Video Games

Topic

Games. A love and loathe activity, especially when you can’t nail a section or take out that one bastard boss.

So, what are you buyin’? What are you playing?

Replies

I now want Doom Crossing: Streets of Rage mash-up.

Or Isabelle and Doomgloomguy to join forces in Smash Bros.

At the very least their very own 158 episodes Netflix show.

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Ben

I periodically have a Ps plus system (for example for things like Nioh and Monster Hunter) I dont right now but I’m.not adverse to re-upping.

I’ll probably be running lower on games ro play around then.   I expect to finish Doom Eternal this weekend with some casual play here and there .

I should also be close to done with FF7R hard mode.   I’ve done about half the chapters now and I’ve only got the final Top Secret simulation to do (which is hard but I came pretty closed so it’s doable with some more levelling up materia/weapon upgrades).

After that I’ve only got Smash Bros World of Light still to go.  I was thinking of picking up Dragon Quest or alternatively either play through one of the old Ps plus free games like Ratchet and Clank, or get the Control DLC.

Jon wrote:

Ugh I hope they don’t go crazy with the price… and the regional price… There’s still no price info on steam…

Just checked, it’s gonna be 25 bucks… and 22.5 pounds… I haven’t seen any info on other regional prices, hopefully since it’s a dotemu game it’ll have the usual -50% tag here in mexico…

I’ve been playing Whispers of a Machine, yet another indie point and click adventure game this week. It’s by Clifftop Games, who did the Twin Peaks-esque Kathy Rain a few years back, but this one is unrelated. It’s set a few hundred years in the future, in the aftermath of a global collapse caused by super-advanced AI (or a backlash to it, depending who you ask). Now, anything with a CPU is banned and globalisation has fallen apart.

You play as Special Agent Vera Englund, a pseudo-FBI agent sent to a small community in what is probably Norway, to investigate some murders. Despite the tech bans, Vera has nanite enhancements, such as a biorhythm lie-detector, enhanced strength and DNA scanner, which are all handy tools for the investigation, naturally.

There’s a lovely dour-pastel feel to the game’s environments and a bit of a Scandi-noir vibe to everything, I think, which is cool. The story is solid, there are great puzzles, the voice acting is directed by WadjetEye (Blackwell etc) so is to a really high standard. But one thing that really stood out for me is the personality system (I think there’s a proper name for it, but I can’t remember). As is standard in point and clicks, you get dialogue options at various points. Which options you pick influence Vera’s overall personality, tracked in a triangle, with three points: assertive, analytical and empathic. At various points in the game, the position of Vera on this triangle influences the development of her augments and thus changes the way you can play the game. It’s a smart little addition and feels like a properly nuanced take on the arbitrary moral choice systems that were in vogue with big budget games around the Mass Effect trilogy.

If you’re open to an adventure game, I’d definitely recommend this.

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Dave

Two games finished today:

Journey

Actually got to see a little of its multiplayer aspect this time around. The pink desert level remains total arse and the next level demonstrates that in very clear fashion with excellent signposting as to what to do and where to go, while also looking stunning. The depths level? Only one real comment on that: Who let these motherfucking snakes into the motherfucking game? There was admittedly a very well done final section with those things but overall they don’t contribute much. The tower level? Pretty good, even if one part got done and I’ve no idea how it got done. The ice level? If you’re familiar with the company’s other work, this is going to lack punch because you’ll have seen a variation in Flower and, if you’ve played it, Abzu. The final level? It’s very good but it isn’t quite the equal of those other games offering at the same point.

Overall, the game is uneven. Graphically, it’s gorgeous. Is it really a single player game? I don’t think it is. I think they want it played in combination with other players, but selling it as a multiplayer probably isn’t that viable for what is a quirky indie title.

Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age

After around 130-135 hours, I reckon I racked 5 more by being unable to really pause the game, I went and finished this one.

The ending? Very satisfying and quite clever. This is a very timey-wimey tale, whatever the creators may want to say about there being a single timeline. Much disagreement is going to be had with that, especially in light of the endgame revelations.

The final fight? Pretty damn good, save for a couple of cheap moves, though they are ones with precedent in earlier games, still cheap.

Graphically, it looks amazing with a wonderful sense of personality to both your party and your enemies. Add in visible enemies and all members getting XP, whether in or out of the party and these take what is mostly a retro game more into the modern era, but not that much. This is an old-style game, which is part of the charm. If you want a more modern mostly turn-based JRPG you’d be better off looking at the likes of 2012’s Xenoblade Chronicles. The pacing is pretty good throughout, you always know what you’re to be doing and where to go, except in Act 3, where it goes far more open and contraflow to the preceding sections. The benefit of having a clear objective can be seen in the likes of Divinity: Original Sin, where in that CRPG you can easily end up stumped as to what to do and when.

The turn-based battle system has quite an amount of depth to it, with the game expecting you to be attentive to enemy weaknesses, your gear, buff and debuff, spells and abilities – it gives you a lot of tools, more than you’ll likely keep track of. The game also expects you to use them – and if you do successfully there are some very noticeable differences in battle as a result of your actions. Is it possible to over-level? I think not. Even taking on the last boss at Lv 99 can be dangerous if you get cocky, which is true of the Act 2 final bosses too. Is playing the game without using any of the Draconian options that easy? For the most part, it’s straight-forward but the bosses can and will cripple arrogant players even on the standard settings.

Weaknesses? The casinos suck. They are awful. The Wheel of Harma challenge, with its turn limitation, is hard to complete, even with use of online guides but doesn’t feel particularly fair in its set up either, some of the later Drustan trials are similar. Crafting? Despite being the mandatory method to get the best gear you’ll need for the endgame – and the appearance upgrades are sweet – even when crafting on Lv 99 it’ll throw random stuff in you don’t see coming. It’s not as bad as the other two aspects but neither is that good, the gear is worth persevering with it. The one big flaw is the game gives you a back-handed reward for getting to Lv 99 that caused me to question the worth of having done so. This is in relation to the skill points you need to open up character’s skill grid, or rather the lack of them when you get those final level ups.

