Video Games - Legendary Edition

[Relic]

2 hours ago, IlyaP said:

I've been stumped by people who prefer ME2 to ME1. Aside from the plot choices made at the very start, which were not to my taste, the increased focus on action over exploration, combined with the arguably worse UI, constantly frustrated me. (Though the lack of Mako missions is a bonus, given its famously frustrating control system.)

ME2 was my favorite console game since like FF6. There was something about it that struck the right balance between action and RPG for me, especially if played on the highest difficulty. 

[john]

I finally got fed up with AC Valhalla and dropped it, the glitches are almost as bad as CP2077 and it’s not as rewarding, latest one was the autosave breaking which is rather annoying to say the least. Anyway, I did 85 hours which is almost as long as Cyberpunk.

Decided to download Horizon Zero Dawn, which has been in the harddrive for about two years. It’s very good, haven’t been this gripped by a game story for a while.

Spoiler

In the first play session my mentor and rival and friend from trading school are all dead.

I wish I could’ve played the whole game as little Aloy though, I like the way she stumbles when she runs.

[IlyaP]

1 hour ago, Relic said:

ME2 was my favorite console game since like FF6. There was something about it that struck the right balance between action and RPG for me, especially if played on the highest difficulty. 

If there were RPG elements there, I struggled to find them, even on my PC version. It just felt like...an over-the-shoulder shooter with stats. And somehow less satisfying than ME1. Hard to quite identify what it was, even now. The textures, palette, and world in general also felt darker, and the increased focus on squad-based tactics didn't speak to my style of gaming either. 

[Poobah]

5 hours ago, RumHam said:

Is Mass Effect 2 better than the first one? 

It's my favourite of the three.

[Fez]

ME1 is a good story, with some really solid world worldbuilding and one outstanding scene. ME2 is one of the greatest games of all time.

[ASOIAFrelatedusername]

Honestly Mass Effect 1 is my favorite, mainly because there was still an attempt made to make the series a more grounded sci-fi story.

Take the party members outfits for example: In ME1 they all were actual armor and whenever you go into a potentially dangerous enviroment, they also have helmets. In ME2 on the other hand you have Jack running arround half-naked all the time even when she really really should not.

There is also the level design, namely that there is no separation between hub areas and areas for combat missions. There are loading screens, yes, but it all gives the impression that those are actual worlds people live in and not just an assortment of video game levels.

Also the main story does not suck.

[Rhom]

The fan translation for Trails to Azure releases on Saturday and I am irrationally excited.

It’s really amazing what this group has done.  It’s a better localization than some professional studios put out.  Not only did they translate it; they patched in graphics files to give the full experience, added quality of life features you’d see in more modern games, and even patched bugs that have existed in every official version of the game.

Ive been waiting to play the Trails of Cold Steel games until I could play this one with this patch.

I will be putting my Mass Effect remaster run on hold once I can get this up and running on Saturday.  

On the subject of ME.  I’m just now leaving the Citadel in ME.  Haven’t had a ton of time to play, but I wandered and took in the sights.  It’s like seeing an old friend again after a long time.

[Rhom]

1 minute ago, ASOIAFrelatedusername said:

Honestly Mass Effect 1 is my favorite, mainly because there was still an attempt made to make the series a more grounded sci-fi story.

Take the party members outfits for example: In ME1 they all were actual armor and whenever you go into a potentially dangerous enviroment, they also have helmets. In ME2 on the other hand you have Jack running arround half-naked all the time even when she really really should not.

There is also the level design, namely that there is no separation between hub areas and areas for combat missions. There are loading screens, yes, but it all gives the impression that those are actual worlds people live in and not just an assortment of video game levels.

I liked all of that too.  Going back and playing ME now, it’s pretty obvious that Andromeda really was a modern update of what they aspired to with the first game.

[ASOIAFrelatedusername]

Just now, Rhom said:

I liked all of that too.  Going back and playing ME now, it’s pretty obvious that Andromeda really was a modern update of what they aspired to with the first game.

Well I only played the Andromeda demo, but that was already enough for me. The characters were all just too obnoxious and I was really annoyed how everyone treated going to Andromeda so casually as if it was no different from someone today moving to New Zeeland (or Canada).

[Gorn]

I don't get the complaint that ME2 is not an RPG. There is more story choice and player control over Shepard and his/her character and decisions than in most JRPGs, and arguably more than in Witcher 3. A game doesn't need inventory management to be an RPG.

[Slurktan]

7 hours ago, RumHam said:

Is Mass Effect 2 better than the first one? 

Granted I've only played them once each and none of them grabbed me but I much preferred the story of 1 to 2.  I really didn't like the Cerberus (or whatever they were called) retcon. I also preferred the game play of 1 cause I actually liked driving the Mako and as already said it wasn't just an action movie in RPG form.

