Video Games: The (over-priced) Expansion

[NestorMakhnosLovechild]

A new Uncharted was just announced, and a teaser trailer was shown. I am now moderately excited for the PS4, even though I don't expect I'll have one for a few weeks. Looks like South Africa, Madagascar, and (presumably) someone from Nate's past will feature in it. Or it could be a prequel involving Sully. Hell, it could even have Francis Drake. I just hope they don't take themselves too seriously; I've always liked the lighter feel of the Uncharted games (even if the last one was a bit disappointing).

I really do love Uncharted 1 and especially 2. I've borrowed a friend's Uncharted 3 and expect that when I play it I will love it (although I've had it for months, and appear to be no rush). The idea of a next-gen Uncharted really does excite me, although on some level, I'm disappointed that we're not seeing a new IP from Naughty Dog. I want to see something new and exciting from the next generation, and pretty much everything I've seen so far is just this generation's games with better graphics, and that's not that exciting.

[Sci-2]

Kickstarter from dudes who made Myst and Riven. Already funded but possible the $25 will go up once the game is finished in 2015.

Obduction is an all-new, real-time, first-person adventure that harkens back to the spirit of Cyan’s earlier games Myst and Riven. Obduction resurrects that incredible feeling of suddenly finding yourself in the middle of a new world to explore, discover, solve, and become part of.

Obduction's experience supplies what every good storyteller does: a very personal window into a much larger world. Obduction begins with... well… an abduction - your abduction. On a crystal clear, moon-lit night, a curious, organic artifact drops from the sky and inexplicably whisks you away across the universes to who-knows-where (or when, or why).

[Lyanna Stark]

Tried some Final Fantasy XIV with the SO since well, we felt we needed a co-op game we could play after a rather shitty summer and autumn. It was fun and awesome in the beginning, but before we reached max level it's becoming really grindy and as people with limited time, that really sucks out our will to play the game.

Apparently the end game is also grindy as hell and as someone who is super extra casual when gaming these days (I think I can easily qualify as the Most AFK Player on the entire server) that just isn't possible for us.

I'm eyeing up the enhanced version of Baldurs Gate 2 instead, which I only in an ideal universe will have enough time to play, but one can hope!

Apart from that, trying to get into the Wild Star beta, but as I tend to have a terrible record with getting into betas, I doubt that will happen, even if I lied about my gaming hours per week (with like...20).

[Jabronius Maximus]

I really do love Uncharted 1 and especially 2. I've borrowed a friend's Uncharted 3 and expect that when I play it I will love it (although I've had it for months, and appear to be no rush). The idea of a next-gen Uncharted really does excite me, although on some level, I'm disappointed that we're not seeing a new IP from Naughty Dog. I want to see something new and exciting from the next generation, and pretty much everything I've seen so far is just this generation's games with better graphics, and that's not that exciting.

That's more or less how it was for ps3 and 360, with 'HD' graphics being touted as the next big thing. It actually was the next big thing, but games at the time didn't look all that different from what was on PS2/Xbox. Just look at the difference between The Last of Us and Resistance Fall of Man. It's staggering to say the least.

As of UC3, imo it is definitely better than most games out there; definitely worth a play through. It just failed to live up to the bar set by UC2. I liked the gameplay mechanics better, though and online was a million times better. I still play online here and there, and it's fairly active.

[Gears of the Beast]

South Park nails the console wars.

That was such a great episode. I loved the part about used games as well. I love seeing Cartman in that ridiculous wizard hat too, I have a feeling I'm going to enjoy the Stick of Truth a lot.

[Werthead]

It's difficult to say for sure as I took a 4-year break in the middle of playing it, but I think I'm about 45 hours into The Witcher and only in the middle of Chapter IV, with two more and the epilogue to go. This game seems to go on forever. After some highly mediocre moments early on and despite having the world's shittiest RPG combat ever, I'm enjoying it. But I think I'm ready for it to end now so I can get on with Enemy Within.

[Talleyrand]

Crusader Kings 2 really can surprise you sometimes - Went as a Norse Jarl with Old Gods on and was so wrapped up with becoming King of Norway that I forgot to look at the continent and when I finally did glance down I found that Burdandy had blobbed out - uniting France and conquering Italy save for the Papal State and currently seemed to be in a war with Hungry which owned a fair chunk of the balkans and further north. Sent a ship down the major rivers and found that they were having several battles of 10,000 plus on each side up and down the border at the same time. Which on the plus side meant that there was almost no-one to stop me raiding the French Coast

[Shryke]

It's difficult to say for sure as I took a 4-year break in the middle of playing it, but I think I'm about 45 hours into The Witcher and only in the middle of Chapter IV, with two more and the epilogue to go. This game seems to go on forever. After some highly mediocre moments early on and despite having the world's shittiest RPG combat ever, I'm enjoying it. But I think I'm ready for it to end now so I can get on with Enemy Within.