Even so, in what is a 130+ hour run – and I’m a long way from completing it all, one character wasn’t at Lv 99 at the end, these are minor elements. They won’t kill the game, though there will be times when you feel they do. It is a fair criticism that Act 3 is a grind. In terms of the controversy around Act 3, without invoking spoilers, I don’t think it does do the game any damage. It picks up pieces seeded in Act 2 and brings it all to a very definitive conclusion in a way Act 2 alone does not. There’s enough temporal shenanigans to justify the more abbreviated playing out of the character stories in Act 3, as the player saw a more detailed version in Act 2.

In representation terms, the game will get a bit of flak because it really leans heavily on stereotypes, some far more obvious than others. In its favour it does use some of those stereotypes very effectively and with a great deal of charm – see Sylvando.

The game world is big, not the biggest ever, but has very carefully done aesthetics and design to bolster it. Sailing and flying later in the game only emphasises this.

I can’t say there’s that much in the way of innovation here, it’s just not that type of game, but what it does, it does very well.

Yeah, now I think I’m done with No Man’s Sky. It’s a game I’ve defended often over the last three years but these last three updates have really done a number on the game and the damage has now accumulated to a terminal degree.

The oldest of the trio saw power systems be added to the game. The problem with this, for me, is that far future technology required a wired power system simply does not add up. How did it work before? It was self-sustaining. So Hello Games are practically trumpeting a solution to something that was not a problem – this will return in a bit.

The other problem I had with the whole power idea is it was vague, badly explained and tips the balance from NMS being a game that is rewarding and complex to one that is over-complicated, more is not always better.

Then there was the Living Ships update – where as part of the process you have to fly to a planet and then manually follow incredibly unstable coordinates in a massive 360- degree environment where your top speed is always one thing – slow. You can also only see those coordinates, badly, in first person view. You want to fly in third person? Ok, but you don’t get to see where to go. So, again, far future tech, a ship that cross interstellar distances cannot read a set of coordinates and auto-mark them on a planet, so in turn enabling a sub-orbital quick trajectory. No, you have to do it manually. It is awful and horrible play – and the Living Ship you get, for having done that abomination of a quest five times over? It ain’t worth that.

Still, they just added an exo mech exocraft, so has to be cool, right? No. Because in doing so they nerfed all the other exocraft. Used to be, if a storm came up and you were in an exocraft, you could drive through the stoprm and take no damage – it had environmental protection built in, as you would expect of future tech. You can see where this is going? Of course you can. This new exo mech has environmental protection but it’s been stripped from the other exocraft and you now have to re-add specific upgrades to each to maybe get it back. Again, here there was no problem, but HG decided they had to create one to cue the exo mech solution. And…. I cannot be bothered to do all that, again, for another part of the game that was not broke and did not need fixing.

I just about got over the power stupidity, because I’d spent too long on that set of bases to let HG wreck them all for me, but this time? No. This is the third crappy, ill-thought out, bad update in a row. It doesn’t matter that its free because it’s bad. Making something bad free doesn’t stop it from being bad. So, yeah, I’m done.

[DavidM]

Japanese people are weird…

 

If for some reason you fancy doing a bit more social distancing then there’s a video game for you.

In Japan, Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike has been urging citizens every day to stick to guidelines.

In the online game, you’re Governor Koike and you’ll have to clear the crowds shouting “social distance” so no one comes to close to you.

Your lives are measured in face masks but don’t worry if you’re running short. Every now and then there’s a figure looking somewhat like Prime Minister Shinzo Abe waving two face masks – ready for you to collect and add to your stash.

 

• This reply was modified 4 years, 7 months ago by DavidM.

I had a go on the Dragon Quest XI demo the other day and it’s not for me, I think.

The graphics are very impressive on a technical level yet I don’t think they really work with Toriyama’s art style, landing firmly in an uncanny valley in a way that Dragon Ball FighterZ manages to avoid. I think it’s the eyes, mainly. They just don’t look right, especially when blinking.

I found combat a bit weird as well. It’s turn-based, which is great, but it also gives you a circle you can run around in during the battle, to seemingly no point (other than being able to escape if you push against a boundary). You can run behind your enemies or away from them, but it doesn’t seem to have any impact on damage or dodging, so… why is it there?

I really wasn’t expecting a British voice over cast either. Not a bad thing by any means, but surprising.

I found the whole free form camera an irritant so went with the classic one instead Martin.

I’m in two kinds whether to pursue it.  It seems like a huge commitment but it has generally reviewed very well.

I’m still basically engrossed in FF7remake. I’ve clocked 75 hours now and replaying the game on Hard (although frustrating) has a similar ethos behind chasing after the emerald and ruby weapons in the original game. It’s focussed levelling particular materia and skills until you’re confident you can take on challenges which require the right utilisation of those skills/materia.  It’s not so much grinding as it is just moving through the chapters at the pace you would otherwise and taking on additional tests now and then. Ben, I’ll expect you’ll find a lot to irritate here as there is plenty of random attack denial mechanisms (which are often more frustrating then challenging, but I suppose the challenge is in preparing properly for them).

Otherwise theres the online aspects of Doom and RE3 to try out. Bruce, I finished D:E and found the last boss realy fun but the one before was a bit annoying.  There was also a platforming bit on the second last level which was infuriating (the one where you have to shoot the switch mid air to open the lasers after jump-grabbing a bunch of walls).

I’ll probably need a new game sooner or later, especially with TLOU part 2 delayed.

Ben wrote:

I found the whole free form camera an irritant so went with the classic one instead Martin.

So I’m right in assuming that there’s no actual benefit to it over the classic one?

Nope, none that I could see.

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Martin Smith

Anonymous wrote:

Otherwise theres the online aspects of Doom and RE3 to try out. Bruce, I finished D:E and found the last boss realy fun but the one before was a bit annoying.

Yeah that mirrors my experience. That penultimate boss kicked my ass but i had a blast with the last one (both waves).

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Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night

I’ll admit I was very, very close to asking why this is a big deal when it was coming across to me as a waste of time relying on players accepting 25+ year old game mechanics today.

It wasn’t helped by a first level that has sweet feck all interest in explaining much of the game.  You pick stuff up but its not clear as to why you should want it, but it’s there so you grab it.  It has that ye olde structure of enemies having toxic touch, or flying enemies that are always out of reach and the backstep / dodge move is limited in use – you have no option but to magic the dullhammers to death.

And then there was the boss, where view of combat was inhibited, the sense of what was background and foreground was impaired and it was still difficult on top of that, as there are next to no healing potions left.

At this point, after a few defeats, I was considering it to be little more than an overly hard timewasting piece of crap.

