The Video Game Thread v3

[devo22]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

Is there going to be a release of TLOU 2 for PS5? Or is the Ps4 version just get upgraded on your PS5 once installed?

there's no PS5 version. It's just the PS4 version with a PS5 update, including things like 60 FPS and way faster loading times.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by devo22

I'm having a ton of fun with the RE4 remake so far. Granted, I'm not very far (starting chapter 5 now), but from what I've seen I have little to no complaints. Putting a modern spin on it while staying true to the original ... that's how you do it. Which also makes me sad that they didn't remake games like Zero or Code Veronica.

I'm holding off right now there are some complaints of bugginess.

[zukes]

Originally Posted by devo22

I'm having a ton of fun with the RE4 remake so far. Granted, I'm not very far (starting chapter 5 now), but from what I've seen I have little to no complaints. Putting a modern spin on it while staying true to the original ... that's how you do it. Which also makes me sad that they didn't remake games like Zero or Code Veronica.

My daughter and I are playing it, she loves RE. We've played 2, 3, 7 and 8. Tried 4 before the remake and it was awful, same with the original. We're only on chapter 2 so far.

I have not seen any bugs in it yet.

[chemgear]

E3 Cancelled.

[Sr. Mints]

Originally Posted by chemgear

E3 Cancelled.

First cereal box prizes, now this. It's the end of an era.

In the world of Nintendo Direct, BlizzCon, State of Play, etc., game companies decided it just wasn't worth it to attend E3 when they could stream commercials directly to consumers' phones, with the product up on Amazon for pre-orders 60 seconds after that.

[Fire]

Originally Posted by devo22

there's no PS5 version. It's just the PS4 version with a PS5 update, including things like 60 FPS and way faster loading times.

I assume they will do a PS5 native version sometime before Last of Us HBO season 2 comes out.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by Fire

I assume they will do a PS5 native version sometime before Last of Us HBO season 2 comes out.

I guess it could be low hanging fruit? But I believe their focus is going to be on TLOU2 multiplayer.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Played some brand new little known indie games recently.

After starting it like two years ago, I finally finished Metro Exodus. I have some high praise but also some harsh criticism. I loved the immersion such as the in world map and weapon crafting, the setting and general story and quite a bit of the game play. Unlike the AC franchise, which has become a bloated mess with quantity over quality, this game was much more focused with smaller open world maps and far fewer time wasting stupid quests and treasures. It really helps keep you into the game and focused on the story.

On the other hand, the voicework wasn't great, nor was the writing. It also had way too many scenes that were unskippable and just dragged on forever. And while I liked the FPS and combat aspects, some of the gameplay was tedious. Some enemies were way overpowered and travel by boat was more of a hinderance than a feature. I was also disappointed to learn that there were multiple endings but the game never really told you which choices affected the outcome or how to change the outcome. Some things you didn't find out until after the mission was over that you weren't supposed to kill the "bad" guys. Granted the gameplay was all the same I think, just a few differences very short cutscenes.

Overall I'd give it maybe a 7.5. Could have been an 8 or 9 with some gameplay fixes and better a better script and voicework.


Then I played Uncharted 2 as part of the Uncharted remaster collection on PS4. I'd played 1 years ago and was maybe 3 chapters into 2 when I stopped. Playing this right after Metro Exodus really highlighted what good writing and voice acting is like. Night and day. Tons of fun from start to finish, amazing gameplay that was varied with a nice mix of exploration, puzzles and combat with great story mixed in. Got a little weak near the end but was otherwise phenomenal. Obvious why this is considered one of the greatest games of all time.


Then I immediately played Uncharted 3. I'm not sure how I'd feel if I'd never have played 1 and 2 but by comparison, 3 is total dog####. Just a huge pile of crap. It felt like it was mostly filler with so many pointless scenes and chapters. It was a 5 hour game they stretched to 9. Who in god's name thought it was a good idea to increase hand to hand combat by like 3000%? It was terrible and I hated all the new controls they added for it.

