The Video Game Thread v3

[Kybosh]

Originally Posted by chemgear

I've only just started but how far did you get before you stopped?

I know it's a remake of a 10+ year old game and they did try to honor it I think. The first level to get to the boss is kinda long and the usual "shortcuts" are not like what I got used to in Elden Ring.

Halving people's health and preventing them from ever gaining a level unless they can reach and kill the first boss seems pretty hostile to people trying to get into the game (compared to say Elden Ring).

It seems extra silly considering you can get 20+ levels immediately afterwards once you do kill that first boss and are allowed to level. I'm not surprised if lot of people bounced off of it before it even going to deep into it 13 years ago lol.

Took me a long time to get through the first level of Demon's Souls with a Royalty character since I didn't know the level or even anything at all about how the game worked. I recently started a new knight character in the game though and breezed through 1-1 without much trouble. Knowledge is key in From Soft games. I had to cheese a ton of bosses in Demon's Souls with magic/poison so I'm trying to play this build more legitimately to gauge if my skills have improved. Just took down Flamelurker yesterday, so it would seem that my skills have indeed improved haha.

[chemgear]

Originally Posted by chemgear

Oh ####! #### yeah!

https://twitter.com/user/status/1512088449783721987

Here we go!

https://twitter.com/user/status/1551437304832483328

[chemgear]

Originally Posted by Kybosh

Took me a long time to get through the first level of Demon's Souls with a Royalty character since I didn't know the level or even anything at all about how the game worked. I recently started a new knight character in the game though and breezed through 1-1 without much trouble. Knowledge is key in From Soft games. I had to cheese a ton of bosses in Demon's Souls with magic/poison so I'm trying to play this build more legitimately to gauge if my skills have improved. Just took down Flamelurker yesterday, so it would seem that my skills have indeed improved haha.

It's also a completely different world. As in our world in real life. 13 years ago the internet was no where near where it is now for a global worldwide discussion forum for people around the world talking about guides, finding hidden items, illusionary walls. Heck, getting screenshots online back then were such a burden nevermind a resources like youtube now.

[Sr. Mints]

Oh man, Horizon Foebidden West is so long! I've been playing it since it came out and have barely made a dent on the map. It's like I need someone standing over my shoulder saying "no, you don't need to collect that plant" every time I come across an item.

[chemgear]

I enjoyed the gameplay and the world and didn't mind running around everywhere. But since finishing it, it sounds like they've added some quality of life stuff like turning off the pick up animations if you haven't looked into that already.

[dissentowner]

Originally Posted by chemgear

Here we go!

https://twitter.com/user/status/1551437304832483328

My fav turn based RPG of all time.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Sr. Mints

Oh man, Horizon Foebidden West is so long! I've been playing it since it came out and have barely made a dent on the map. It's like I need someone standing over my shoulder saying "no, you don't need to collect that plant" every time I come across an item.

And I thought I was slow when it came to finishing games. I started Forbidden West when it came out and since then I have finished that game and Elden Ring which is an even bigger game.

On another note I started Cyberpunk 2077 in the next gen version and I'm actually enjoying it a lot. Still a few minor bugs but it runs a lot better now and looks gorgeous. If only they could have released the game in this condition at launch it would have been so much better received as it's a really good game.

[DownInFlames]

Octopath Traveler: Champions of the Continent is now out for mobile. I hope it isn't a money grab like Diablo. Ha, of course it is.

[Inferno]

Originally Posted by Sr. Mints

Oh man, Horizon Foebidden West is so long! I've been playing it since it came out and have barely made a dent on the map. It's like I need someone standing over my shoulder saying "no, you don't need to collect that plant" every time I come across an item.

140 hours I think I spent on it. Really I spent 150 hours on it but my PS5 database got corrupted after a power outage so I had to start over. I got it at launch too but I was so pissed it took me a month or two to start playing it again.

I haven't collected everything but I decided to move on and finish Ghost of Tsushima. I finished the main game yesterday and now I'm onto the expansion.

[CaptainCrunch]

Sadly it sounds like the KOTOR remake is dead for now as two directors were suddenly fired and the staff was told the game is indefinitely delayed.

https://www.pcgamer.com/knights-of-t...ing-to-report/

A Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic remake (opens in new tab) was announced in September 2021, and it was a pretty big deal: KOTOR is one of the best Star Wars games ever, but it's also nearly 20 years old, which makes it a challenge to play these days. A remake seemed like a can't-miss project, but a Bloomberg (opens in new tab) report now says it has been delayed indefinitely amidst trouble at developer Aspyr Media.

