Videogames: All Valves on Deck

[Werthead]

GTA6 trailer on Tuesday. Interested in how this goes. Rockstar traditionally do good trailers, and the trailer for GTA4 remains outstanding.

GTA5's was pretty impressive as well:

My guess is they're shooting for a late 2024 release date. Although if at the end they said, "Fuck it, you can download it right now, we're Radioheading this shit," I'd be laughing for a week.

[TheLastWolf]

A friend owed me a steam game and I took more time downloading Survivor than it took Ilya to finish it -_

Spoiler

Just escaped from Coruscant, have to say it's one of the best games around and I can almost cream to the extensive world and plot awaiting, 125 gigs oooweeee. And another sequel to tie up the trilogy? * credit card slam*

 

[House Balstroko]

I’m interested in seeing what the trailer shows. Since it’s been so long since GTA V came out, I’m hoping for something more substantial than the other first trailers we got. 
 

If Rockstar decides to do a surprise launch, then the VGA will need to be cancelled. 

[IlyaP]

18 minutes ago, TheLastWolf said:

A friend owed me a steam game and I took more time downloading Survivor than it took Ilya to finish it -_

  Hide contents

Just escaped from Coruscant, have to say it's one of the best games around and I can almost cream to the extensive world and plot awaiting, 125 gigs oooweeee. And another sequel to tie up the trilogy? * credit card slam*

 

Tis like when friends said it took them 25 hours to download and install BG3 via Steam and I was over here cackling in GoG. 

But yeah, jeez, the install size is fucking bananas. 

[Ser Rodrigo Belmonte II]

Yeah I think a 100 mbps internet connection in today’s day and age is mandatory if you’re a pc gamer….

[polishgenius]

I'm living in fear now that GTA6 is going to come out before Silksong. 

 

 

Also as a Switch owner a busy few weeks for me. Just got Super Mario RPG, and also yet another indie metroidvania I'd had my eye on called Worldless (not sure if I'm feeling it, it's a bit abstract even by my mysterious-world loving standards and having turn-based combat in a platformer metroidvania feels weird, but it's smooth and pretty so I'll give it a go). I'll probably wait a bit for Arkham trilogy, but next week finally gives us the Switch port of Outer Wilds, which is day 1 for me unless tech reviews are awful. Steamworld Build also just came out which normally also would be a day 1 for me but I'll give it a bit until I'm feeling the time to sit and play it on my laptop, since that's not really a Switch-ideal game. 

Next week also sees Highland Song, which looks pretty great.

 

 

[TheLastWolf]

7 hours ago, IlyaP said:

But yeah, jeez, the install size is fucking bananas

 

7 hours ago, Ser Rodrigo Belmonte II said:

Yeah I think a 100 mbps internet connection in today’s day and age is mandatory if you’re a pc gamer….

I got those unlimited speeds and data alright, just shit coverage in my university campus just for my provider

-_

I keep it a point to use repacks for only ancient games, but these guys making me question my moral choices...

[Darryk]

Playing Pillars of Eternity 2 and I got to admit, it feels more like Baldur's Gate than Baldur's Gate 3 did.

[polishgenius]

Looks like they've released it early coz it leaked.

[IlyaP]

On 12/3/2023 at 2:21 AM, Darryk said:

Playing Pillars of Eternity 2 and I got to admit, it feels more like Baldur's Gate than Baldur's Gate 3 did.

Such a fun game. And the art design and music? Mwah. Just so delectable. Spent hundreds of hours in that world. 

[Kalbear]

Does look cool, also makes me want more Cyberpunk.

Boy it's gonna be a fun time being on the internet and experiencing people freak out over GTA having a woman as one of the main characters. 

[Werthead]

57 minutes ago, Kalbear said:

Does look cool, also makes me want more Cyberpunk.

Boy it's gonna be a fun time being on the internet and experiencing people freak out over GTA having a woman as one of the main characters. 

Not for the first time. You could play as a female character in OG GTA1 (1997). Of course, they were a blob of pixels in the middle of the screen with no voice lines or personality but #stillcounts (probably). You can also play as a woman in GTA Online. But this is significant as the first discernible, playable female protagonist in a mainline, single-player GTA game.

There's a whole bunch of details they still need to go into, like how this will integrate with GTA Online (intriguingly, the vehicles are almost all GTA Online models, hinting that all of GTA Online could be getting a mega-facelift to GTAVI quality), and if both Lucia and Jason are playable, switchable characters or just Lucia.

Visually it looks stunning. 100% all in-engine, and the facial animation tech is immediately best-in-class. Rockstar know how to do this stuff better than anyone else, even Unreal Engine isn't there yet with character animation.