There were also multiple tedious dream/hallucinatory sequences that were awful and did nothing but frustrate me and fill time. Jesus that desert scene went on forever.

Then they added like half a dozen of these running/chase scenes. While a few of them weren't bad, they had too many and I ended up being frustrated with them. I felt like this was part of a bigger problem that the game felt underdeveloped with too much filler. Even the exploration and climbing, which can be quite rewarding and fun, felt lazy and rushed.

And don't get me started on some of the nonsensical camera angles they decided to use.

I genuinely disliked this game and would not recommend it to anyone. However since it still had a fair amount of the great stuff from Uncharted 1 and 2, I'd probably still give it like a 6. Maybe even a 6.5. I think part of it is that it just sucked compared to 1 and 2. And when it was good, it was quite good but the bad parts were really, really bad.


Now I'm playing Ghosts of Tsushima and after that I'll get to work on TLUS2.

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by iggy_oi

Anything in particular that you’re looking for? I’ve had some collecting dust with my collections that I might be willing to part with

I'd probably need to see a list, I don't have a specific wish list, I just started collecting last year once retro handheld modding became a thing to overcome their original screen limitations. I'm literally collecting everything that is fun to actually play and not collecting for completionism or for a certain theme.

[photon]

Finished TLOU Part 1 on PC and it was great. Really enjoyed it. It's challenging to really judge it since I'm not playing it in cultural context and it's hard for me to know if any criticism I have about it being trope-y is actually because stuff that followed it imitated it.

Same with possible criticisms about the game play itself, it is a decade old game...

Plus it's hard to come in blank for a game that's been so big.

That said while the story wasn't groundbreaking it was still good the execution was terrific. The game was very pretty and I never felt frustrated at the basic rails-ness of the game (as opposed to something like the Guardians of the Galaxy game where I really felt the rails guiding me). The voice actors did a great job.

Hopefully part 2 comes to the PC sometime.

Now I can watch the show.

[Russic]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

...
Then I immediately played Uncharted 3. I'm not sure how I'd feel if I'd never have played 1 and 2 but by comparison, 3 is total dog####. ...

Wow... I've played it multiple times over the years. Probably my favourite of the entire series. I recall finishing it and seeing trophies for finishing it on different difficulty levels. Didn't even blink, just started it again. Games are weird.

[OutOfTheCube]

I think it’s probably a fair assessment, 3 is a bit of a mess but at the time of release the cutting edge presentation and performances held it up. 12 years later it definitely hasn’t held up as well as 2.

The funny thing is it actually plays extremely well, and in that PS4 remaster they went back and re-did the gunplay and controls of 1 and 2 to be based off of everything in 3, much to the benefit of both games. The original Uncharted 1 really isn’t awesome, but with Uncharted 3’s gunplay and controls it’s a much better game. Uncharted 2 with those mechanics is even more of a masterpiece! So U3 definitely had a net positive effect on the series. One of my favorite game OSTs too.

[ComixZone]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1642909855538110468

Looks to be a leaked special edition Starfield controller.

I want. I want so bad.

[OutOfTheCube]

Starfield might be the most important Xbox exclusive... ever? They really need a system seller.

[Cain]

Found another cool different kind of game that might appeal to some folks. Mini Healer on Steam has been pretty fun so far! https://store.steampowered.com/app/955740/Mini_Healer/

Essentially you are the healer of a group of 4 (tank/healer/melee dps/ranged dps) and you keep your party alive through a bunch of boss fights while levelling up and getting gear etc. Kind of like a single player MMO dungeon/boss fight sim.

Obviously not going to blow anyones minds with the graphics, but I've found it to be pretty satisfying so far, and the price is right.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by OutOfTheCube

Starfield might be the most important Xbox exclusive... ever? They really need a system seller.