However, however….

Following the strategic application of the ‘Die! Motherfucker!’ school of tactics, combined with chugging the sole potion I did not expect to have, the bastard boss died.

After that I end up in this town and it is here that:

• A supply shop opens up
• There are alchemy development options
• There are sidequests

All of a sudden the game has gone from this restrictive git to a far more open affair, with far more ways of playing it.

So, as of now, done a couple of the sidequests.  I still suspect it will be one of those games where I may not get that far but it has also opened up to potentially allow brute force options.

Graphically, it’s a very nice game – like a couple of other games, I’m assuming the map completion percentage is in relation to the entire game and not just the current level.

In terms of dexterity, I find it quite demanding which is the other reason I may not get far.  Although did manage to pull off the directional fire magic a few times on that boss.

I got a phone call to say my new computer is being delivered tomorrow so I had to go ahead and complete Final Fantasy 12. I was finishing off side quests before finishing, didn’t want to install it again on the new PC just to do the last couple of hours.

So I also completed the trial mode, which is basically 100 fights of escalating difficulty of bosses and baddies that are in the main game. I’m going through it okay because these are fights I’ve already won in the main game, a bit more difficult because they come one after another without time to heal up but I’ve got a few characters at level 99.

Then comes level 100.

5 characters you fight separately in the game team up. Not only that but they play like you do, throwing potions at each other to heal up and buffs to make themselves stronger, you can’t just grind away at them when they heal up with unlimited potions. It’s super tough. Determined to finish I looked up videos marked as ‘easy’ ways to beat them and still couldn’t do it. In the end I managed to combine 3 of the methods and finally did it after about 3 hours of attempts. I have a nice feeling of satisfaction now.

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Martin Smith, Ben, Dave

There’s nothing like that feeling. Especially for final bosses.

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Ben

Without going into spoilers, how did you find the rest of the story Gar?

I liked a whole lot of what it did.  FF12 when it came out was unusual in both story and gameplay.  15 years later, much of it is now standard but still relatively few games do the not-everything-is-hostile environment.

Working out the T-Rex in the desert at the start doesn’t care about me remains a neat moment.

Ben wrote:

I liked a whole lot of what it did.  FF12 when it came out was unusual in both story and gameplay.  15 years later, much of it is now standard but still relatively few games do the not-everything-is-hostile environment.

Definitely preferred it the second time around. It’s quite different to most in the series, it’s very straight-faced, there’s very little humour and no romance. In some ways it’s more in line with something like Elder Scrolls in the tone of it all. I liked the somewhat nuanced politics that the good and bad guys weren’t always quite as black and white. Apart from the big bad guy they were looking at peaceful options etc.

The gameplay though is very open, a couple of times to the degree I had to check a guide to know where I was supposed to go next, and there’s a lot of battle options, I barely really used the ‘summons’ in this one (until that nearly impossible level 100). I used items a lot which I generally don’t very much in others in the series. Probably a slight imbalance in that the licence system to get all the skills is filled up too quickly, I’d finished it before getting that far in the game.

I can see why it was well regarded in those polls of the best in the series but also why it wasn’t really revisited with spin-offs like X and XIII because the tone is very different and may not have appealed to all the fans.

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Ben

I’ve been watching Game Center CX again recently and that last episode I watched did a game called Bikkuriman World. It’s based on a series of stickers that were given away with chocolate wafers in the 80s and I thought “they turned a bunch of stickers into a game (and an anime, manga etc)? You’d never get something like that outside of Japan”. Then I remembered the existence of Pogs, Garbage Pail Kids, Monsters In Your Pocket etc. It’s odd how strange a concept seems when you move it slightly out of your frame of reference.

Anyway, it also turns out that Bikkuriman World is actually a port of Wonder Boy In Monster Land, just with the Bikkuriman characters pasted onto it, like a bunch, erm, stickers. Which is fitting.

Oh yeah, I don’t think crass commercialism is unique ti Japan. I mean, the 90s really was the decade for that stuff, but I suppose the late 2000s was when they started producing films based on nonsense concepts like Battleship and Pixels.

I’ve just got the two last chapters of FF7R to go on Hard,  including the Top Secrets VR.  This includes the simulation against Shiva followed by Fat Chocobo followed by Levjathan followed by Ifrit and Bahamut followed by Pride and Joy and what’s being referred to as the Boss Rush which is Brain-in-a-jar then some ransom combat encounters with annoying endgame enemies then Swordipede followed by Jehovah dreamweaver followed by Rufus Shinra (and his dog) followed by Arsenal. all without bejng able to use items or recover MP! Finally theres chapter 18, which features two back to back boss fights (which I won’t spoil but one of which is pretty guessable). It is technically three bosses,  but the sole benefit of hard is that you can skip one of these for a very particular reason.

In summary, yay hard! Also: boooooo hard

Edit: it’s also worth noting that, for the completionists, Square Enis wants you to replay Chapter 9 a lot (there’s tons of trophies and other collectables there and getting them depends on particular choices). I suspect this is by design as some of the most entertaining characters are here (I’m not yet sick of the Madam M sequences) but also it’s really the chapter that makes you adore Aeris,  which is real asshole move in the grand scheme of things.

Anonymous wrote:

Oh yeah, I don’t think crass commercialism is unique ti Japan. I mean, the 90s really was the decade for that stuff, but I suppose the late 2000s was when they started producing films based on nonsense concepts like Battleship and Pixels.

I wouldn’t call it crass commercialism. Just a weird fad, really.

PETA being fricking idiots again:

PETA’s Vegan Guide to ‘Animal Crossing: New Horizons’

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Todd

[Ben]

So, Bloodstained…. It has quite the addictive gameplay loop.

Get to new area, find enemies more difficult – kill a load there or elsewhere to power up, get or craft better gear, power up shards, beat a boss – get a new ability, use new ability to access new areas and new sections of old areas – repeat.

It is… very effective.

I just hope it doesn’t do a Monsterboy and stick me in a boss fight with a sudden vertical spike and no way of doing it.  In its credit, however, every boss fight has been preceded by a save point – if you can but find it.  The one boss fight that ambushed was that piece-o-shit Zangetsu, got him on the third go.

Currently acquiring gear and recipes, which are opening up some very useful kit.  Now also have this cool-as-fuck and very lethal scythe sword too.