[IlyaP]

52 minutes ago, Werthead said:

Visually it looks stunning. 100% all in-engine, and the facial animation tech is immediately best-in-class. Rockstar know how to do this stuff better than anyone else, even Unreal Engine isn't there yet with character animation.

And now with non-urban environments, which make it automatically more appealing, as it's nice to for once, have a break from miles of monotone grey and brown rectangles and depressing urban strip malls.

Edited December 5, 2023 by IlyaP

[IlyaP]

First in-engine preview of Dragon Age: Dreadwolf. 

https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/dragon-age-dreadwolf-just-got-its-first-in-engine-trailer/

[Ser Rodrigo Belmonte II]

The facial animations looks good but i must say the environments and lighting isn’t as good as cyberpunk. Dunno how you guys are impressed by it. Even the textures are average.

 

Ive actually never played a GTA game because they all seem to prioritise sandboxing over an actual narrative, I’ll jump in with this one if that changes and it’s more in line with red dead 2.

Edited December 5, 2023 by Ser Rodrigo Belmonte II

[Kalbear]

15 minutes ago, Ser Rodrigo Belmonte II said:

The facial animations looks good but i must say the environments and lighting isn’t as good as cyberpunk. Dunno how you guys are impressed by it. Even the textures are average.

It's for a console that is almost 4 years old now. It's kind of absurd getting that LOD on it. Yeah, CP2077 looks a lot better on the higher ends, but it looks about the same on the consoles. 

It's also almost certainly way larger than CP2077. 

15 minutes ago, Ser Rodrigo Belmonte II said:

Ive actually never played a GTA game because they all seem to prioritise sandboxing over an actual narrative, I’ll jump in with this one if that changes and it’s more in line with red dead 2.

I...wouldn't hold your breath. It is still going to be at its core a sandbox game, with no real RPG elements (like character upgrades or skills or things like that). That is the GTA brand. There's a story that goes through it and GTA 5 is pretty good for it, but it still is mostly about interesting and fun missions while doing whatever the hell you feel like in a crazy big world, all the while making real inappropriate teenage jokes. RDR is far more 'serious' of a story. 

I will say the above? It captured the...I dunno, the griminess and sleaze factor of modern-day Florida. Vice City felt right out of Miami Vice with it being a bit more glamourous and chic, and this made me remember the feel of the humidity. 

[Ser Rodrigo Belmonte II]

5 minutes ago, Kalbear said:

It's for a console that is almost 4 years old now. It's kind of absurd getting that LOD on it. Yeah, CP2077 looks a lot better on the higher ends, but it looks about the same on the consoles. 

It's also almost certainly way larger than CP2077. 

I...wouldn't hold your breath. It is still going to be at its core a sandbox game, with no real RPG elements (like character upgrades or skills or things like that). That is the GTA brand. There's a story that goes through it and GTA 5 is pretty good for it, but it still is mostly about interesting and fun missions while doing whatever the hell you feel like in a crazy big world, all the while making real inappropriate teenage jokes. RDR is far more 'serious' of a story. 

I will say the above? It captured the...I dunno, the griminess and sleaze factor of modern-day Florida. Vice City felt right out of Miami Vice with it being a bit more glamourous and chic, and this made me remember the feel of the humidity. 

Also I heard the co founder and a lot of senior talent left the company a few years ago, so hope that hasn’t affected its quality. I know rock star has a history of not prioritising PC, so it’ll be interesting to see if this one releases on PC at the same time as the consoles and if it offers higher fidelity visuals like CP2077 did. 

[IlyaP]

22 minutes ago, Ser Rodrigo Belmonte II said:

Ive actually never played a GTA game because they all seem to prioritise sandboxing over an actual narrative, I’ll jump in with this one if that changes and it’s more in line with red dead 2.

That's what's always thrown me off. Between that, the very boxy and bland environments, the integration of fail states that hinder emergent gameplay and interesting consequences (eg do the mission the way we say or start over!), and amped up stereotypical American environments, none of the games ever clicked for me either. They always felt like they were borderline pastiche, sans any themes or meaningful ideas or thoughts. 

[House Balstroko]

I’m glad the GTA VI trailer finally arrived, though I found it to be slightly disappointing in terms of content given the fact that it’s been a decade since the last main entry came out. Otherwise, I think it looks very promising. 
 

 

[Ser Rodrigo Belmonte II]

7 minutes ago, IlyaP said:

That's what's always thrown me off. Between that, the very boxy and bland environments, the integration of fail states that hinder emergent gameplay and interesting consequences (eg do the mission the way we say or start over!), and amped up stereotypical American environments, none of the games ever clicked for me either. They always felt like they were borderline pastiche, sans any themes or meaningful ideas or thoughts. 

Yeah I don’t know why people prefer doing mini games like fishing and sim stuff than playing the actual narrative…I mean mini games are a nice icing on the cake but it’s not the cake for me.