I don't think so. The lack of exclusives hasn't been that big of a deal as they have still moved a lot of consoles this generation. Game Pass is a system seller all on it's own and they now own a lot of AAA games even if they don't decide to make them all exclusive. Microsoft is looking ahead past hardware as with Game Pass for Samsung TV's for example as the money is in games not hardware.

[OutOfTheCube]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

I don't think so. The lack of exclusives hasn't been that big of a deal as they have still moved a lot of consoles this generation. Game Pass is a system seller all on it's own and they now own a lot of AAA games even if they don't decide to make them all exclusive. Microsoft is looking ahead past hardware as with Game Pass for Samsung TV's for example as the money is in games not hardware.

The lack of exclusives is a big deal though, it's what has them firmly in third place and spending billions trying to buy big exclusives to claw out of it. It's the one thing their competitors excel at. This gen has played out almost exactly like last so far, where the built in Xbox audience of 20-30 million pick up the console in the first couple years, then it falls way, way behind Sony as time goes on.

Their Game Pass numbers aren't where they want them to be either:

https://www.videogameschronicle.com/...-year-running/

Why? Well, the big draw is exclusive first party games coming on day one, which there hasn't been any of note recently. There's only so many people and so long they'll subscribe for to play indie games and AA's -- and now Sony is offering a decent version of that service too.

I don't think Starfield being a bomb is a make or break for a company with as much money as MS, but they really need something to start shifting the narrative and driving people to the Xbox / Game Pass platform, and everything else they're working seems years away at this point. And no, it's not just about the games and selling games, otherwise it would be on PS5 too.

[bax]

Originally Posted by OutOfTheCube

The lack of exclusives is a big deal though, it's what has them firmly in third place and spending billions trying to buy big exclusives to claw out of it. It's the one thing their competitors excel at. This gen has played out almost exactly like last so far, where the built in Xbox audience of 20-30 million pick up the console in the first couple years, then it falls way, way behind Sony as time goes on.

Their Game Pass numbers aren't where they want them to be either:

https://www.videogameschronicle.com/...-year-running/

Why? Well, the big draw is exclusive first party games coming on day one, which there hasn't been any of note recently. There's only so many people and so long they'll subscribe for to play indie games and AA's -- and now Sony is offering a decent version of that service too.

I don't think Starfield being a bomb is a make or break for a company with as much money as MS, but they really need something to start shifting the narrative and driving people to the Xbox / Game Pass platform, and everything else they're working seems years away at this point. And no, it's not just about the games and selling games, otherwise it would be on PS5 too.

Well said.

I was one of the people who bought a Series X at launch thinking that Xbox had learned their lesson after last gen, but there has been nothing that’s spoken to me. Game Pass is cool, but I doubt it’s profitable and with the limited amount of free time I have I would rather just own the games I actually get to play.

To me, the subscription model just doesn’t make sense for games like it does for movies and tv. You spent way more time with a single game than a movie or tv show.

Microsoft has spent billions acquiring all of these studios, but from outsiders perspective it looks like they can’t manage them. It’s a shame what happened with 343 and Halo. They announced the Perfect Dark reboot 3 years ago and it’s been radio silence since except for the fact that they had to bring on Crystal Dynamics to help with development.

They talked big game with The Initiative being a AAAA studio, but by all accounts it’s been a mismanaged mess.

I can’t think of one game that I’ve played on my Xbox that I really enjoyed that couldn’t play elsewhere.

I really don’t like they direction Microsoft is trying to force the industry towards.

[Mazrim]

Originally Posted by OutOfTheCube

Starfield might be the most important Xbox exclusive... ever? They really need a system seller.

Without the original Halo, Xbox probably wouldn't exist today. So probably not the most important exclusive, but Starfield should be a touchstone for the next while for Microsoft.

[chemgear]

Originally Posted by OutOfTheCube

Starfield might be the most important Xbox exclusive... ever? They really need a system seller.

It's Bethesda, it will be broken/buggy/janky on release. We all know how their releases go.

Wait for a year or two, more likely 3 before trying it out.