The Video Game Thread v3

[OutOfTheCube]

Yeah I've found unless I'm buying and starting playing a game within like a week of release I probably just won't bother with it. Like there's so much that comes out now and they aren't exactly cheap, I've usually planned out everything I'm buying six months in advance and it's all stuff I can't miss. Sometimes I buy older stuff that's gone on sale but it's rare that I play it all that much.

[Esoteric]

I'm getting myself involved in a series that should consume most of my play time for the foreseeable future. I beat Trails of Cold Steel 1 in late 2022, and am close to beating (probably, in the finale now) Trails of Cold Steel 2.

I then need to go back and play the original Trails in the Sky series, then the Crossbell games (thank goodness they're localized now), and then get ready for the upcoming game.

I'd be shocked if I can complete all of these in 2023, haha.

[OutOfTheCube]

I love JRPGS and I've tried a few Legend of Heroes games, and just can't get into them. Just way, way too much dialogue about this fictional empire and all it's political goings-ons that I just don't care about. The battle systems and growth systems get feature creep filled with way too many little systems and things to customize and keep track of. And the presentation is always dated, even in the newer releases they're like two generations behind graphically.

I've enjoyed games from Falcom's 'Ys' series a lot more.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

See, those first two things are central points that make the games so good to me, so if you're seeing them as negatives it would make perfect sense that you wouldn't like them. Particularly the world-building through sheer volume of dialogue, relevant to the story and otherwise, is generally regarded as the series' biggest selling point. As for the combat, the changes and additions to the system over the first five games are hit and miss; some make it better and some are more or less neutral, but overall the combat is fun and challenging especially on harder difficulty.

The main issue with the "old" Trails games (i.e. Liberl and Crossbell arcs) is that the first game in each series is like 40 hours of setup for the second game in the series, which requires either a ton of patience or being able to just nostalgically enjoy playing an old-school RPG that's kind of simple story-wise.

I don't get the presentation gripe though, they look like retro RPGs... You have an entire signature bar full of retro Nintendo characters. Have you played Undertale? If a dated look makes you not pick up a game you're missing out on some great stuff.

[DownInFlames]

I'm almost done the first Trails in the Sky. I enjoy the world-building but it can get tiring when you have to sit through a ton of dialogue after a big battle before you can save and quit.

I do look forward to the rest of the series.

[OutOfTheCube]

There’s a big big difference between “literally an old / retro game”, “intentionally retro” (like an indie), and “we just didn’t have any budget for this game” — Trails games tend to fit into the last category. Just look cheaply made with canned animations and pre-made assets and no detail anywhere.

They’re just not for me lol. I get why some people like them though.

I also don’t like Undertale, I’ve tried to play it like four times to figure out what I’m missing.

[GranteedEV]

Originally Posted by DownInFlames

I'm almost done the first Trails in the Sky. I enjoy the world-building but it can get tiring when you have to sit through a ton of dialogue after a big battle before you can save and quit.

I do look forward to the rest of the series.

The second game has a bit of a slow start (lots of backtracking locales from the first) but really picks up and finishes strong.

The third game was awesome. My fave in the trilogy.

The fourth and fifth games were amazing. Some of the best RPGs ever IMO

I have not played the Cold Steel tetrology or more recent ones yet, but will eventually. Love the series

Originally Posted by OutOfTheCube

There’s a big big difference between “literally an old / retro game”, “intentionally retro” (like an indie), and “we just didn’t have any budget for this game” — Trails games tend to fit into the last category. Just look cheaply made with canned animations and pre-made assets and no detail anywhere.

They’re just not for me lol. I get why some people like them though.

The graphics may be lacking, but tge amount of detail that goes into worldbuilding is off the charts. Typically NPCs have new text after every major plot event. Even huge AAA titles don't have as much dynamic text.

[ComixZone]

I wrapped God of War Ragnarok this evening, and I can’t say it really impressed me much.

Mechanically it was identical to the first game except for the

Spoiler!