True, it’s sidequests boil down to kill this, get that, give me this but it’s an indie game and the quest rewards can be quite good.

The one irritant is that having got the double jump, there’s still places I can’t get to, but the internet says you get another jump upgrade later so, fine, will get that whenever I get it.

The map design is something other games have tried and failed at – this one has done it better than most.

Oh and it has one of the best enemy designs ever:

• This reply was modified 4 years, 7 months ago by Ben.
• This reply was modified 4 years, 7 months ago by Ben.

Game looks a bit like ass though… I mean, sure it’s technically an indie game, but man, those graphics are rough… =/

As still images perhaps, but those don’t really do it justice.  There’s a good amount of little details and animation when in motion.

And this is based on the old Castlevania games, there’s only so much that style can be improved and enhanced.

I’ve been playing Golf Story this week. It’s an Australian indie RPG (ie pixel art) based around golf. So instead of turn-based combat, there’s golf. And instead of dungeons, there’s golf courses. And instead of weapons shops, there’s pro shops (which are a kind of golf shop). Because, well, it’s a golf game.

But it’s a funny one and one that doesn’t take golf at all seriously. Or rather it takes golf seriously, but not itself. It has a fairly standard golf mechanic – set a timed meter going, press once for power, second time for accuracy – but there’s a lot of complexity to it, with shaped shops, spin, erm, wind speed and whatnot. But instead of just taking that and having you trudge through half a dozen courses, it builds a whole story around it. You play as a guy who used to play golf with his dad, but gave up for twenty years and, after what seems like a bad break-up, has now decided to give it another go, getting involved in turning around the fortunes of the club his dad used to play at.

Oh and you kill some undead at one point.

With golf.

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Dave

I have a confession to make. I’m… not loving Doom Eternal. Or at least, not yet.

I’ve had a couple of bashes on it and I’m finding it’s just not as fluid as the first game, the level design isn’t as well thought-out and it ultimately just isn’t quite as much fun. The combat feels like it pushes you into certain strategies rather than allowing for a variety of approaches (and punishes you a bit unfairly if you try to do something different), and the weapons management is a bit more faffy.

Maybe I just need to have a few more goes, stick with it and get further into it, but I loved Doom ’16 for the way it shed a lot of the baggage that had accumulated around FPSs over the years and presented a refreshingly pared-down experience, a pure and unfussy action-shooter with no fat. This doesn’t feel quite like that.

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Ben

If you want to play a fantastic, fresh and cheap FPS Dave, grab a copy of Titanfall 2.

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Dave

I’ve never played Titanfall but I’ll put it on the list, thanks.

The first game was multiplayer only, the second is frequently on sale and I got it for £3.99

The campaign is 5-6 hours but the quality is outstanding. Oh, and the penultimate boss lives up to his reputation of being a motherfucking bastard, but the reward for getting past him is one of the best final levels I’ve ever played.

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Dave

Well it seems all my rants about Doom Eternal were not so far off… xD

At this point I think the perfect Doom game would be a combination of what works on each D16 and D:E… But I don’t see how they scale back the combat mechanics for the next one… so that’s one of my worries… they already turned the dial up to 99 with Eternal… so what would they even do for the inevitable sequel??

Surely they can’t make it more hectic than it is without making it unplayable for the vast majority of people… but if they dial it back to something more D16-like, people won’t like that either, it’ll feel too simple and clunky… So they’re gonna have to go with something different and that’s kind of a risk at this point…

So yeah, it seems that they cornered themselves with D:E… I honestly don’t see what they do for a follow up…

Dave wrote:

I have a confession to make. I’m… not loving Doom Eternal. Or at least, not yet.

I’ve had a couple of bashes on it and I’m finding it’s just not as fluid as the first game, the level design isn’t as well thought-out and it ultimately just isn’t quite as much fun. The combat feels like it pushes you into certain strategies rather than allowing for a variety of approaches (and punishes you a bit unfairly if you try to do something different), and the weapons management is a bit more faffy.

Maybe I just need to have a few more goes, stick with it and get further into it, but I loved Doom ’16 for the way it shed a lot of the baggage that had accumulated around FPSs over the years and presented a refreshingly pared-down experience, a pure and unfussy action-shooter with no fat. This doesn’t feel quite like that.

I felt similarly at first.  As Bruce mentioned to me, the learning curve on the first few levels is quite steep and the game really doesn’t begin to show it’s genius until you really get all the weapons, have access to the runes, and are benefitting from some of the praetor suit upgrades.

It’s not a great paced game and relies pretty heavily on forcing you to understand the mechanics at first before it lets you recognise why they are enjoyable, but once you get to you realise why the reviews have been so good.  For what it’s worth, echoing Bruce, I found the early levels like the Cultist Base really hard on the first play and then super-breezy fun on the replay.

Titanfall 2 is a really good game too (and not so hard to learn) but I recommend sticking with Doom: Eternal.

In other news, I finished FF7R on Hard (also the extra-boss VR thing).  I haven’t platinumed it, but the remaining trophies are all minigame stuff and I consider that I’ve basically conquered the game in every substantial sense.  It is a super great game and I love it and feel pretty good about kicking it’s dumb hard sword twirling ass.  TIM IS BEST.

Dragon Quest 11 is on sale too, so very tempting.

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Dave

Anonymous wrote:

I felt similarly at first.  As Bruce mentioned to me, the learning curve on the first few levels is quite steep and the game really doesn’t begin to show it’s genius until you really get all the weapons, have access to the runes, and are benefitting from some of the praetor suit upgrades. It’s not a great paced game and relies pretty heavily on forcing you to understand the mechanics at first before it lets you recognise why they are enjoyable, but once you get to you realise why the reviews have been so good.  For what it’s worth, echoing Bruce, I found the early levels like the Cultist Base really hard on the first play and then super-breezy fun on the replay.

Thanks, I’ll bear this in mind. I’m not someone to give up immediately on games, especially if I know that persevering will lead to improvement, so I’ll have another shot at Doom soon and hope things fall into place.

Out of interest, what difficulty are you playing on?

Hurt Me Plenty. I rarely change from the default difficulty on games as I figure that’s how the makers intend for it to be played best.

Bruce may disagree but I don’t think it’s the best difficulty to learn the game on.   Some of the arenas are really intense and I found easing the difficulty afforded me the time to think about the options I had and how to tackle the enemies.

