General gaming discussion

[phonics]

Add another to the list of EA assassinations.

Visceral Games (of Dead Space fame but have been in existence since 1998) have been shut down.

BioWare threatened with the same thing if Anthem isn't a Destiny game me thinks.

[Shindig]

It's a cutthroat business. Terrifying that one dodgy project could sink you.

[Raoul Duke]

Had an epic Nemesis System [TM] battle earlier - fought some badass looking Ork and tried to brand him but he was too high a level so I 'shamed' him. Then, whilst in the midst of killing another captain, he pops up again, looking all gnarly and with a brand mark on his face. After another epic battle I finally killed him!

...only for him to almost immediately pop up for a final (?) time for another round, having given it the big 'un again :D

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkTLjFovEb4
Baz :cool:

[Baz]

Haha I didn’t think it would have my proper face for you. That’s awesome.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

https://i.imgur.com/KFLUbEO.jpg

:drool:

[Shindig]

Looks like, if I want a legitimate entry into Nintendo emulation, the Wii's the way to go. £22 used and then games at £5.49 and up. Today I spied a mini SNES in CeX for the low price of £140. Right next to a SNES priced at £72.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

They've got the screw jobs nailed on in WWE 2k18.

Survivor Series:

My guy finally went to cash in the MITB contract but Triple H knocks me out and rolls me into the ring so Samoa Joe can pin me. Then have to take a month off and I've lost my intercontinental title.

Royal Rumble:

First? No problem. I found an easy system (stand by ropes as they enter, throw them and then just keep punching them), worked so well that there was never anyone else in the ring bar 1 guy and I eliminated everyone. I seem to then accidentally skip a cutscene as everyone then tells me that the Rock came in and smashed my dick in at #31 so he's going to Wrestlemania.

Brett Hart has nothing on me.

[phonics]

Tony Hawk for the PS1 is now old enough to drink. I'm so old.

[Disco]

They've got the screw jobs nailed on in WWE 2k18.

But enough about the microtransactions

[Baz]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6y2w0Uv41I

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

And I'm done with the story now.

Not bad, a little annoying as THEY'VE RAMPED UP THE DRAMA but it's nice to hold the Championship after spending about 3 in game years stuck at #4 in 2k17.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I love this new South Park game so much. They've come so far since the first.

I've already put 8 hours in.

[Shindig]

Until Dawn is under way. Just played through the prologue but I'm going to mainline it tomorrow and see how many people survive. Peter Stormare's acting is off-putting in this. I don't know what Supermassive's setup is but he really, really overdoes it. Like he's been told, or assumes he needs to overcompensate for the technology. Or it could just be him. They all have perfect teeth, too. LA Noire might be the pinnacle we'll never reach again.

[phonics]

LA Noire might be the pinnacle we'll never reach again.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzPvx8VUSDw

K.

Until Dawn is a far far superior game to LA Noire.

[phonics]

Time to start a THIRD character after I confused the Hawks for the Raptors and used my free agency to sign for the shittiest team in the league.

Back to Point Guard and watching these UNSKIPPABLE CUTSCENES.

[Shindig]

Until Dawn done. One survivor. Would've been five but the Don't Move sections can't really be done without setting the controller down. Decent. I'm thinking the acting weirdness was all Stormare, now. Popping his head into the lens like he's in a Hype Williams video.

[John]

Until Dawn was pants. Those 'Don't Move' sections were about as easy and lazy as gaming gets.

Peter Stormare is a swivel eyed nutcase in everything, which is presumably why they got him in to play that part.

[Dark Soldier]

Until Dawn is fucking great

[Shindig]

Once they stopped trying to fuck each other, yes. Lousy teens. And, as daft as Stormare was, the Mesut Osil looking fella was probably having the most fun. It went places I didn't expect.

[phonics]

Until Dawn was pants.

Did you play it on your own? I haven't had as much fun playing a game as a group in years. It was the gaming equivalent of watching Scream for the first time.

[John]

I did. I've heard of other ways to make your own fun with it, like an ad hoc two player where you each take three characters and try to keep them alive while putting the others in position to get offed, but if you have to try that hard to make things interesting the game has failed.

I liked the Stormare parts though. They reminded me of Atmosfear, possibly the most 'of its time' thing ever created.

[phonics]

We just made group decisions to try keep as many people alive as possible but the timers don't give you enough time to do it democratically so it becomes the gaming equivalent of people shouting 'Nooo don't go up the stairs!'

[Ian]

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2017/10/23/divinity-original-sin-2-voice-acting/

922404373828964352

Fucking love this game.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

https://i.imgur.com/hQT4RWt.jpg

:cool:

[Shindig]

Streets of Rage has a couple dodgy bosses. Game Over right outside the final boss door. The mini-boss that is two ninja ladies leads to three people in a room trying to dive-kick each other to death. Lovely music, though.