I kinda feel like you know you've become an adult when you start muttering about RPGs being too long.

[Clueless Northman]

It's difficult to say for sure as I took a 4-year break in the middle of playing it, but I think I'm about 45 hours into The Witcher and only in the middle of Chapter IV, with two more and the epilogue to go. This game seems to go on forever. After some highly mediocre moments early on and despite having the world's shittiest RPG combat ever, I'm enjoying it. But I think I'm ready for it to end now so I can get on with Enemy Within.

Hmmm, there's 5 chapters and the epilogue, I think.

So, I take it you're in the part in the countryside with all these silly villagers? This is a kind of a weird break in the midst of the story.

I also agree with you that the beginning is kind of slow and the game really begins to be great when you finally arrive at Vizima.

Whatever, Witcher 2 is definitely shorter ;)

[Merentha]

Whatever, Witcher 2 is definitely shorter ;)

Only kind of, since you're probably going to replay at LEAST act 2 for the other half of the story.

[Werthead]

I kinda feel like you know you've become an adult when you start muttering about RPGs being too long.

Only if it's too long for the story and gameplay to sustain it, which was the case with DA:O and definitely is with The Witcher (though not to the same extreme). OTOH, I've put 92 hours into Skyrim, 65 into New Vegas and 110 into Fallout 3 and in all cases could have put more in (maybe not so much FO3, but the others definitely).

[Werthead]

VICTORY! I bought The Witcher on day of release (26 October 2007) and finally finished the fucker.

The ending is actually excellent (possible WTF time travel aside), but the amount of crap (and awful combat) you have to wade through to get there is quite startling. Yet the game does so much else that borders on the genius. A frustrating game. Worth playing but I can 100% guarantee I'll never play it again. I will play the sequels, but not yet: Enemy Within awaits.

[Sad King Billy]

VICTORY! I bought The Witcher on day of release (26 October 2007) and finally finished the fucker.

The ending is actually excellent (possible WTF time travel aside), but the amount of crap (and awful combat) you have to wade through to get there is quite startling. Yet the game does so much else that borders on the genius. A frustrating game. Worth playing but I can 100% guarantee I'll never play it again. I will play the sequels, but not yet: Enemy Within awaits.

Pretty much what I thought.

Except the xcom bit. I'm no longer interested inthat seriers

[WinterKing]

Crusader Kings 2 really can surprise you sometimes - Went as a Norse Jarl with Old Gods on and was so wrapped up with becoming King of Norway that I forgot to look at the continent and when I finally did glance down I found that Burdandy had blobbed out - uniting France and conquering Italy save for the Papal State and currently seemed to be in a war with Hungry which owned a fair chunk of the balkans and further north. Sent a ship down the major rivers and found that they were having several battles of 10,000 plus on each side up and down the border at the same time. Which on the plus side meant that there was almost no-one to stop me raiding the French Coast

My prefered raiding zone is between Ireland,Wales and England, as there are a lot of counts and a single sea zone.

On other news Sons of Abraham comes out tomorrow! Can't wait to restore the Kingdom of Israel or elect a pope.

[The Anti-Targ]

So PS4 sold 1 million units within it's first 24 hours, in USA and Canada alone. Apparently that's more units than Wii U has sold worldwide all year. And it's bigger than the PS2 launch. Reports of failures but it's hard to get a sense of the number of defective units and whether it's hardware based or software problems. Sony claims about 0.4% of shipped consoles are reported as failing, so that's 0.4% of a number much larger than 1 million. Some segments of the internet have a lot of people complaining. But if Sony has shipped over 3 million units (they are expecting 3+ million sold before the end of the year) that means about 12,000 failed units, which is a reasonable number of people to be hitting the internet with legitimate complaints and giving the appearance of substantial problems.

The quiet achiever game out of the launch line up appears to be the arcade-like Resogun. Good for lovers of arcade-y games. Not sure if it's really my thing.

Still, I won't be buying until Infamous Second Sons comes out, which is 21 March next year. Interestingly I bought PS3 when the original Infamous was newly launched, though in that case it was purely coincidental and the only reason I got it was because the alternative bundled game was Ghostbusters, and boy am I glad I went with Infamous. 21 March is sooner than I'd hoped, I was looking for more of a May-June release before I had to start thinking about buying it (closer to my birthday).

[Talleyrand]

My prefered raiding zone is between Ireland,Wales and England, as there are a lot of counts and a single sea zone.

On other news Sons of Abraham comes out tomorrow! Can't wait to restore the Kingdom of Israel or elect a pope.

I find that going into Caspain and Black Sea is really profitable - all the Muslim and Tengri rulers seem to have a lot of loot (quite a few having 30-50 gold unprotected) and the areas are mountainous so any army coming to stop you is never going to catch you before you get back on your ships

[Clueless Northman]

VICTORY! I bought The Witcher on day of release (26 October 2007) and finally finished the fucker.

