Jump to content

Video Games- At least 2023 looks like a banger


Fez

Recommended Posts

6 hours ago, Werthead said:

Because CP77 does quite a few things a lot better than The Witcher 3 (particularly the character focus, the main narrative, stealth and combat). 

In your opinion.  Apparently not in others.

And yes as Briantw said. its very possible they didn't play it again as it was so bad at the start,  I'm certainly in that camp although I did beat it a couple times.  It was so bad on PS5 I have no urge to ever play it again.  On top of the just awful technical issues, It was the worst parts of the newer assassin creeds mixed with hit and miss story to me.  But YMMV

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Slurktan said:

In your opinion.  Apparently not in others.

And yes as Briantw said. its very possible they didn't play it again as it was so bad at the start,  I'm certainly in that camp although I did beat it a couple times.  It was so bad on PS5 I have no urge to ever play it again.  On top of the just awful technical issues, It was the worst parts of the newer assassin creeds mixed with hit and miss story to me.  But YMMV

How curious. Some time ago, I recall seeing James S.A. Corey remarking that he was playing it on the PC and experiencing a minimal amount of problems - a sentiment I can happily echo, as I began playing it on my PC the day it came out with a minimal amount of fuss or issue. Granted, I completely understand that this was not remotely the case for anyone on PS4s and other consoles. But despite that, the game in its ideal state (viz my PC) was an exceptional experience, and one that consumed nearly 200 hours of my life before I finally gave up. 

Granted, we're still trying to find @karaddin to make sure she's eating and sleeping and not *just* playing CP77 (we love you Karaddin! :D), but I think she and I can speak to what the game can be when it's experienced the way it was intended by its developers. And if you're a Witcher 3 fan, there's a wonderful little Easter egg quest in the game, to say nothing of, of course, Ciri's famous visit to Night City.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Having given up on Homeworld: Remastered (I'm sorry @Werthead! I'm just not an RTS guy!) on account of having found it to really not be my kind of game, I've resumed my playthrough of Uncharted 4: The Lost Legacy, which I've really enjoyed. There are some really interesting themes and ideas at play in the script, and my goodness, any chance to enjoy Claudia Black is one I'll take, being a fan of her work as far back as Pitch Black and of course Farscape. (Her presence in Queen of the Damned was one of the few good highlights in that film.) The only real weakness in the game, I'd say, is a lack of a memorable leitmotif from composer Henry Jackman, whose work in Uncharted 4: A Thief's End was otherwise quite good (his theme for Libertalia and Avery were haunting standouts in the score). 

I've been interested in the Expanse adventure game that a friend mentioned recently, but don't know what to expect from it. Has anyone played it - and if so, what sort of game is it, exactly?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Slurktan said:

In your opinion.  Apparently not in others.

In what sense? Even most Witcher 3 raging fans admit that W3 combat is somewhere between risible and actual dogshit (there are some mods which kind of try to Dark Souls-ify it, but they're severely limited by the engine), and stealth isn't really a thing because at some point you have to run in and start wailing on people with a sword. So that's two areas where CP77 is superior by default (in CP77 you can wipe out entire enemy squads from two streets over with camera hacks and knowing exactly who to target and when to disrupt their counterhacks).

The story might be more subjective, but I think the praise TW3 gets for its story is mostly from where it leans very heavily on Sapkowski's source material (TW3 is the sequel to the books much more than it is the sequel to TW1 and TW2), whilst CP77's use of the OG source material is more limited, since the source material was not novels, so the original story they had to create for the game was more impressive. Sapkowski did way more of the heavy lifting for them (hence why they - if reluctantly - paid him a shitload more money after the game came out).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, briantw said:

I’m guessing many people tried it at launch, saw what a dumpster fire it was, and never went back. 

This was my point so it's weird to have it put back to me like a rebuttal, that's what I mean by the legacy of the bad launch - people tried it and bounced off it, other people heard the bad reactions and never even gave it a chance themselves, yet others have internalized the dominant narrative in the gaming sphere that it's hot garbage separate from the actual bugs. 