<new weapon> introduced like 70% of the way through the game

Narrative wise I don’t think the game paid off at all, and on top of that there’s massive pacing issues in the second half of the game and a lot of bloat thanks to pretty “meh” side quests.

Yeah, it’s a well produced game but it’s 100% colouring inside the lines of the first game/most of the over-the-shoulder first party games Sony produces.

I am disappointed.

Spoiler!

There was space in this story that they could have used for significant story developments but there just wasn’t anything done with it. Thor’s story ends in a lacklustre way. Odin was poorly cast, and they really banked on the dwarf’s death being more impactful than it was. “Be better” - yeah, sure - you first Ragnarok

[Cain]

Tried to get into the Trails series, but was somewhat defeated by myself as I knew it was supposed to be a slow start and rewarding finish, but had read that there was so much stuff that you could possibly miss. To counter that, I read a few things before each area to make sure I didn't miss out on anything super important, but it detracted too much from the game doing that. I probably should have just winged it and miss things as I go. I'm sure I'll go back and give it another shot eventually.


New Roguetech update should be out soon, seems to be a bigger one with some interesting changes. Can't believe I'm still playing that off and on, especially with how slow the load times are in addition to how grindy it can be. Not even a battletech universe fan, just love the slow, progressive nature of guiding your little mercenary company.


Any other deep tactics games where you can customize your party/level them up via gear/talents etc. would be appreciated if they are a bit lesser known. I've hit all the big obvious ones like Xcom and so on.

[Esoteric]

I love the Trails games so far, mainly because of the world building. I find the combat is fun, but there are a few random times where the power spike is insane or the RNG lets the boss open up with a one hit attack (they have crit status & first move, and then boom, you're all dead, or worse, they have the instant KO buff). You can abuse the mechanics a bit - the delay status is OP and I can indefinitely delay some enemies/bosses, which is kind of awesome.

I haven't really worried about missing stuff. I missed some stuff in the first game and it didn't impact my overall enjoyment. I've tried to look out for certain items in CS2 (books, recipes), and it's allowed me to collect a few more things. I know I missed some side quests/dialogues/cutscenes, but I hate sitting there with a guide.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by ComixZone

I wrapped God of War Ragnarok this evening, and I can’t say it really impressed me much.

Mechanically it was identical to the first game except for the

Spoiler!

<new weapon> introduced like 70% of the way through the game

Narrative wise I don’t think the game paid off at all, and on top of that there’s massive pacing issues in the second half of the game and a lot of bloat thanks to pretty “meh” side quests.

Yeah, it’s a well produced game but it’s 100% colouring inside the lines of the first game/most of the over-the-shoulder first party games Sony produces.

I am disappointed.

Spoiler!

There was space in this story that they could have used for significant story developments but there just wasn’t anything done with it. Thor’s story ends in a lacklustre way. Odin was poorly cast, and they really banked on the dwarf’s death being more impactful than it was. “Be better” - yeah, sure - you first Ragnarok

I like it more than you. I acknowledge it's not a 10/10 game like a lot of reviews but it's still a very good 9/10 game (probably my 2nd best game of the year) and much better than Horizon Forbidden West. I just feel they have taken that formula (enter area, fight enemies, unlock chest, figure out how to proceed to the next area) rinse and repeat formula as far as it can go. We have got so used to open world games that it's extremely jarring to play a game that is so area restricted with artificial boundaries everywhere you turn. Still the story is decent, the combat fun and you can't dispute that Sony 1st party games are released at a level of polish higher than the rest of the industry. As I stated a few pages back they are over relying on the same formula for all their franchise games now and there's too much of a sameness feeling to all of them. They need more releases like Returnal.

[SuperMatt18]

Part of me is really sad that Insomniac is doing Spider-Man 2 and Wolverine because I think they are currently the best Sony First Party and I would love for them to get their own original IP to shine again.

