I finished most of Control and the DLC. Is there any reason to complete all the busywork side quests? Mold? Shining lights on plants?
The DLC, btw, played fine, but at least for me it still seemed far less finished/polished than the main game. Jesse looked weird, and there were multiple times it glitched out and trapped me in a room or didn't spawn something that was supposed to spawn, forcing me to reboot the game. I'm not sure I've ever had a game I had to reboot before, let alone multiple times.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 27 September 2022 15:49 (one year ago) link
I don't remember any of the DLC being weirdly glitchy, but it's been quite a while since I played it.
As for finishing the sidequests, that's for getting more ability points and/or hunting for trophies.
― Antifa Lockhart (Leee), Tuesday, 27 September 2022 16:13 (one year ago) link
But no good battles or anything?
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 27 September 2022 16:21 (one year ago) link
Some of them are just fetch quests, some are to unlock some cat ears, others have tough boss fights. "Swift Platform" is probably a highlight if you haven't already played it, if for no other reason than its great synthwave song (when I played it when it first came out, it was hard af, but they patched it to make it a lot easier).
― Antifa Lockhart (Leee), Tuesday, 27 September 2022 16:35 (one year ago) link
Yeah, I did that one, it was fun! (At least once I figured out I was supposed to move out of the way of the barriers and not just take them on face-first, lol.)
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 27 September 2022 16:43 (one year ago) link
Return to Monkey Island: another good one from Ron Gilbert. I prefer Thimbleweed Park (the variety of action verb choices led to better puzzles) but it's great that they managed to make another good MI game, after that last two stinky ones. They put extra effort in to make sure that mouse and gamepad were both solid input choices.
― formerly abanana (dat), Tuesday, 27 September 2022 17:53 (one year ago) link
I'm about 5 hours in to Yakuza 0, my first-ever Yakuza. This game is hilarious. I had to buy a bunch of homeless guys booze in exchange for information about a shady real estate company that's been pushing folks out of the neighborhood. Each of them wanted something different, so I had to hoof it all over town to various stores.
Somehow, along the way, I run into a TV crew who rope me into impersonating their erstwhile producer. They even give me a pretentious TV big-shot outfit to wear (lavender slacks, white sneakers, a yellow sweater draped & tied over my shoulders). We shoot some scenes for a food show and I have to pretend I know what I'm doing.
Then, the *actual* producer shows up, wearing the identical outfit I'm dressed in, and I have to beat the tar out of him and his cronies, because this is Yakuza. After that, the crew thanks me and they have a heartfelt dialogue with the director about their passion for making TV.
― feed me with your chips (zchyrs), Wednesday, 28 September 2022 15:49 (one year ago) link
yakuza 0 is a masterpiece
― ciderpress, Wednesday, 28 September 2022 16:06 (one year ago) link
Moonscars -- copies too much of the dark souls formula for me. I didn't feel like grinding for souls -- I think souls can't be banked in this game, so die twice and they're all gone -- so I put it down. at least it's not a roguelike.
― formerly abanana (dat), Thursday, 29 September 2022 08:04 (one year ago) link
tonite i been listening to king crimson & rosalìa
now playing: “sailor’s tale” by crimso
― black ark oakensaw (doo rag), Thursday, 29 September 2022 10:55 (one year ago) link
i also am listening to king crimson! while playing slime rancher 2
― adam, Thursday, 29 September 2022 11:34 (one year ago) link
Are there any games with heavy prog soundtracks? Lots of metal and, well, traditional video game music beats, but there need to be more game soundtracks with Mellotron and long weird instrumental freakouts parts.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 29 September 2022 13:10 (one year ago) link
lots of old japanese game soundtracks are clearly influenced by prog and jazz fusion. can't think of any with mellotron though
― ciderpress, Thursday, 29 September 2022 13:15 (one year ago) link
it still lives on in JRPG battle themes of course
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1weNnjzaXbYhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GB-xej4GFchttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0zBU_U1IHQ
― ciderpress, Thursday, 29 September 2022 13:25 (one year ago) link
First thing "prog soundtrack" made me think of was Chrono Trigger. And the SNES sample-based sound chip is sorta like a crunchy digital mellotron
― feed me with your chips (zchyrs), Thursday, 29 September 2022 14:02 (one year ago) link
xpost That stuff is more fuzak and Dream Theatre type cheese, though. I'm talking heavy dramatic stuff like Crimson.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 29 September 2022 14:13 (one year ago) link
I got my Steam Deck last week and have been mainly polishing off the latter half of Yakuza Kiwami so far. I have definitely fondly longed for the days of Yakuza 0 several times. Why is it always so hard to get Kiryu to face the general direction of the people who are hitting him with katanas -_-
Also grabbed the tactical RPGs Symphony of War and Songs of Conquest off last weekend's steam sale, have only tried the first one so far as it's verified on Deck , it definitely scratches a vaguely Vandal Hearts/Suikoden-y itch
Also tried:Roadwarden - lo-fi low-fantasy moody gamebook style thing with Disco Elysium-style attention to conversational and narrative details, I liked the 90 mins I've put in so far but, in time-honoured Fighting Fantasy fashion, feel like I'm stacking up a trolley-dash worth of negative in-game consequences without realising it yetHellish Quart - realistic swordfighting mischief, lots of short fights that result in jarringly well-animated disfigurations, a bit (early access) bare bones but grimly compelling with impressive physicsStreet Figher V Champion Edition - runs perfectly, none of my cloud saves worked so have just been redoing the trials with the more recently added characters, not sure the deck's d-pad or sticks will allow much more involved play but maybe I'll get used to itWind Waker HD - damn this machine is a miracle lol
― hiroyoshi tins in (Sgt. Biscuits), Thursday, 29 September 2022 14:20 (one year ago) link
xp please don't compare my precious Falcom Sound Team jdk to dream theatre
― diamonddave85 (diamonddave85), Friday, 30 September 2022 01:23 (one year ago) link
I've never played the Uncharted games, so I figure ... why not? Gonna just cruise through them all in order. First one is dumb fun so far, not bad for a game that's 15 years old (albeit snazzed up for the PS4, and performing even better on the PS5).