I think the game is really meant to be played how you want to play it, not how the designers intend.  There’s loads of things that clue you into this, including the existence of cheat codes, and you aren’t really penalised if you use them.

I played half the game on Hurt me plenty, then lowered it to To Young to Die.  Once I got to the end I felt confident enough to raise it up and replayed some of the levels again on that difficulty.

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Ben, Dave

Techincally, it’s Ultra Violence that you’re supposed to play in… but eh, no point in forcing it… it’s probably better to get the upgrades first, I guess…

As a side note, I’ve read the “the game is not very enjoyable at first, you need to get up to X point before it is” argument quite a bit, and I find it odd… I mean, to me that kind of thing usually means a game is not well designed… you’re not supposed to force yourself to play something unenjoyable until it maybe gets better… and in fact MANY games get lambasted for that very same thing… it’s weird that people are giving this game a pass on that…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6wzZCheA7c

Technically, the only thing the developers have said is that the difficulty is a choice, not an expectation.

I’m not sure what you’re looking for here, Jon, except maybe satisfaction that you were right.

You won’t get that from me though.  Maybe Dave will be kinder.

Well, a discussion maybe, but I know you’d rather keel over, so nevermind.

I guess id did a good job with their marketing, because people have become obnoxiously defensive about this game…

Anonymous wrote:

Bruce may disagree but I don’t think it’s the best difficulty to learn the game on.   Some of the arenas are really intense and I found easing the difficulty afforded me the time to think about the options I had and how to tackle the enemies.

I think the game is really meant to be played how you want to play it, not how the designers intend.  There’s loads of things that clue you into this, including the existence of cheat codes, and you aren’t really penalised if you use them.

I played half the game on Hurt me plenty, then lowered it to To Young to Die.  Once I got to the end I felt confident enough to raise it up and replayed some of the levels again on that difficulty.

I may try that if I continue to struggle with it, thanks.

Ben wrote:

New lockdown survival strategy….  Streets of Rage 4 launches 30 April, with online play.

If any game was going to get me starting online gaming, it’ll be this one – anyone up for doing a MW squad to kick the crap out of Mr X and his infinite gang o’ goons?

Coming back to this, it’s looking like we might be signing up to PS Plus after all so that the kids can play Minecraft with their schoolfriends, in which case you’re on.

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Ben

Well the bad news is they confirmed no running except for Cherry and the SoR3 characters (bad news for me, obviously, you mileage may vary), but overall it’s looking like a solid package… I think they’re going for about 12 stages, and some other modes, like a versus mode… I do hope they add more modes, like maybe a survival one… that one should be a no-brainer, but who knows…

And I also saw a confirmed 4 button layout… well, 4 buttons plus a 5th unput for the ultra moves for which you need to press two buttons… weirdly enough, there’s a dedicated button to pick up objects for some reason… so you have a jump, attack, special buttons, classic layout, plus the pick up one… But anyways, that’s good news… they didn’t go apeshit with buttons like in some other games (*cough Double Dragon Neon *cough).

I guess my only concern left is the price… there’s still no price on the steam store, and at this point I’m guessing there ain’t gonna be until launch day… the good news is, just one week left =)

ohhhh I hope they won’t go stupid with the regional prices… please, pretty please, I wanna play this =(

Jon, you haven’t actually played the game so maybe the people that have may have informed opinions.

Also, I did have you on ignore, and now I’m reminded why that was. So, ill do that and continue to enjoy posting in this thread.

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Bruce

Dave wrote:

Ben wrote:

New lockdown survival strategy….  Streets of Rage 4 launches 30 April, with online play.

If any game was going to get me starting online gaming, it’ll be this one – anyone up for doing a MW squad to kick the crap out of Mr X and his infinite gang o’ goons?

Coming back to this, it’s looking like we might be signing up to PS Plus after all so that the kids can play Minecraft with their schoolfriends, in which case you’re on.

Time to sign up for that free trail then!

And now to pick up something else:

Dave wrote:

the makers intend for it to be played best.

Anonymous wrote:

I think the game is really meant to be played how you want to play it, not how the designers intend.

Jon wrote:

Techincally, it’s Ultra Violence that you’re supposed to play in

The only difficulty level anyone is supposed to play on is the one that suits them, that’s it – nothing else.

If the game really is supposed to be played on one difficulty setting there is a very easy way to indicate that – have no difficulty options.  Monster Hunter World does it, by reputation all of From Software’s games do too.  But if there are difficulty settings present, then they exist to be used.  Just like how Doom 2016 has a colour blind mode – does it work? Couldn’t tell you, I’m not colour blind but I like that it’s there.

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Martin Smith, Dave

Anonymous wrote:

Jon, you haven’t actually played the game so maybe the people that have may have informed opinions.

Oh look, that weak-ass argument again… never gets old… u_u

Yes, please, put me on ignore…

Ben wrote:

The only difficulty level anyone is supposed to play on is the one that suits them, that’s it – nothing else.

Sure, but isn’t UV the middle difficulty? Also, traditionally Doom games are meant to be played on UV, because originally “Nightmare” was a joke difficulty, as in it was supposed to be impossible… these days that doesn’t mean much anymore, but yeah, that’s where that statement comes from for what it’s worth…

Anonymous wrote:

DaveWallace wrote:
I have a confession to make. I’m… not loving Doom Eternal. Or at least, not yet.

I’ve had a couple of bashes on it and I’m finding it’s just not as fluid as the first game, the level design isn’t as well thought-out and it ultimately just isn’t quite as much fun. The combat feels like it pushes you into certain strategies rather than allowing for a variety of approaches (and punishes you a bit unfairly if you try to do something different), and the weapons management is a bit more faffy.

Maybe I just need to have a few more goes, stick with it and get further into it, but I loved Doom ’16 for the way it shed a lot of the baggage that had accumulated around FPSs over the years and presented a refreshingly pared-down experience, a pure and unfussy action-shooter with no fat. This doesn’t feel quite like that.

I felt similarly at first.  As Bruce mentioned to me, the learning curve on the first few levels is quite steep and the game really doesn’t begin to show it’s genius until you really get all the weapons, have access to the runes, and are benefitting from some of the praetor suit upgrades.