The ending is actually excellent (possible WTF time travel aside), but the amount of crap (and awful combat) you have to wade through to get there is quite startling. Yet the game does so much else that borders on the genius. A frustrating game. Worth playing but I can 100% guarantee I'll never play it again. I will play the sequels, but not yet: Enemy Within awaits.

I won't be as negative, but indeed, 1st chapter is too long before serious things begin, 4th chapter feels quite redundant with 1st one with 3/4 of stuff to do unrelated to anything else making it highly anti-climactic, and having to deal with this blasted swamp in both Vizima chapters is a pain in the ass. Still, from the conclusion of Chapter 4, it's quite a good roll 'til the end.

Witcher 2 is more of the same, with more focused story - 3 chapters, less mindless padding, and an even bigger amount of trickery and messy politics. I wouldn't be surprised if you like it more. My main complaints are the annoying QTE and the fact that, at times - specially prologue and beginning of 1st chapter -, it's 5 min game, cutscene, which is quite annoying after a time - thankfully, cutscenes are rarer after a few hours, and you can really play...

[Jabronius Maximus]

So PS4 sold 1 million units within it's first 24 hours, in USA and Canada alone. Apparently that's more units than Wii U has sold worldwide all year. And it's bigger than the PS2 launch. Reports of failures but it's hard to get a sense of the number of defective units and whether it's hardware based or software problems. Sony claims about 0.4% of shipped consoles are reported as failing, so that's 0.4% of a number much larger than 1 million. Some segments of the internet have a lot of people complaining. But if Sony has shipped over 3 million units (they are expecting 3+ million sold before the end of the year) that means about 12,000 failed units, which is a reasonable number of people to be hitting the internet with legitimate complaints and giving the appearance of substantial problems.

The quiet achiever game out of the launch line up appears to be the arcade-like Resogun. Good for lovers of arcade-y games. Not sure if it's really my thing.

Still, I won't be buying until Infamous Second Sons comes out, which is 21 March next year. Interestingly I bought PS3 when the original Infamous was newly launched, though in that case it was purely coincidental and the only reason I got it was because the alternative bundled game was Ghostbusters, and boy am I glad I went with Infamous. 21 March is sooner than I'd hoped, I was looking for more of a May-June release before I had to start thinking about buying it (closer to my birthday).

Wow 1 million? I believe that's even twice as big a launch compared to the Wii. Well if Sony keeps on trucking, they could have another ps2-like gem on their hands.

After canceling my preorder, I planned on buying it a few weeks after, so that all the network issues would be ironed out, especially with the Euro launch, which could strain the network to no end. Then after seeing the poor reviews of the launch titles, I too decided to wait until Second Son to buy one (or The Order, at the latest). BUT I got suckered into buying one at launch by a couple friends, who each bought one as well. The newly opened Target near my house was utterly deserted, and had about 25 consoles on hand. We strolled in during the afternoon, and picked them up with no lineup, no fuss.

As for games, I just used the $10 upgrade for the 3 free games I got last week from Best Buy (AC4, CoD, BF4). Nothing special here, except BF4 delivers a PC-like performance on the PS4. Battlefield in general is mired in launch issues, and on PS4 Conquest mode won't work. But what works, works quite well. Big big upgrade over what bf3 was on the ps3.

I also picked up the camera, and the Playroom is a fun little game, even though it's more or less a demonstration of what the camera and controller can do.

[Fez]

I've taken another crack at The Witcher 2, starting over after previously abandoning the game midway through Chapter 2. I still don't much care for Geralt, but I'm feeling much more engrossed in the story and world then I was last time. I think when I tried the first time I had just replayed both ME3 and DA2 right beforehand, and just wasn't really ready for another RPG. I dunno. Although it does help that this time I read a full plot synopsis of the first game before starting so I had a better grasp of what had previously happened. Everyone speaks so highly of this game and I really would like to enjoy it.

Also still going through the Halo Reach campaign. Its fun, but feels incredibly short. I really liked the space shooter segment though, wish there were still full games like that.

[Werthead]

Interesting. Apparently Sony have been chasing Chris Roberts and his company to release Star Citizen on PS4, apparently sending them dev kits for free so they could take a look. According to Roberts, it'd be pretty easy to reduce the game to work on PS4/XB1 (you'd just have to lower the graphics settings, apparently, everything else would be okay) but he's not happy about doing so because of Sony/Microsoft's approach to creator updates. He said that if Sony would allow creators to update their games at will and not arse around having to double-check and approve everything first, then he'd be happy to go on PS4. He's told Sony that, and apparently Sony are considering the idea.

Obviously that has pretty big ramifications for all games and their patches, updates and expansions released on the PS4 beyond this one case. Given how Sony have been talking up their indie commitments on the platform, I wouldn't be surprised if they did move towards a 'relatively' more open platform.