Videogames: New Year, New Thread

[Toth]

1 hour ago, Gorn said:

And any chance of WarCraft IV being developed disappeared when WoW became a hit, because no-one will mess with the ongoing WoW story now.

... as a big fan of Warcraft 3's story, that's a thing that always aggravated me about this. Does WoW even have a story? Except beloved Warcraft 3 characters going crazy and having to be euthanized by a bunch of nameless colorful powerrangers clubbing them to death as loot pinatas? Everything I have heard about the stuff happening in WoW made me wince as it completely drops whatever plot threads Warcraft 3 left dangling...

[Werthead]

9 hours ago, Gorn said:

I love StarCraft, but I don't want StarCraft III. As Darryk said, Legacy of the Void concluded the story well, and anything after that would be beating a dead horse. And any chance of WarCraft IV being developed disappeared when WoW became a hit, because no-one will mess with the ongoing WoW story now.

What I want is Blizzard using the immense resources and talent at their disposal to develop some brand new IP, instead of milking cash cows developed in the last millennium for the rest of eternity.

Some acknowledgement that exclusively single-player gamers exist and like to play games would also be nice.

There's no reason side-stories could not be developed in a WarCraft IV, or the game could act as a prequel or interquel.

I also found the StarCraft II project deeply dissatisfying. The story and writing was terrible and the characters badly-served, despite the game engine being good and individual mission design being solid (most of the new units I wasn't too wild about, with too much duplication of function). Metzen was on autopilot for the whole thing. I think either a lower-key StarCraft III or a spin-off game with lower stakes could be very good.

It does lead to that aforementioned problem that virtually all the talent who actually created the StarCraft, WarCraft and Diablo properties left a long time ago, and some of the talent they hired in the interim to handle their games (bringing in Leonard Boyarsky on Diablo III) have been snatched to other companies (in his case, Obsidian). Mike Morhaime, the old Blizzard CEO, has set up Dreamhaven Studios with two sub-studios, Moonshot and Secret Door, and a whole bunch of Blizzard vets are there working on new IP instead. Blizzard is something of a shell compared to the company it used to be (BioWare as well).

[Fez]

Activision has a ton of older IP that I'd like to see get developed again, both big and small. Stuff like: Geometry Wars, Tony Hawk, Call to Power, Prototype, Gun, the old Raven Software games like Heretic, and so on. Crash and Spyro have already been mentioned. Hell, they made the original Pitfall! back in 1982. 

It's easy to forget that Activision has a 42 year history, since they've let it all sit idle for so long and just become Call of Duty, Blizzard, and Candy Crush. But there's a ton of opportunities to develop new games there without needing to create all new IPs.

[Darryk]

Activision also owns the Sierra license, those old Sierra adventure games were my childhood.

[Fez]

Vampire Survivors is a neat little game on Steam I started playing that seems to be getting some traction. Only $3 and its in early access, but it's no shovelware. It's a like Loop Hero and Devil Daggers had a baby that liked the look of Castlevania.

It's a run-based game where the only things you do in the game are move and pick upgrades when you level up (which happens when you collect enough experience orbs from moving over them). You're swarmed by enemies and all your attacks happen automatically. Your upgrades improve your weapons and give you additional ones, as well as improve your defenses or speed. The only goal is to survive as long as you can. And there's gold you can collect which can be spent on permanent passive upgrades. I've gotten to 11 minutes so far.

[Clueless Northman]

6 hours ago, Fez said:

Activision has a ton of older IP that I'd like to see get developed again, both big and small. Stuff like: Geometry Wars, Tony Hawk, Call to Power, Prototype, Gun, the old Raven Software games like Heretic, and so on. Crash and Spyro have already been mentioned. Hell, they made the original Pitfall! back in 1982. 

It's easy to forget that Activision has a 42 year history

First Activision game I played was Ghostbusters on good old C-64. Shanghai then, and later Call to Power indeed. They also published Quake games.

[The Anti-Targ]

Bobby Kotick will walk out the door of Acti-Blizz with $390 million in his wallet. Well deserved and couldn't have happened to a nicer bloke. I hope he finds a new job soon, I can't see how someone can live on so little money.

[Argonath Diver]

13 hours ago, Fez said:

Vampire Survivors is a neat little game on Steam I started playing that seems to be getting some traction. Only $3 and its in early access, but it's no shovelware. It's a like Loop Hero and Devil Daggers had a baby that liked the look of Castlevania.

It's a run-based game where the only things you do in the game are move and pick upgrades when you level up (which happens when you collect enough experience orbs from moving over them). You're swarmed by enemies and all your attacks happen automatically. Your upgrades improve your weapons and give you additional ones, as well as improve your defenses or speed. The only goal is to survive as long as you can. And there's gold you can collect which can be spent on permanent passive upgrades. I've gotten to 11 minutes so far.

A streamer on my Twitch list was playing this tonight. I was about to click off it after I saw this pixel art graphics, but remembered your mention of the title. It definitely looks like it'd give a couple sessions worth of entertainment, and for three bucks that ain't bad. I'll pick it up next time I'm gaming.

[Toth]

17 hours ago, Clueless Northman said:

First Activision game I played was Ghostbusters on good old C-64.

THAT FUCKING JUMPING MARSHMALLOW MAN!

Damn, I never got past that fucker... But I loved kitting out your car and going on random busting missions. For a game of that time period it had some interesting ideas that make me wish there was a less linear Ghostbusters game with focus on the management side and randomized hunting missions to make cash.