[Ian]

I've started Shadow of War and am enjoying myself muchly. :) Have hit a really tough story mission though so I dunno if the game wants me to mop up other shit first.

Raoul Duke would you recommend I do what I did in the first game and power through the story to get the dominate mind ability first?

I already have my first nemesis who has come back from the dead to murder me for a second time. Bastard,

[phonics]

I've been playing Super Mario Odyssey. It's impossible not to play that game without a smile on your face. The moon collecting setup means endorphins every minute or two.

[wullie]

Got the new WWE game, 'Dirty' Joe Bananas is already NXT champion despite having a grubby plain blue singlet from the Mr Perfect lost and found collection. Although, despite being a world class superstar athlete he runs around the backstage area with the speed and grace of your fat mum.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I see mine as running like he's trying to do a whole body D'Lo Brown head shake post-stroke.

[wullie]

Whenever I've tried speaking to HHH he threatens to batter me because he's rock solid and badass, and I've spoken to Peyton Royce twice so far and she's just gone on about how Stephanie McMahon is the queen of wrestling and how all girls should want to be like her when they grow up. Some of the time spent putting them over in production should have been used to de-emphasise Kassius Ohno's wobbly gut.

[Ian]

I am fucking love Shadow of War, unsurprisingly. Obviously I haven't got to the ending yet, but other than in some community mission rewards I have no heard hide nor hair of a loot box,

I can dominate orc captains now and the first once you meet (who is for everybody, I assume) is a big bugger called Bruz the Chopper, and he's a walking, talking (,orcing?) Finding Nemo reference and I love him already.

[Disco]

whenever i've tried speaking to hhh he threatens to batter me because he's rock solid and badass, and i've spoken to peyton royce twice so far and she's just gone on about how stephanie mcmahon is the queen of wrestling and how all girls should want to be like her when they grow up. Some of the time spent putting them over in production should have been used to de-emphasise kassius ohno's wobbly gut.

And in the game!

[wullie]

Brock Lesnar has his sandwiches, now Dirty Joe has corporate merch

https://i.imgur.com/Amz2BpK.jpg?1
https://i.imgur.com/j8pqayt.jpg

[Ian]

God I love the Nemesis system.

1st dominated captain: the one you get through the story. The aforementioned Bruz (Bruce.) You faced him in a scrap and then mind-control him. Job's a good'un.

2nd attempted domination: A big, beefy olog-hai captain with a sweet leather cap/mask and the ability to summon graugs and caragors. I had totally forgotten that you can't dominate somebody of a higher level than you even if you've beaten them in battle (and he nearly killed me twice so I felt a bit aggrieved.) Had the option of either killing him or shaming him, which lowers his level and then sends him off so I can hunt him down and try again. I shamed him and then hunted him down but he was walking about and already had caragors with him. Weakened them with an explosion and then lured in a graug (big massive giant-troll thing) to have him clear out some of the other orcs mooching about and the caragors for me. They all cleared off, I had the olog-hai captain to myself. Or so I thought. I was in the process of beating him down and then the fucking graug came back and chucked half a hill at the orc and killed him. In hindsight I should have just killed him the first time and taken whatever loot he would have dropped given he was eight levels above me and it would probably have been an upgrade.

3rd attempted captain domination: This time I pick a guy my level. No more mis-steps from me! So the captain in question is having himself a feast thing, including handily-placed barrels of explosive grog. So I duly explode it, weakens a bunch of the dudes around him and gets them on fire, etc. All is going well. I jumped down from my perch and start cutting my way through the mooks to get to him, he's done his little "Ooooh I'm totally going to muller you, son!" intro, I'm getting ready to go mano-a-mano with him.... and then my attention is pulled to another fucking over-levelled olog-hai captain (olog-hai are the big armored trolls, for anybody who's seen the LOTR films) has rocked up and ambushed me because he fancies a piece as well. So all hell breaks loose, I mount a caragor to give me some mobility from the newly arrived olog (who is five levels above me) to try and work out if I can get my target dominated amongst all this fucking mayhem. Thinking he's still further back I lure the new arrival towards me and set him on fire with another barrel of grog.... and the one I wanted to make my bitch is caught in the explosion and promptly burns to death. Eventually most of the other orcs get murdered, the olog smashes me in the face and knocks me off my mount but I manage to weaken him hand-to-hand and use the dominate skill on him. But of course as I've said, he's above my level. So I've had to shame him and send him running. He shall be my next target.

Love this.

[Baz]

PS4, Xbox or pc, Wullie?

[Ian]

I finally, successfully got my second captain mind-controlled. I love that, where they give you a little spiel when you start to fight them, it does change depending on either what you're currently doing or what your previous interaction with them was. When I fought this dude the first time and he was too high-level for me to dominate he commented on my riding a caragor. This time he made a comment on the fact that I shamed him and lowered his level ("burned my mind" as he put it.)

[Ian]

I now have FOUR orc-chums.