[briantw]

I think the strength of BioWare games has historically been the characters as much as the plot, and the second game puts a much greater spotlight on your party members and gives them legitimate, lengthy aide missions that actually matter at the end of the game.  That's what makes it better imo.

[Slurktan]

16 hours ago, Werthead said:

Hell no, those books are heinously awful.

The writer of the books did at least later admit that, and that they books had been speed-written in a few weeks apiece based on very early outlines of the story, and he had to skip 90% of the material in the outline to fit the plots of the two massive games into two slim novels. The guy who wrote the Planescape: Torment novel had the same problem (not to mention there's 450,000 words of dialogue in the game, about the same as Lord of the Rings, and about 75,000 in the book).

Oh I don't mean the BG novels (I never read those) I mean the 3 ... I want to say Avatar books where the Gods all get kicked out of their godhoods and have to live among the mortals and get killed and shit, basically the setup to the BG games.  They were also awful.  But I do remember reading them when I was like 11 and being sad that everybody got to be a God in the end except the fighter guy with the dark secret.  Name starts with K. Seemed kind of bullshit that Cyric got to be god of 2 things too so was glad when they made the BG games and essentially took one away from him.

[Werthead]

8 hours ago, RumHam said:

Is Mass Effect 2 better than the first one? 

I'd say Mass Effect 2 has better characters but Mass Effect 1 has a better, more epic plot. ME2's depiction of character interrelationships is really impressive and powerful (ME3, in its better moments, builds on that) but it's main storyline is pretty much bollocks.

What takes away from ME2 is that its overall storyline and most of the characters pretty much fail to be of any value whatsoever in ME3, making the entire game feel like a side-quest in and of itself (the Arrival DLC has way more importance to the overall storyline than the full game itself). Which is fine as it's a good side-quest, but the trilogy as a whole is structurally odd. ME2 also has far weaker and worse RPG elements, but better gunplay and shooting than ME1.

ME2 really reinforces that your alpha-squad during any full trilogy playthrough should be Shepard - Tali - Garrus because they're the only three characters to get full development and a major role in all three games.

Quote

I wish I could’ve played the whole game as little Aloy though, I like the way she stumbles when she runs.

Predictably, there are mods and hacks that allow you to do this, like the one for Fallout 3 that allows you to play the entire game as a baby.

Quote

Oh I don't mean the BG novels (I never read those) I mean the 3 ... I want to say Avatar books where the Gods all get kicked out of their godhoods and have to live among the mortals and get killed and shit, basically the setup to the BG games.  They were also awful.  But I do remember reading them when I was like 11 and being sad that everybody got to be a God in the end except the fighter guy with the dark secret.  Name starts with K. Seemed kind of bullshit that Cyric got to be god of 2 things too so was glad when they made the BG games and essentially took one away from him.

Yeah, The Avatar Trilogy was poor (well, the third book was okay, as Troy Denning is an actually good author, but he had to work with the setup mess in the first two books).

They all ended up as gods: Cyric took over Bane, Bhaal and Myrkul's powers and Midnight became the new Mystra. Kelemvor's soul was secretly stashed away by Mask (IIRC) and in the much-better sequel to the trilogy, Prince of Lies, Kelemvor's soul seizes Myrkul's powers over the dead away from Cyric, and Kelemvor becomes the new God of the Dead. Bane was then resurrected between 2nd and 3rd Edition, leaving Cyric with just Bhaal's powers (canonically the Baldur's Gate video games happen, but Bhaal's powers are not stripped from Cyric in the way the games suggest).

Of course, the 4th Edition horseshit (the god end of which unfortunately persisted into 5th Edition) resurrected Bhaal and Myrkul outright, Cyric stayed a god with some vague powers and Myrkul became a demigod in Kelemvor's service, which allowed him to remain in mortal form in the Realms. Kelemvor is still God of the Dead in Forgotten Realms to this very day.

[Derfel Cadarn]

8 minutes ago, Slurktan said:

Oh I don't mean the BG novels (I never read those) I mean the 3 ... I want to say Avatar books where the Gods all get kicked out of their godhoods and have to live among the mortals and get killed and shit, basically the setup to the BG games.  They were also awful.  But I do remember reading them when I was like 11 and being sad that everybody got to be a God in the end except the fighter guy with the dark secret.  Name starts with K. Seemed kind of bullshit that Cyric got to be god of 2 things too so was glad when they made the BG games and essentially took one away from him.

The Avatar trilogy, telling of the Time of Troubles (still got those books).

There’s a fourth book set 10 years later (Prince of Lies) where it turns oit thr god Mask is hiding Kelemvor’s soul (the fighter) who is the figurehead in a rebellion against Cyric in the Realm of the Dead. Kelemvor takes the portfolio of Death from Cyric, becoming the new God of Death.