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 2 October 2022 22:18 (one year ago) link
imagine how good it will be on a PS6
― ciderpress, Sunday, 2 October 2022 22:49 (one year ago) link
I am playing co-op Children of Morta and it’s so much more fun
― Karl Malone, Sunday, 2 October 2022 23:06 (one year ago) link
this is kind of the general games thread?
most of this acquisition is game-related
https://variety.com/2022/digital/news/fandom-buys-tv-guide-metacritic-gamespot-1235391144/
Fandom is rolling up a suite of entertainment and gaming content properties — including TV Guide and Metacritic — in a deal with digital-marketing company Red Ventures worth about $50 million.San Francisco-based Fandom acquired GameSpot, Metacritic, TV Guide, GameFAQs, Giant Bomb, Cord Cutters News and Comic Vine under the deal. The sites collectively attract 46 million monthly active users, according to Fandom.
San Francisco-based Fandom acquired GameSpot, Metacritic, TV Guide, GameFAQs, Giant Bomb, Cord Cutters News and Comic Vine under the deal. The sites collectively attract 46 million monthly active users, according to Fandom.
i think gamespot was last good at least 20 years ago, gamefaqs once ruled but isn't as uniquely useful these days, giant bomb is probably better than gamespot. metacritic is still useful but scanning the lists of the supposedly most critically lauded games of the year often turns into a depressing experience, and i have no idea why. maybe someone else feels that way too. i read every single tv guide when i was a kid. there wasn't much reading material in our house.
― Karl Malone, Monday, 3 October 2022 20:41 (one year ago) link
GameFAQs is still pretty good for niche approaches to games, TrueAchievement has most of what I used to go to GameFAQs for and also pictures.
― Andrew Farrell, Monday, 3 October 2022 23:47 (one year ago) link
gamefaqs is still a valuable archive that will hopefully not get bulldozed, all the rest are whatever who cares
― ciderpress, Tuesday, 4 October 2022 02:51 (one year ago) link
cnet sat on so many good web 1.0 sites. no idea how they stayed in business for so long.
metacritic for games makes it obvious that reviews of major franchises/labels are made positive to satisfy expectant fans, instead of being based on anything in the actual game.
― formerly abanana (dat), Tuesday, 4 October 2022 21:24 (one year ago) link
yup. at this point most ppl reviewing games have figured out that sincerity and integrity over video games is not worth being harassed on twitter for a month by people who think 7 out of 10 is the gravest insult
― ciderpress, Tuesday, 4 October 2022 22:16 (one year ago) link
yeah, i get why so some review sites gave up on scoring metrics altogether
― Nhex, Wednesday, 5 October 2022 01:49 (one year ago) link
video game reviews should use the on cinema bags of popcorn/bags of soda rating system
― diamonddave85 (diamonddave85), Thursday, 6 October 2022 18:30 (one year ago) link
or the VideoHound's woof to 4 bones scale
― ( X '____' )/ (zappi), Thursday, 6 October 2022 18:58 (one year ago) link
Finished the first "Uncharted," was pretty boilerplate, but I kept it in mind that the game in a sense set the early standard for what Naughty Dog would eventually do and played it like it was a really cool R&D demo. I hear the second one is better.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 8 October 2022 16:42 (one year ago) link
Felt the same when I played it - it was fine. Pretty big gap between Uncharted 1 and The Last Of Us, in time and quality.That's why I put off playing the sequels to this day. Should get around to them eventually, though
― Nhex, Saturday, 8 October 2022 16:45 (one year ago) link
As I understand it, the writing and gameplay improves steadily through the series, with the 4th one and the Lost Legacy spinoff considered not just the best but a couple of the best games of their generation. And apparently they are better if you've spent time with the first three games, so I figured, sure, why not, they're not that long (for once).