Yeah. This is exactly what o felt. I dont know if folks noticed but I excited posted about the first level level then didn’t really post about it again. That was because I was struggling with the difficulty curve that Tim mentioned and while I was having fun it felt like a bit of a let down. Once i got the weapons down and got to grips with the movement aspect (jumping and monkeybar-ing in particular) something clicked and I had a hoot with it. The lead up to the last boss is a literal gauntlet of enemies and would have kicked my arse if it was earlier in the game but, because I’d got to grips with the weapons and movement it was one of the most intense, exciting, and rewarding gaming experiences I’ve had in a long time.

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Martin Smith, Dave

This is all very reassuring, I was worried I’d just become utterly shit at videogames in the last couple of years.

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Bruce

@davewallace @tim Did you guys get a code for Doom 64 with Doom Eternal? I did and have downloaded it but havent gotten around to it. I’m pretty sure I played it once on the N64 at a friend’s house back in the day but cant really remember anything about it.

My wife pre-ordered the version that should have come with the code but she never received it. I’ve contacted the online retailer she ordered from to try and get it from them as I was quite looking forward to it – it’s one of the Doom games I’ve never played.

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Bruce

If you end up getting fucked over with the code i think the game only costs 3 or 4 quid to buy anyway. Like you, beyond a brief encounter with it, I’ve never play it before. I can still enjoy the original two games so I’m sure I’ll be able to handle the 20 year old mechanics.

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Dave

Oh yeah, I still play the original Doom every now and again and enjoy it.

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Bruce

Dave wrote:

This is all very reassuring, I was worried I’d just become utterly shit at videogames in the last couple of years.

Oh, that’ll happen, just wait.

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Dave

Meanwhile I’ve gotten on better than I ever expected to on Bloodstained.

Several hours and six bosses later, map completion is at 67.30%.  I didn’t expect to get so far, wherever it goes from here I feel I’ve got my money’s worth out of it.

PSN has just kicked off a Big in Japan sale, Final Fantasy Type-0 is down to £7.99, while the gloriously bonkers Fist of the North Star is down to £12.99.

Bruce wrote:

@davewallace @tim Did you guys get a code for Doom 64 with Doom Eternal? I did and have downloaded it but havent gotten around to it. I’m pretty sure I played it once on the N64 at a friend’s house back in the day but cant really remember anything about it.

Yeah, I’m pretty sure I did.  I’m not much of a retro gamer though, Bruce.  I don’t even dabble in the remasters of the PS3 games I liked!

Ben wrote:

The only difficulty level anyone is supposed to play on is the one that suits them, that’s it – nothing else. If the game really is supposed to be played on one difficulty setting there is a very easy way to indicate that – have no difficulty options.  Monster Hunter World does it, by reputation all of From Software’s games do too.  But if there are difficulty settings present, then they exist to be used.  Just like how Doom 2016 has a colour blind mode – does it work? Couldn’t tell you, I’m not colour blind but I like that it’s there.

This is probably an important point and really goes to discussions about accessibility that were making the rounds a year or so back.  I think developers have long since stopped designing something on one difficulty and then simply lowering health or raising health of enemies on the lower and higher difficulties.  They seem to really be focusing on creating difficulties that are accessible to all types of gamers, or otherwise present a catered challenge in line with the mechanics of the game.

FF7Remake is a good example.  The Hard mode isn’t just the same game with increased health and damage.  There are major restrictions, particularly with what you can do to heal and recover magic that aren’t their in the main game, and loads of the enemies, bosses in particular, have completely new movesets.It’s also locked until after you complete the game on Normal.  Same with Ultra Nightmare on Eternal, Inferno difficulty in Resident Evil, Dante Must Die in Devil May Cry etc.  Those difficulties are clearly meant to be played by people after they have mastered the mechanics of the game and want a new challenge, but not before.

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Ben

The scorpion boss in FF7R is also noticeably different between Easy and Normal too.

Developers are doing a whole lot of smart work, aimed I think at making games a wider and more accessible entertainment option.

You want your arse handed to you? Come this way, From Software and Team Ninja have dedicated ranges especially for this requirement.

The FromSoft and Team Ninja games are definitely some of the most rewarding gaming experiences for me and in a way that’s probably the point.  Games aren’t really meant to be “easy” or “hard”. They’re meant to be enjoyed.

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Bruce, Ben

I only managed it once, but years back, did complete Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 on its “easy” difficulty.  The challenge there lay in the AI being smart, aggressive and coordinated,  but you could be too – some of the combos were insanely satisfying to execute.

Completing Monster Hunter World’s main story was also a huge and very unexpected win.  Not least due to the likes of Pink Rathian and Nerga-fuckin’-gante.

Anonymous wrote:

The FromSoft and Team Ninja games are definitely some of the most rewarding gaming experiences for me and in a way that’s probably the point.  Games aren’t really meant to be “easy” or “hard”. They’re meant to be enjoyed.

Absolutely. They’re also good at enhancing reactions, building resilience and patience and letting off steam (slight cringe at Steam ref, only slightly).

[garjones]

Schoolboy error today, my new PC with souped up 6gb GPU was crashing during a game. Realised after a bit I’d plugged the monitor into the wrong HDMI port, on the Intel motherboard rather than the graphics card, now running as smooth as a baby’s bottom. A bit embarrassing as tech is my business and I’d just installed an extra hard drive without a hitch, but we’re all human.

• This reply was modified 4 years, 7 months ago by garjones.

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Andrew

Picking up on the accessibility discussion, I went back to The Outer Worlds today.  The aim? Finish Parvati’s quest line because the game no longer executes you after you talk to her to trigger it.  But there was another change too – they patched in text size adjustment, which is more significant as it sounds.  The Outer Worlds is a very well-written game but the text size was small, which made it easy to miss some of the quips, but now? Gone.

As for the quests, I also ended up doing Nyoka’s, even though I still don’t like her.  Then I finished off Parvati’s.  It is, by every definition, a galactic fetch quest, but it’s for Parvati, so you don’t mind.  And the ending? Very, very sweet and so very satisfying. (Well, unless you’re a hardcore homophobe.)

Now back to Bloodstained.  Let’s talk about the Hidden Desert level.  This level is arse.  It has sand, everywhere.  And all your enemies have the same trick – being to float through the entire scenary, floating and evading your strikes the whole time.  Then, there is the boss fight.