[Werthead]

Expeditions: Rome out today and getting excellent reviews. I am intrigued by the setting, but tactical RPGs can be a bit hit or miss. Might check it out once I've finished Fallen Order and Age of Empires II (the end is in sight, after 210 hours).

[Fez]

13 hours ago, Argonath Diver said:

A streamer on my Twitch list was playing this tonight. I was about to click off it after I saw this pixel art graphics, but remembered your mention of the title. It definitely looks like it'd give a couple sessions worth of entertainment, and for three bucks that ain't bad. I'll pick it up next time I'm gaming.

Nice. Yeah, it's a fun little thing. Not a ton of content, but well worth $3. It'd need a lot more added during early access before I put in the time I did for Loop Hero (22 hours to beat), but I've played for almost 2 hours and could easily put in several more. Doing a run a day or something like that. I've only got to 13 minutes so far.

[IlyaP]

4 hours ago, Werthead said:

Expeditions: Rome out today and getting excellent reviews. I am intrigued by the setting, but tactical RPGs can be a bit hit or miss. Might check it out once I've finished Fallen Order and Age of Empires II (the end is in sight, after 210 hours).

Is it an RTS? A roleplaying game? An action game? Even just looking at the Steam page doesn't give me a clear idea. 

[Werthead]

2 hours ago, IlyaP said:

Is it an RTS? A roleplaying game? An action game? Even just looking at the Steam page doesn't give me a clear idea. 

It's a tactical RPG, so basically XCOM meets Baldur's Gate. Probably closest to the Divinity: Original Sin games, but with a strategic layer, a bit like Total War.

[Kalbear]

Just in case folks want to read a big-ass guide on Hades this is a great overall guide:

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/switch/298295-hades/faqs/78659

[Fez]

1 hour ago, Werthead said:

It's a tactical RPG, so basically XCOM meets Baldur's Gate. Probably closest to the Divinity: Original Sin games, but with a strategic layer, a bit like Total War.

To be more precise, more like the turn-based mode of Pillars of Eternity II, or the Shadowrun games by Harebrained. Anyone expecting the class-building freedom, or the level of tactical gameplay, of D:OS2 is going to be disappointed. There are skill trees of course, it is an RPG, but characters are stuck with whatever class they start as; and environmental effects are a much smaller issue.

It is a very good game so far though. 

[Fez]

So Expeditions: Rome does a thing I love that I've been waiting to see an RPG do in forever; which being able to delegate certain side quests. Like a lot of RPGs, your character is supposed to be an important person; and it doesn't really make narrative sense for you to be running around solving everyone's problems yourself. So, you don't. Instead, for those kinds of side quests, you pick one of your main party members and they led a team of generic characters on the mission. And they are still full combat missions, this isn't abstracted out. It really helps with immersion to not have the main character always be involved.

[IlyaP]

6 hours ago, Fez said:

To be more precise, more like the turn-based mode of Pillars of Eternity II, or the Shadowrun games by Harebrained. Anyone expecting the class-building freedom, or the level of tactical gameplay, of D:OS2 is going to be disappointed. There are skill trees of course, it is an RPG, but characters are stuck with whatever class they start as; and environmental effects are a much smaller issue

No real time with pause?

[Fez]

5 hours ago, IlyaP said:

No real time with pause?

Nope. Turn-based only. Although turns are based around sides, rather than units. So when it's your turn you can do things in any order: move unit, then move and attack with another unit, then attack with the first unit, then move the second unit again if it still has movement points, and so on.

Also, while a unit is moving you don't need to wait, you can switch to another unit to issue a different order. Attacks need to happen one at a time though.

A big part of the game's combat is working out how to get your best offense units their attack point back in their same turn so you can chain kills and prevent the enemy from acting. Which is something that only works when combat is turn based. It's a bit like Gears Tactics actually.

[Derfel Cadarn]

Been playing final fantasy 14 (the online one) on and off for years. What i like is my PC account/characters are accessible on the playstation.

Did my first raid and got another 2 to do to finish the crystal tower quests, to get to the last main sequence quests to finally get to the Heavensward expansion!

Refently replayed Assassins Creed 2 (the pa4 version) and now into Brotherhood.

Tried playing Resident Evil 4 on the playstation (originally played it on thr Wii) but the control system killed it. Will wait for remake.

Got promoted to Earl in the Imperial Navy in Elite Dangerous, almost got enough % to qualify for the naval promotion mission to get Marques. Then it’s Duke, Prince and King.
 

 

[Corvinus85]

15 hours ago, Fez said:

So Expeditions: Rome does a thing I love that I've been waiting to see an RPG do in forever; which being able to delegate certain side quests. Like a lot of RPGs, your character is supposed to be an important person; and it doesn't really make narrative sense for you to be running around solving everyone's problems yourself. So, you don't. Instead, for those kinds of side quests, you pick one of your main party members and they led a team of generic characters on the mission. And they are still full combat missions, this isn't abstracted out. It really helps with immersion to not have the main character always be involved.

Bannerlord has something like this but you don't experience what your designated companions do. In the latest version you get a chance of success which is dependent on their skills pertaining to the quest.

I'm glad to hear Expeditions: Rome does this because one negative review on Steam mentioned that it was ridiculous to still do tiny squad missions when your character is in command of entire legions.