According to Bloomberg's Jason Schreier, Aspyr completed a vertical slice demo of the remake at the end of June to show to executives at Lucasfilm and Sony. The following week art director Jason Minor and design director Brad Prince were both fired from the studio. Prince indicated on his LinkedIn page (opens in new tab) that the termination was not expected, writing, "Things can change very fast in a day. I am no longer working at Aspyr and looking for work."
The vertical slice (opens in new tab)—essentially a demo that's intended to showcase all of a game's intended features in action, and that Monkey Island creator Ron Gilbert once called "one of the dumbest things (opens in new tab) the game industry has ever come up with"—is apparently the cause of the uproar. Minor may not have seen trouble coming, but sources told Bloomberg that Aspyr's studio bosses weren't pleased with the state of it, or of the amount of time and money that had been put into creating it.

[Erick Estrada]

How do you botch a remake of a game so bad that people get fired after a demo presentation? A shiny coat of HD graphics would likely at least met expectations so it must have been really, really bad.

[Senator Clay Davis]

What's this, actual GTA VI news? That should mean we'll be getting new videos by 2029!

Rockstar’s next game, Grand Theft Auto VI, will include a playable female protagonist for the first time, according to people familiar with the game. The woman, who is Latina, will be one of a pair of leading characters in a story influenced by the bank robbers Bonnie and Clyde, the people said. Developers are also being cautious not to “punch down” by making jokes about marginalized groups, the people said, in contrast to previous games.

Original plans for the title, which is code-named Project Americas, were for it to be more vast than any Grand Theft Auto game to date. Early designs called for the inclusion of territories modeled after large swaths of North and South America, according to people familiar with the plans. But the company reeled in those ambitions and cut the main map down to a fictional version of Miami and its surrounding areas.

Rockstar’s plan is now to continually update the game over time, adding new missions and cities on a regular basis, which the leadership hopes will lead to less crunch during the game’s final months. Still, the game’s world remains large, with more interior locations than previous Grand Theft Auto games, impacting the timeline.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...lash#xj4y7vzkg

[Hack&Lube]

Wow it sounds like Vice City is back!

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

What's this, actual GTA VI news? That should mean we'll be getting new videos by 2029!

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...lash#xj4y7vzkg

I know this goes against the perception people have of me on here, but I really hope they don't tone down the humour too much. One of the great things about GTA is the way it satirizes American culture, which is incredibly racist, homophobic, etc. I get the not punching down part, but there are ways you can do satire, make those types of jokes, etc., that aren't punching down.

[Erick Estrada]

Please bring Trevor back. He's one of my all-time favorite video game characters.

[PsYcNeT]

Small victories, my wife is finally interested in playing a GTA game.

Worth noting that her favorite single-player game of all time (other than Baldur's Gate and Divinity OS 1&2) is Saint's Row 3.

Representation matters.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Originally Posted by PsYcNeT

her favorite single-player game of all time (other than Baldur's Gate and Divinity OS 1&2) is Saint's Row 3.

Representation matters.

I'm not sure if you can chalk that up to representation or just questionable taste...

[PsYcNeT]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

I'm not sure if you can chalk that up to representation or just questionable taste...

She just likes games where she can play as a woman :shrug: who am I to question it. She played the #### out of Horizon & Forbidden West too.

Regarding the jokes, I'm sure the series can stand to ensure that the elevated jokes remain (eg. the call-in show radio stations and such) and the cheap visual gags are phased out, esp the tasteless stuff.

Also Saint's Row 3 ruled.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Meh, I don't really regard GTA as high art in the medium of video games, so tasteful content isn't really high on the priority list, though to be fair I have no real attachment to the franchise in any event.

The Horizon games are pretty much the peak of what anyone should want if they're looking for female representation in video games. I haven't played the second one yet but it seems like it's pretty similar with regard to Burch correctly identifying that as a career-defining role and performing accordingly. And in that case, a female protagonist is just clearly a good fit for the game. As games with that same non-sexualized type of female protagonist become more common she's going to get a lot of credit, deservedly (though I think Jennifer Hale deserves more love in that area; Fem Shep = Correct Shep).

I mean, arguably the best written character in any video game ever is both female and gay. As long as companies aren't trying to shoehorn diversity in where it doesn't really fit for the sake of representation, there won't be much if any blowback from the audience. But people who buy video games seem to have have a very sensitive tolerance for bull#### being crammed down their throat for ideological reasons. And of course there is also a somewhat disproportionate number of #######s among that group - not that you want to cater to them or anything, but it's smart where possible to avoid a whole heap of drama and stupidity for which you gain nothing.

[Frequitude]

I’d like to start playing Elden Ring. Getting a PS4 seems like the cheaper and faster route vs trying to find a PS5. Is that a terrible idea?