The boss fight is not hard to work out, it’s easy to know what you have to do.  The problem is being able to see it.  The fight takes place on a tilted perspective circle.  This is one of the problems as the boss uses homing missiles but the perspective warps your fine so you may think going left will avoid it, but then you get hit, due to the perspective.  Later, he spins out three time slow spheres that are are hard to avoid entirely, then starts overlapping attacks.  What happens now is you hit a petrify / poison / ice / fire patch because there’s a slow time sphere nearby and the graphical effect obscures the other attack that you only see after the effect hits you.  The same is true for the homing missiles, you won’t be able to see them coming, never wind dodge because of a swirling time sphere being in the way.

Yes, you can brute force it – go in with a shit-ton of healing items and use your own homing attacks, I spammed Gale Crawler.  Cheap? Yes, but the fucker deserved it, even then it was close due to all the on-screen sabotage.

So, the Hidden Desert, fuck the Hidden Desert.

garjones wrote:

A bit embarrassing as tech is my business and I’d just installed an extra hard drive without a hitch, but we’re all human.

I’d still hire you to help with my computer needs, Gar. But at a heavily discounted rate, of course.

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Todd, garjones

Got on far better with Doom Eternal tonight. The combat is getting far more fluid and the mechanics are starting to fall into place.

Shoving a frag grenade in a cacodemon’s gob and then ripping its eye out is far more fun than it deserves to be.

Thanks for the encouragement to stick with it.

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Ben

(Does anyone know how you change the text size though? Loads of the pop-up windows that tell you about new weapons, mechanics, enemies etc. are written in such tiny type that I have to go right up to the TV to make it out. I couldn’t find any way of altering it among the many options.)

Dave wrote:

written in such tiny type that I have to go right up to the TV to make it out

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Ben

Had a go on the next boss in Bloodstained, on the basis ‘see what the attack patterns are’, as after how the last one was…  Turns out this one was far more straight-forward, hit fairly hard but I had a load of Pizza in stock and it was so much easier to play on a flat 2D pane.

Instead of dying as I expected, I took the the boss out and survived the rest of the level to make it to Inferno Cave.  Which felt far more difficult, so went with the aim of legging it through the screens, first found a warp screen, then the save screen – success.  Went away and explored some other, newly accessible areas, then went and tweaked with the shard set-up, enhanced a couple of new ones, went back to Inferno Cave, a level higher and with that new set-up.  It was, depending on your view, a far more even fight / total lightning slaughter!

Anonymous wrote:

Dave wrote:

written in such tiny type that I have to go right up to the TV to make it out

It’s still small even when I’m standing with my face to the TV.

I’m guessing playtesters don’t tend to test games in typical console gaming conditions (sitting on a sofa playing a game on an average-sized TV) and play PC-style in front of a monitor instead, so stuff like this gets missed.

[Bruce]

Dave wrote:

(Does anyone know how you change the text size though? Loads of the pop-up windows that tell you about new weapons, mechanics, enemies etc. are written in such tiny type that I have to go right up to the TV to make it out. I couldn’t find any way of altering it among the many options.)

I had that problem too. I think I maxed the hud size and the subtitles size and that helped. I ended up switching some of the hub options off though as the change in size made it look a bit cluttered.

• This reply was modified 4 years, 7 months ago by Bruce.

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Dave

Dave wrote:

I’m guessing playtesters don’t tend to test games in typical console gaming conditions (sitting on a sofa playing a game on an average-sized TV) and play PC-style in front of a monitor instead, so stuff like this gets missed.

I did a quick search and it seems you aren’t alone at all in your complaint, there are long threads on it regarding Doom Eternal and other games.

I think you’re right that a developer is likely sat at a desk a couple of feet away from the screen so they don’t necessarily see the issue.

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Dave

Should be an easy fix, Outer Worlds text was small then they patched it.

Ben wrote:

Should be an easy fix

I just need to dig out my binoculars.

Buy a bigger TV?

I sit on a cushion on the end of the coffee table so I’m about a metre away from the TV.

Anonymous wrote:

Buy a bigger TV?

You joke, but the unreadably small text in Dead Rising on the Xbox 360 is what pushed me to get an HDTV. I probably wouldn’t get a 4K to read the text in Doom, mind.

Anonymous wrote:

Buy a bigger TV?

If I bought a bigger TV I’d have to sit further back to see it properly.

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garjones

Andrew wrote:

I sit on a cushion on the end of the coffee table so I’m about a metre away from the TV.

You should get a chair or a sofa, it’d be life-changing.

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Martin Smith, Todd

Dave wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Buy a bigger TV?

If I bought a bigger TV I’d have to sit further back to see it properly.

Look this isn’t just for you.  Think about your kids. Your wife.  The person who routinely sneaks into your house to play your videogames.

 

 

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Dave

Anonymous wrote:

Look this isn’t just for you.  Think about your kids. Your wife.  The person who routinely sneaks into your house to play your videogames.

Gary can bring his own bloody TV next time.

Ah, that’s a relief. You didn’t notice stealth-mode ninja-me.

Last of us 2 has a new release date of June 19.

Ghosts of Tsushima has been pushed to July 17.

Yep, but sadly, for the worst of reasons – a massive leak about TLoU 2 from one of Naughty Dog’s staff – so be wary online as, the Internet being the Internet, people will splurge out the details without a spoiler warning.

I believe Ghosts also got leaked, but haven’t gone looking for that info nor plan to.

Meanwhile, over in Bloodstained, I got the thoroughly trippy Invert shard.  Will be accessing new areas with that tomorrow.

 

Ah shit, that’s a shame about TLoU2. Hopefully I’ll manage to avoid the spoilers for the next couple of months.

Yep, it’s a mess.  The logistics issues remain in place, those challenges haven’t gone away but, the leak has, in effect, blown up the main justification for them – the idea of all players having the same experience, unblighted by unwanted spoilers.

It’s a weird situation.

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Dave

Yeah, I feel sad for them that it’s turned out like this.

Personally I’m not going to be seeking out spoilers as I’d much rather discover it for myself as I play the game. And I’ve found it fairly easy to avoid game spoilers in the past. But that doesn’t change the fact that those secrets are now blown for a lot of people.

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Ben

With all respect given to Druckmann and the Naughty Dog team, I doubt any movement on the release date ever had anything to do with preserving the intended game experience and much more to do with protecting the projected Q2 earnings for Sony. The leak probably affected that insofar as they were worried about lost purchases.

Jaded as I may be, in my experience the commercially of a decision always outweighs everything else.