The fifth book, Crucible: The Trial of Cyric the Mad, is a few years later. Cyric is put on trial by the other gods for failing in his duty to spread strife. He is found ‘innocent’ and causes Kelemvor and Midnight to break up.

It’s quite interesting as it shows how having a good (rather than neutral) god of death leads to an imbalance.

[Werthead]

Apparently, the PC port of Days Gone has set a new standard with its graphics menu, which allows for real-time dynamic adjustment of details and settings on the fly, showing you the precise frame rate gains and losses. It's extremely impressive and should remove a lot of the faff where you spend three hours trying to work out why you're getting frame rate tanks and then discover it's down to having ticked same-space ambulent occluded godray particle triangles without realising it.

[Derfel Cadarn]

6 minutes ago, Werthead said:

I'd say Mass Effect 2 has better characters but Mass Effect 1 has a better, more epic plot. ME2's depiction of character interrelationships is really impressive and powerful (ME3, in its better moments, builds on that) but it's main storyline is pretty much bollocks.

What takes away from ME2 is that its overall storyline and most of the characters pretty much fail to be of any value whatsoever in ME3, making the entire game feel like a side-quest in and of itself (the Arrival DLC has way more importance to the overall storyline than the full game itself). Which is fine as it's a good side-quest, but the trilogy as a whole is structurally odd. ME2 also has far weaker and worse RPG elements, but better gunplay and shooting than ME1.

ME2 really reinforces that your alpha-squad during any full trilogy playthrough should be Shepard - Tali - Garrus because they're the only three characters to get full development and a major role in all three games.

Predictably, there are mods and hacks that allow you to do this, like the one for Fallout 3 that allows you to play the entire game as a baby.

Yeah, The Avatar Trilogy was poor (well, the third book was okay, as Troy Denning is an actually good author, but he had to work with the setup mess in the first two books).

They all ended up as gods: Cyric took over Bane, Bhaal and Myrkul's powers and Midnight became the new Mystra. Kelemvor's soul was secretly stashed away by Mask (IIRC) and in the much-better sequel to the trilogy, Prince of Lies, Kelemvor's soul seizes Myrkul's powers over the dead away from Cyric, and Kelemvor becomes the new God of the Dead. Bane was then resurrected between 2nd and 3rd Edition, leaving Cyric with just Bhaal's powers (canonically the Baldur's Gate video games happen, but Bhaal's powers are not stripped from Cyric in the way the games suggest).

Of course, the 4th Edition horseshit (the god end of which unfortunately persisted into 5th Edition) resurrected Bhaal and Myrkul outright, Cyric stayed a god with some vague powers and Myrkul became a demigod in Kelemvor's service, which allowed him to remain in mortal form in the Realms. Kelemvor is still God of the Dead in Forgotten Realms to this very day.

Cyric took Mask’s portfolio of Intrigue (i think) at the end of Prince of Lies. He also had Madness as well as Strife (before Bane took it back). And Deception, when he killed the godess Liira (sp) between the Avatar trilogy and Prince of Lies

[Slurktan]

3 minutes ago, Derfel Cadarn said:

The Avatar trilogy, telling of the Time of Troubles (still got those books).

There’s a fourth book set 10 years later (Prince of Lies) where it turns oit thr god Mask is hiding Kelemvor’s soul (the fighter) who is the figurehead in a rebellion against Cyric in the Realm of the Dead. Kelemvor takes the portfolio of Death from Cyric, becoming the new God of Death.

The fifth book, Crucible: The Trial of Cyric the Mad, is a few years later. Cyric is put on trial by the other gods for failing in his duty to spread strife. He is found ‘innocent’ and causes Kelemvor and Midnight to break up.

It’s quite interesting as it shows how having a good (rather than neutral) god of death leads to an imbalance.

11 year old me is now happy that Kelemvor got to be a god too lol.  I honestly never heard of the other two books though so thanks to you and Wert.

[Werthead]

4 minutes ago, Slurktan said:

11 year old me is now happy that Kelemvor got to be a god too lol.  I honestly never heard of the other two books though so thanks to you and Wert.

Rather randomly, the author of Prince of Lies and Crucible ended up being my first editor.

[Werthead]

GTAV launching on PS5 and XBX/S in November (improvements likely to come to PC as well, unclear when).

This looks like it could push GTAV past Minecraft to become the biggest-selling individual video game of all time (it's about 50 million short; the game somehow sold 20 million copies in 2020 alone), which is utterly bananas to me.

GTAVI still not on the horizon, but Take-Two are planning a massive, GTA/RDR-level release for financial year 2023-24, which I think is the best sign of what it will show up.