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 8 October 2022 22:00 (one year ago) link
Lost Legacy is great
― Tracer Hand, Sunday, 9 October 2022 10:30 (one year ago) link
Thief's End was very impressive but the mechanics all started wearing a little thin. Traverse, sneak, shoot shoot shoot, puzzle, cut scene, traverse, sneak, shoot shoot shoot, cut scene, etc. I felt manipulated or like a rat in a maze or something.
― Tracer Hand, Sunday, 9 October 2022 10:33 (one year ago) link
I feel like i've outgrown the linear action -> cutscene -> repeat style of game. I quit Marvel's Spider-man after the tutorial because I could see the pattern already.
― formerly abanana (dat), Sunday, 9 October 2022 17:07 (one year ago) link
"Spider-man" is a little more open-world than that. There seemed to be plenty to do independent of the plot (as such) and whenever I felt like getting back on track to the linear action -> cutscene progression I did. I still got bored of it, eventually, probably because the story/writing gap between scripted stuff like "Last of Us" or "RDR2" and stuff like "Spider-man" felt pretty huge. It's a good question, though, how to construct a good plot and characters without relying on that familiar linear action/cutscene/repeat pattern. "Control" seemed to successfully shake up the formula here and there.
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 9 October 2022 17:41 (one year ago) link
Uncharted 2 is pretty much the same dumb fun as its predecessor, at least two thirds of the way through, but it's neat to watch the subtle evolution of the gameplay. Slightly better mechanics, more things to do, more impressive set pieces, that sort of stuff.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 19 October 2022 22:12 (one year ago) link
― circa1916, Wednesday, 19 October 2022 23:07 (one year ago) link
press-x-to-win
come on, this isn't fair. you also sometimes have to find the transparent X on the screen. where the heck is it? oh, over there. it's somewhere. then, you might have to hold X, or tap it.
― Karl Malone, Wednesday, 19 October 2022 23:38 (one year ago) link
I have no history with these games or anything, but they're almost not really games, more like interactive cartoons or something?
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 19 October 2022 23:46 (one year ago) link
there are games that are kind of like that (heavy rain is a decent one), but i was just exaggerating with Uncharted. Uncharted definitely has many, many "press X to climb the ladder" kind of moments, but it also has running around, timing, guns and stuff
― Karl Malone, Wednesday, 19 October 2022 23:49 (one year ago) link
To be clear, by "no history" I mean I missed that era of gaming originally so have no nostalgic affinity for these games. But the two I've been playing or played so far have been a kind of fascinating hybrids of stuff. Platforming, guns, puzzle solving, etc. Nothing particularly challenging (at least on normal), but I like how they integrate gameplay into narrative. That's something other games I've played for sure have done better, including Last of Us, but I can see how a series like Uncharted might have played an important role in single-player game evolution. Certainly they're the types of games I might show to someone who knows nothing about games to demonstrate what they're capable of doing, at least from a flash standpoint.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 20 October 2022 02:48 (one year ago) link
I guess Uncharted is kinda the king of this, but there was a total glut of games 15-ish years ago aiming for “cinematic” and it was such a depressing era. Copy/paste Ubisoft open world games, funneled through corridor whack-a-mole FPS’s, and press-x-to-win dumbing down of everything. Kinda gruesomely laid bar the rat and cheese mechanics.
I remember a journalist at the time describing this as "content tourism", like you are being driven thru a safari park and are supposed to ooh and ahh at the scenery.
― ( X '____' )/ (zappi), Thursday, 20 October 2022 05:33 (one year ago) link
hah! that's too cynical for me
― Nhex, Thursday, 20 October 2022 12:08 (one year ago) link
apex
― LaMDA barry-stanners (||||||||), Thursday, 20 October 2022 12:40 (one year ago) link
tbf to Naughty Dog, they at least did that thing better than most. I don't like the Uncharted games, but I found the two Last of Us games very engaging.
― circa1916, Thursday, 20 October 2022 16:21 (one year ago) link
At some point I'll probably play nu-Tomb Raiders, I'm curious how similar they are to Uncharted.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 20 October 2022 18:03 (one year ago) link
The Tomb Raiders are a decent option if you want something similar. They share a lot of mechanics and have a similar mix of shooting stuff to exploration. TR has maybe slightly more puzzles and more focus on collecting and crafting. imo Uncharted's writing and acting is way better - the character interactions are more entertaining and it doesn't take itself as seriously.
― salsa shark, Thursday, 20 October 2022 20:22 (one year ago) link
Tinykin is very good. It's a Pikmin type game (i.e. little dudes increasingly follow you around), but the platforming is rock solid. The level design kind of reminds me of Katamari Damacy.
― reggae mike love (polyphonic), Saturday, 22 October 2022 18:05 (one year ago) link
OK, finished "Uncharted 2." Follows the sequel formula of "same, but more," with bigger set pieces and scale/scope, plus some nice character beats and (even more) self awareness. Kind of like every "Indiana Jones" movie all at once, silly fun (where you are also a relentless merchant of death).
So looks like two years separates each of the first three games, and then a big gap of five years comes before the fourth? Curious what two more years of game design brings to part 3 but also curious what five years (and "Last of Us") brings to part 4.
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 23 October 2022 16:34 (one year ago) link