Need another IP in the line of Spyro, Ratchet and Clank, Resistance, and Sunset Overdrive for Insomniac

[The Yen Man]

Originally Posted by OutOfTheCube

I love JRPGS and I've tried a few Legend of Heroes games, and just can't get into them. Just way, way too much dialogue about this fictional empire and all it's political goings-ons that I just don't care about. The battle systems and growth systems get feature creep filled with way too many little systems and things to customize and keep track of. And the presentation is always dated, even in the newer releases they're like two generations behind graphically.

I've enjoyed games from Falcom's 'Ys' series a lot more.

The Trails series is a HUGE time commitment. We're talking about 11 games and counting, each taking between 70 to 120 hours each to complete (on average). Its one of those series where you'd have be an anime weeb to enjoy. It comes with all the anime tropes, cheesy dialogue, power of friendship, etc. that's typical of JRPGs, but like dialed up to 11 in that the series is pretty much relentless with those themes throughout the entire series.

All that said, I've been really invested in it since the first game, so to me, I love it. The world building is fantastic, and there are so many characters that are side / minor characters in one game, but are main characters in another. It's like Game of Thrones in that way. But to start from the beginning is a pretty daunting task.

[The Yen Man]

Originally Posted by Esoteric

I'm getting myself involved in a series that should consume most of my play time for the foreseeable future. I beat Trails of Cold Steel 1 in late 2022, and am close to beating (probably, in the finale now) Trails of Cold Steel 2.

I then need to go back and play the original Trails in the Sky series, then the Crossbell games (thank goodness they're localized now), and then get ready for the upcoming game.

I'd be shocked if I can complete all of these in 2023, haha.

You forgot about Trails of Cold Steel 3 and 4, which are also easily 100 hours each to complete.

[OutOfTheCube]

Sony first party is in kind of a weird place right now, with really only one developer having any announced projects (Insomniac, with Spider-Man 2 and Wolverine). Surely they aren't going a whole year in between first party releases? Just weird to have nothing on the immediate horizon from them.

[Meelapo]

Count me in as one of the "currently playing through Trails of Cold Steel" folks. I've not played any of the other games and am currently on the first one and probably about 50% through. It's been very very tough because lots of what I've experienced has been boring. But I'm coming to understand that it's because it's part of a four part game and it's about building the world and characters.

It's starting to pick up but I haven't been a huge fan of the "do busy work, make friends, talk to lots of people, wait for a save point after 30 minutes" loop. That being said, the Steam Deck and it's suspend mode has been a God-send for this game (and for trying to deal with kids while playing).

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

I did CS1 on Deck. It worked. I think you'd probably enjoy it more if you started from the beginning... if I'd started with CS1 I don't know if I'd keep going. It's... just... eh.

[The Yen Man]

Originally Posted by Meelapo

Count me in as one of the "currently playing through Trails of Cold Steel" folks. I've not played any of the other games and am currently on the first one and probably about 50% through. It's been very very tough because lots of what I've experienced has been boring. But I'm coming to understand that it's because it's part of a four part game and it's about building the world and characters.

It's starting to pick up but I haven't been a huge fan of the "do busy work, make friends, talk to lots of people, wait for a save point after 30 minutes" loop. That being said, the Steam Deck and it's suspend mode has been a God-send for this game (and for trying to deal with kids while playing).

Not gonna lie, there are definitely parts where you need patience to slog through. Because they are using so many games to tell one grand story, it gets really annoying "beating" a boss, only to have said boss own your whole party in the next cutscene because they were just toying with you during the battle. It really makes a lot of unsatisfying boss battles.

[chemgear]

Huh, neat.

If accessibility helps more people play games more comfortably, why not!



https://blog.playstation.com/2023/01...ontroller-kit/

[OutOfTheCube]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

I did CS1 on Deck. It worked. I think you'd probably enjoy it more if you started from the beginning... if I'd started with CS1 I don't know if I'd keep going. It's... just... eh.

See, that's the thing with this series lol. Even people who like the games are always like "yeahhh but there's this one 60-70 hour game in the series that's kinda bad..."

Like where are you guys finding time to play 60-100 hour games you don't care for? I tried Cold Steel 1 and knew within 5-6 hours it was kind of a dud and just stopped playing it.