shadow]

54 minutes ago, The Anti-Targ said:

A potentially significant move by Valve?

https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/realistic-possibility-48m-esports-tournament-could-held-in-nz-says-gaming-tycoon-gabe-newell

Would be the biggest thing to ever happen in the NZ game development industry. Last year the NZ video game development sector grossed about $350 million and is looking to become out next $1 billion export sector. Small on the world scale, but for New Zealand there aren't many sectors worth $1 billion in exports per year. Valve moving a significant amount of its operations here would probably make it >$1 billion instantly. Doesn't seem likely though, the core of Valve will probably always be in the USA.

At least Gabe is living and working his way to NZ citizenship, unlike most billionaires who just buy their way in without ever setting foot here.

Maybe we will finally get Valve Index in Australia.....

[IlyaP]

2 hours ago, The Anti-Targ said:

A potentially significant move by Valve?

https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/realistic-possibility-48m-esports-tournament-could-held-in-nz-says-gaming-tycoon-gabe-newell

Would be the biggest thing to ever happen in the NZ game development industry. Last year the NZ video game development sector grossed about $350 million and is looking to become out next $1 billion export sector. Small on the world scale, but for New Zealand there aren't many sectors worth $1 billion in exports per year. Valve moving a significant amount of its operations here would probably make it >$1 billion instantly. Doesn't seem likely though, the core of Valve will probably always be in the USA.

At least Gabe is living and working his way to NZ citizenship, unlike most billionaires who just buy their way in without ever setting foot here.

Huh. Okay. So he's changed his tune a bit on that front. Last year he denied the possibility. 

Glad to see a change of heart. There's so much raw talent in New Zealand - as well as nearby Australia. Could potentially be beneficial for both countries. 

[Clueless Northman]

Would be interesting. I suppose that GabeN is also aking into consideration the small size of NZ economy, which means a company the size of Valve would be quite important and have favourable treatment from the authorities, a degree of influence over what it wishes and can get and what it can do, and a level of protection that it just can't have in the US. Kind of like LOTR and Hobbit productions.

Any chance this might also be a move towards China's market, by distancing from US mainland and going closer to the other side of the Pacific?

[aceluby]

My wife just ordered me Ghosts of Tsushima for my birthday.  Think I'll finish Rise of Tomb Raider first, then GoT, then back to Shadow of Tomb Raider next.  Hard to find time though since starting back up at work

[Werthead]

12 hours ago, IlyaP said:

Tried this out myself recently, with fan patches et al. Found it to be a fantastically bizarre experience. The city was *tiny*, the player movements a bit herky-jerky, and the mission goals occasionally a bit perplexing. While antiquated graphics are not a concern for me, the gameplay felt like it was lacking, or at least - to be optimistic - like a proof of concept for a better game waiting in the wings, which I'm told is what GTA 5 is. (Having recently tried GTA 5, though, when it was released for free on the Epic Games store, I found the insane install size, multiple layers of registration to *log in* to play a single-player campaign, and console-centric UI to be a package that as a whole ultimately didn't work for me.)

GTA3 does feel like an extended tech demo for what the engine could do, which Rockstar much more successfully nailed with first Vice City, oft-considered to be the best GTA game, with the story and character development being much better and you actually having a character to play. San Andreas then improved on those elements again with a much more varied and interesting map and going very big and very silly (jetpacks!). GTA4 dialled back on that element by re-focusing on story and character at the expense (somewhat) of the open world design. GTA5 then went back more to the San Andreas design, with the different characters as their gimmick.

The constrained size of GTA3 and Vice City is a bit of a benefit though, as the later games (especially San Andreas and GTA5) get so big that you end up just flying everywhere, which feels like it's going against the "auto" bit of the game name.

[RumHam]

GTAV was the first of those games I ever finished. The old ones always had one mission I just could not for the life of me do. I don't consider myself a video game lightweight either, I once beat contra without the code! (which reminds me they recently discovered the 30 lives code in Contra 4 for the DS like 15 years later and I need to go back and finish that awesome game.) 

Even in GTAV I almost gave up on the early yoga mission. So annoying. 

[Werthead]

50 minutes ago, RumHam said:

GTAV was the first of those games I ever finished. The old ones always had one mission I just could not for the life of me do. I don't consider myself a video game lightweight either, I once beat contra without the code! (which reminds me they recently discovered the 30 lives code in Contra 4 for the DS like 15 years later and I need to go back and finish that awesome game.) 