I'll add that there's a separate category from the backlash that also largely wouldn't have given it a chance, which certainly isn't absent from the RPS readerbase given some of the other titles on the list, which is socially progressive people that got a very inaccurate impression of the game due to its own botched edgy marketing. They managed to make a bunch of queer people think it was going to be a homophobic mess while the actual game contains a quite authentic lesbian romance option and that's just the part I'm interested in.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

And to build on Wert's point - on a technical level (once the bugs were resolved) the game is a marvel. The level of detail is absurd, being and to take a screenshot then zoom in and see fingerprints on guns, read serial numbers etc off pretty much everything with small writing in the game - these details taken on their own aren't necessary but taken together they make the world feel more real.

I've seen people breaking down other aspects of the design, a supercar designer assessing the cars in game, architects looking at the buildings in the city etc and it's all been done at the union of being as close to realistic as possible with every element contributing to telling a story. The amount of quality music was sufficient to provide almost the entire sound track for Edgerunners and have a bunch of that music suddenly blow up in popularity as more people were exposed to it.

The creation of the game is a sufficient achievement to warrant inclusion on the list unless the type of game it is doesn't work for you at all, which is entirely reasonable if so. But a population that votes TW3 as the best game ever is not a group for whom that style of game does not work.

So it loops back around to my prior post about it being a bad launch on a technical level and a bunch of social factors beyond that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm like... 45 hours into Persona 5 Royal, just beat the fourth palace, and I have a feeling I'm not even halfway done. This game is a lot of fun and has a great cast of characters; the combo of life-simulator and really snappy turn-based combat is great. Some of the anime weirdness, though, really gets in the way of the game's themes. To go from having a major plotline about a teacher preying on and sexually assaulting students to having the protagonist's homeroom teacher come over in a maid costume is just really fucking bizarre. I'm just ignoring that character's quest line, because it's just too weird and uncomfortable... and there are other moments like that too.

But still, really fun game. I just don't know if I'm going to be able to last the full 100+ hours though. It's a lot.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think people also are taking into account everything about Witcher - the multimedia, the expansions, the long-term success, the originality of the game relative to other RPGs - and making that a bit better too. CP2077 had a bad launch, but it also doesn't have the mindshare Witcher does - so while it might be a better game (debatable) it definitely doesn't have the same legacy. At least not yet. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Also, both the Witcher 3 and CP2077 get compared with the same types of games. For Witcher, those would be Skyrim and Dragon Age Inquisition, and Witcher blows them both out of water. For CP2077, it is the Grand Theft Auto series (Saints Row too, but mostly GTA), and it... doesn't.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Gorn said:

For CP2077, it is the Grand Theft Auto series (Saints Row too, but mostly GTA), and it... doesn't.

Having played and enjoyed all the Saints and GTA games, I personally found CP77 to be a more satisfying open-city experience. In part because it was just so wildly futuristic in a way that no open-city game had ever been before, and I'd been craving that for a long, long time. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

20 hours ago, karaddin said:

The creation of the game is a sufficient achievement to warrant inclusion on the list unless the type of game it is doesn't work for you at all, which is entirely reasonable if so. But a population that votes TW3 as the best game ever is not a group for whom that style of game does not work.

Why? Because your post reads "Its not on this subjective list and it should be because I love it".  On that same note why isn't Dynasty Warriors 3 on that list?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

To really simplify what I'm saying "the word of mouth bad response to Cyberpunk 2077 is still really hurting it even after it's 'redemption' if TW3 is number 1 and it isn't even on the list" and you think this is some unreasonable reach? I would have been surprised if it wasn't having any impact at all still, but I thought it interesting that it's still enough to shut it out of the conversation completely.

I'm not throwing a tantrum about the ranks of anything despite the top of that list not being very reflective of my tastes.

As for why I say it's creation itself is a marvel that's not just because I liked it, I gave multiple reasons in the post you quoted and chopped out. It's not got the highest graphical fidelity of any game ever but I don't think anything else has matched it's attention to detail both in terms of visual detail and the world/city design. It's facial animations, especially eye animations feel far more real than anything else I've played but I haven't played everything so I'll just say it's one of the best in that area.