Anonymous wrote:

With all respect given to Druckmann and the Naughty Dog team, I doubt any movement on the release date ever had anything to do with preserving the intended game experience and much more to do with protecting the projected Q2 earnings for Sony.

Jaded as I may be, in my experience the commercially of a decision always outweighs everything else.

Oh I’m sure it was a commercial decision as much as anything else.

That doesn’t stop it from being a shame that the game they’ve worked on for years has been spoiled ahead of release.

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Ben

<p style=”text-align: left;”>Very true.</p>
With that said some of the spoilers are pretty obvious, I mean

[Spoiler] OF COURSE Joel was going to end up the reincarnation of the dark lord Xlactakug and Ellie was in fact the time-child born on Earth-9 prophesied to rid the cosmoverse of the Kraknonaughts [/spoiler]

Like, is the base audience dumb?

Got my code for Doom 64 today and had a quick blast on it tonight. It’s fun – a strange halfway house between old-school Doom and the newer stuff that came along with Doom 3.

There are some interesting lighting effects and some slightly more sophisticated game mechanics, but it’s still the same game at its core. And it’s a lot more forgiving than Doom Eternal!

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Bruce

Pretty solid review of SoR4.

Looking forward to tomorrow.

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Ben

Checking out a few reviews it seems like it’s being universally praised – I’ve seen multiple comparisons to Sonic Mania. It seems like this is going to be everything that I hoped it would be.

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Bruce, Ben

Well it’s out tomorrow, so we’ll know soon enough =)

Still no regional price info for me, so I’m a bit worried… I’m bracing myself for disapointment, tbh… It’d suck, but at this point I wouldn’t be surprised… =/

Oh also, damn, they put in an option to pixelize everything… that’s smart… I mean it’s a filter and it doesn’t look amazing, but at least it’ll look better with the retro characters… neat detail.

It’s looking fantastic, the retro levels are a great idea.

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Dave

Yeah, this looks like there’s a lot of care gone into it beyond just the basic bones of the game.

Some of the reviews mention that it doesn’t really add a huge amount in the way of gameplay innovations, but I actually find that reassuring. I don’t want those aspects reinvented.

The more I see of this art style the more I like it too.

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Ben

Dave wrote:

Some of the reviews mention that it doesn’t really add a huge amount in the way of gameplay innovations, but I actually find that reassuring. I don’t want those aspects reinvented.

I have to admit that I find that point to be guilty of trying to be overly critical.  There’s nothing really wrong with applying a ‘if not broke, don’t fix’ approach and this game looks to be adding a good few features.

In other news, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla now confirmed, full trailer tomorrow.

BossLogic was on Twitch earlier today. I like his axe-work.

I dunno… I’m trying to temper my expectations… SoR4 is gonna be a 25 bucks game… not a 60 one, I think we  shouldn’t expect nothing too overly exciting either, all things considered.

That said, even though I’m disapointed with some choices they took (particularly the no running thing which REALLY bothers the shit out of me), I have to say that in fairness, yes it looks like it’s been crafted with a lot of love and care for the franchise… So I hope it’s good despite my grievances…

Right now I just wish they won’t fuck up with the regional pricings… I’m bracing for bad news… but hey, about 12 hours left to go, so we’ll see soon enough.

Jon wrote:

I’m trying to temper my expectations… SoR4 is gonna be a 25 bucks game

As a comparison, Dead Cells is a $25 game, even with the two DLCs that have been released since launch, but it has delivered in droves. The devs are still changing and adding new stuff (weapons, powers,, enemies, options, minor mechanics) while also tweaking levels for balance and replayability.

It’s not for everyone, but my point is that the price of a game doesn’t necessarily reflect quality at all. In Dead Cells case, I think the price simply didnt need to be higher since the company that developed it consists of only two  guys.

Anonymous wrote:

Jon wrote:

I’m trying to temper my expectations… SoR4 is gonna be a 25 bucks game

As a comparison, Dead Cells is a $25 game, even with the two DLCs that have been released since launch, but it has delivered in droves. The devs are still changing and adding new stuff (weapons, powers,, enemies, options, minor mechanics) while also tweaking levels for balance and replayability.

It’s not for everyone, but my point is that the price of a game doesn’t necessarily reflect quality at all. In Dead Cells case, I think the price simply didnt need to be higher since the company that developed it consists of only two  guys.

True but games like that are not the norm. I’ve got nothing against indie games btw… most of my favs are indie, but still, it’s a matter of not expecting too much out of it.

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Jon wrote:

particularly the no running thing which REALLY bothers the shit out of me

I think Cherry can run.

I have just had a quick bash on it (single-player and multiplayer with my daughter – she chose Blaze, obviously) and first impressions are that it is pretty great.

This just feels like SoR in the same way that Sonic Mania just felt like Sonic.

The old mechanics are all there and feel faithful to the original games, and the new tweaks work well (having a separate button to pick up items makes a big difference, although initially takes some getting used to when you’re operating on reflex).

Cherry seems destined to become a breakout character, she’s a lot of fun with a great set of moves.

Looking forward to playing more of this.

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Bruce, Ben

Anonymous wrote:

Jon wrote:

I’m trying to temper my expectations… SoR4 is gonna be a 25 bucks game

As a comparison, Dead Cells is a $25 game, even with the two DLCs that have been released since launch, but it has delivered in droves. The devs are still changing and adding new stuff (weapons, powers,, enemies, options, minor mechanics) while also tweaking levels for balance and replayability.

It’s not for everyone, but my point is that the price of a game doesn’t necessarily reflect quality at all. In Dead Cells case, I think the price simply didnt need to be higher since the company that developed it consists of only two  guys.

If you enjoyed Dead Cells, consider checking out Everspace, it’s another roguelike but mixed with space exploration and combat.

Dave wrote:

I have just had a quick bash on it (single-player and multiplayer with my daughter – she chose Blaze, obviously) and first impressions are that it is pretty great.

This just feels like SoR in the same way that Sonic Mania just felt like Sonic.

The old mechanics are all there and feel faithful to the original games, and the new tweaks work well (having a separate button to pick up items makes a big difference, although initially takes some getting used to when you’re operating on reflex).

Cherry seems destined to become a breakout character, she’s a lot of fun with a great set of moves.

Looking forward to playing more of this.

Immediate response this morning was £18-20!? You might be selling me it. Once the latest download finishes.