Even in GTAV I almost gave up on the early yoga mission. So annoying. 

I remember Vice City having an RC helicopter mission which was almost unplayable and was a big barrier to progress. I don't recall GTA3 or San Andreas having a comparable problematic mission, except maybe SA's very last mission, where you're trying do defeat Samuel L. Jackson and have to catch your brother in the back of your car after he's thrown from a chaotically-moving vehicle, which is based on total luck.

[RumHam]

Yes, I remember the RC helicopter one. Most of the others were driving missions like "follow that car" that just weren't fun for me. I remember the vehicle handling in IV was terrible. At a certain point I just asked myself why I was doing something that was not fun and moved on. 

Edit: I had similar moments in Red Dead Redemption but the story and setting kept me going. Herding cattle was not why I bought the game though. 

[Toth]

56 minutes ago, Werthead said:

I remember Vice City having an RC helicopter mission which was almost unplayable and was a big barrier to progress.

I remember playing Vice City at my cousin's place ages ago and that's exactly the damn mission I got stuck at. He laughed his ass off and I didn't know why, that the mission is considered memetically hard was something I learned only a decade later.

[Werthead]

1 minute ago, Toth said:

I remember playing Vice City at my cousin's place ages ago and that's exactly the damn mission I got stuck at. He laughed his ass off and I didn't know why, that the mission is considered memetically hard was something I learned only a decade later.

It does vary a bit on controller setup, and is much harder on keyboard and mouse (although at least one of my PS2-owning friends vehemently denied this). I remember having to reprogram the entire keybindings to even have a chance and even then I think I lucked it.

[Slurktan]

2 hours ago, RumHam said:

Edit: I had similar moments in Red Dead Redemption but the story and setting kept me going. Herding cattle was not why I bought the game though. 

I actually kind of liked the herding missions in Red Dead 1 but am also thankful there is only the one in RDR2 (although you can use the herding mechanic in the open world to say, maybe run a bunch of cattle into Valentine to wreak havoc, potentially St. Denis too but harder to get them there alive because of the gators).

[Centrist Simon Steele]

On 1/18/2021 at 10:54 AM, Luzifer's right hand said:

Gothic 2 was awesome. I loved exploring areas that were too dangerous for my character level. 

Gothic 3 was really bad but I never tried the fan patch version. 

I love the Gothic games. 3 was full of problems, and no matter how much patching the community did, it couldn't fix the core problems: bad combat, little to no interaction with all your buddies from the colony, poorly realized conclusions to stories set up in the first game, and worst of all, taking someone to help you was not a huge benefit (like in the first two Gothics) but a liability. When you take Gorn to destroy a demon infested city, and he spends the entire time slowly trading blows with one skeleton while you kill 100 skeletons...ugh. Gorn! The man who rampaged through the mine in the first game. Gorn! The man who destroys everything in his path! Reduced to a decoy for one enemy. And on top of that, you have to babysit those characters so they don't die.

An unfinished game so full of potential.

On 1/18/2021 at 12:17 PM, Werthead said:

 

I really wanted to get into Morrowind but it is brutally unforgiving and the game doesn't really give you any clue on when a mission is too tough or not, you just have to risk it and see if you die instantly. Plus cliff racers are annoying. I'm waiting on the remakes (not that it looks likely they'll ever be done).

Morrowind is my favorite of Elder Scrolls games, but it does require some modding--primarily making cliff racers not aggressive. Once I did that, the game just became so much better.

I love how exploration was the primary mode of gameplay. Here's a quest, you get some cryptic directions, and you scour the area looking for it. When you find it, you get destroyed and realize, "I'll come back here." I far prefer this kind of gating to the leveling of the world as you level in Oblivion and Skyrim. Morrowind had a lot in common with the Gothic games in this regard. If you went somewhere and got trashed, you knew to come back later. I love finding massively overpowered creatures. It's terrifying! New Vegas did a good job tweaking this system, I thought.

 

Has anyone played Medieval Dynasty? It's a crafting game in early access--I got it in December, and I love it so much. Building your own village, recruiting people, fertilizing and seeding farm land, cutting down trees, leveling up skills. So much fun! I love these kinds of games.