As for Gorn comparing it to GTA and Saints Row - treating them as it's peers is indicative of it's marketing and word of mouth failure. I've seen that complaint so many times and yeah, if you're judging it on those merits it's not looking good but that's not what it's trying to be. I'm comparing it to TW3 because it's in a similar bucket, just one has fantasy furniture and the other Cyberpunk furniture. And to a large part that's a huge fail of their marketing team, they hurt the game on multiple fronts - features that ultimately didn't make it into the game, people expecting GTA rather than a character driven narrative RPG, superficial edgy marketing that hides the emotional heart of the game etc.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Starting Elden Ring for the third or fourth time. I've still never beaten it. Twice I made it to the boss whose name is kinda like trump's wife's? One time it was glitched and the other my buddy I was playing with gave up. I'm excited to play it on the steam deck, even though I know performance will be worse than on xbox.

Cyberpunk also I've played most of twice and never finished, I really should.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Rhom said:

There are still people who hate on Andromeda for being buggy at launch.

I blame Bioware/EA for the decision to drop it after the initial backlash. Another patch or two would have resolved any remaining bugginess, and the most interesting (imo of course) plot threads were the ones dangling for DLC to complete - if we'd gotten that DLC the characters and story would be in a far better position. But they were so all in on Anthem they didn't fight for what they'd made, and then they did the same to Anthem anyway.

I really really hope they get their groove back with DA4.

@RumHamI'm back to Elden Ring now as well, although I've finished it a bunch lol. The boss you're talking about is one I'd say makes as much sense to do after the story if you struggled with her (I did), she's off in her own section of the world and the hardest fight in the game. Beating the final boss let's you get a sword that very dramatically speeds up your ability to farm runes if you want to get some more levels before facing her. I appreciate the way the difficulty ranking for the bosses changes considerably based on what your build is though. It was my first souls game, it's a steep learning curve lol.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, karaddin said:

@RumHamI'm back to Elden Ring now as well, although I've finished it a bunch lol. The boss you're talking about is one I'd say makes as much sense to do after the story if you struggled with her (I did), she's off in her own section of the world and the hardest fight in the game. Beating the final boss let's you get a sword that very dramatically speeds up your ability to farm runes if you want to get some more levels before facing her. I appreciate the way the difficulty ranking for the bosses changes considerably based on what your build is though. It was my first souls game, it's a steep learning curve lol.

Thanks, I didn't even realize you could go back into the world after beating it. Aside from new game +.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Rhom said:

There are still people who hate on Andromeda for being buggy at launch.

And yet it's quite the fun romp in its current state - to which I can speak of which considerable detail, having recently completed a 100 hour playthrough.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I beat GoW: Ragnarok the other day. It was amazing. I thought it started kinda slow, or something, but picked up rather quickly.

I played on Give Me No Mercy difficulty and was actually kinda let down because I thought nothing was too challenging, until the King Berserker. Dude has fucked me every single time. I gotta search the interwebs and find a good build for this guy. It’s crazy how much harder him and Gna are than all other bosses.

I have Cyberpunk but have yet to play it for an extended time. It really bums me out that it’s not 3rd person. I just really don’t care for 1st person games at all anymore, so that’s the main reason I’ve never continued. Maybe I’ll go back after I replay TW3 again. Excited for the upgrade.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 11/29/2022 at 7:06 AM, briantw said:

I’m guessing many people tried it at launch, saw what a dumpster fire it was, and never went back. 

That's an absolute shame. The game is honestly a remarkable experience. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Ramsay B. said:

I beat GoW: Ragnarok the other day. It was amazing. I thought it started kinda slow, or something, but picked up rather quickly.

I played on Give Me No Mercy difficulty and was actually kinda let down because I thought nothing was too challenging, until the King Berserker. Dude has fucked me every single time. I gotta search the interwebs and find a good build for this guy. It’s crazy how much harder him and Gna are than all other bosses.

I have Cyberpunk but have yet to play it for an extended time. It really bums me out that it’s not 3rd person. I just really don’t care for 1st person games at all anymore, so that’s the main reason I’ve never continued. Maybe I’ll go back after I replay TW3 again. Excited for the upgrade.

Isn't there a 3rd person mod for the game? I coulda sworn there was...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
×
×
  • Create New...