This is Bruz, the not-a-Finding-Nemo-reference one who you get through the story and teaches you about the Nemesis system.

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/865115089902632824/A0AAA0AE04A4C52BC1202D1D8977A406A6E4F17A/

This is Lorm, my newest addition. he could probably do with a hat. I'll also add a picture of my big olog chap because these two are blood brothers, apparently. :gay: I assume they mean spiritually given they're, y'know, different species.
https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/865115089902632989/0639B7210DD94193AFAD286C392BA2F90EF08F4D/

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/865115089902633383/5B8DD205CA67BFBAD37023AB819C3CDDB06BEFE1/

And lastly, Stakuga. The guy in my budding army with the sweetest hat.
https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/865115089902633190/AC0B1D140DFF15F492501B19B6B9EFE6032CA683/

EDIT: Make it five, this one was super easy to get because he's mortally afraid of me.

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/865115089902690408/9B55EF570F919707B943FD4D8976D624D1CF4AC3/

[Raoul Duke]

Ian - good shit. Yeah, Bruz is awesome. Once you build up enough of a crew then he's good value in the siege too :D

[Ian]

Did my first siege. I was ridiculously overpowered for it but it was good none the less.

Had some extra bits and pieces play out in the nemesis system too. I killed an uruk who was the blood brother of one who I'd already dominated, which broke him from my grasp. He hunted me down to get me again and.... I dominated him again. Little bastard.

[Ian]

I think they've beefed up the Nemesis system in this not just in terms of stuff it does but also being harder to just sweep through a region and make everybody your bitch. I did my first siege and have warchiefs but getting even a majority of captains on my side is proving difficult because they come back from the dead resistant to domination, or betray you because you do in their blood brother or whatever.

So while I have one particular dude who I am fucking determined to make mine now because I've fought him a zillion times and he has more kills over me than I do of him, I also have this chap:
https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/865115445700065219/A1CCF0E6D3BA52ABA820CC16096F2BFDAC4ED850/

This handsome devil looks the way he does for several reasons. The facial armor is because back when he was one of my loyal goons he died helping me in a scrap. He was resurrected and now hates me because I didn't save him from his untimely demise. He has a skill now called "Iron Will", which I can try to remove but means I can't dominate him. So in one of our fights since I did an execution move to finish him off. Lopped off arms, stabbed him, decapitated him. Now normally decapitation means you're gooooone for good, but not this fella. You can see where he's been stitched back together and he still has Iron Will so I'm gonna have to keep shaming him when I defeat him until that goes and I can make him mine again. I want him to be my bodyguard looking like that.

"the Stitch" is a new nickname too. It used to be Rock-Crusher before he got, y'know, work done.

[phonics]

That's Mario Odyssey completed. What a good game. Nintendo are just unequalled at doing what they do. The fact that two of my top 3 games this year might be Nintendo games is mental.

[Shindig]

I was looking yesterday to see if a Switch was going to trigger some kind of impulse buy from me. I haven't snapped yet but there's a spare PS4 I could trade in and my birthday's coming before the year is out. I've always got the same problem with Nintendo, though:

At the end of it all, there'll only be half-a-dozen games for it I'll want. I'm looking at Wii's and the same problem arises. I'll be after the two Mario Galaxies, Metroid Prime 3 and possibly Twilight Princess. To justify the Switch, I'd need to bolster the library with whatever retro stuff they throw us and multiplatform games that might benefit from being portable.

[Disco]

I realised the other day that without a tv I now have no access to MK Double Dash, this saddens me. I wonder if there's some hilariously contrived method of running a Gamecube through one of my monitors.

[Shindig]

VGA box. I used one in the early HD days to hook my PS3 to up to a monitor. I assume it'll do the lower resolutions too.

[phonics]

I thought that for the Switch too but it's become my indie platform of choice and then on top of that I've got Mario, Zelda, Rabbids x XCom, NBA2k and Golf Story within the first year. I think that thought of them is a bit outdated.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I was looking yesterday to see if a Switch was going to trigger some kind of impulse buy from me. I haven't snapped yet but there's a spare PS4 I could trade in and my birthday's coming before the year is out. I've always got the same problem with Nintendo, though:

At the end of it all, there'll only be half-a-dozen games for it I'll want. I'm looking at Wii's and the same problem arises. I'll be after the two Mario Galaxies, Metroid Prime 3 and possibly Twilight Princess. To justify the Switch, I'd need to bolster the library with whatever retro stuff they throw us and multiplatform games that might benefit from being portable.

I've been close to buying one but I'm waiting for a deal that doesn't make me feel dirty.

[Shindig]

The indie stuff gets everywhere so I can't quite use that. I will probably get one for my summer flights. Maybe CeX will have stopped being thick with their pricing by then, as well. What kind of used retailer slings out stock £50 over RRP? The Switch is back in stock everywhere else so they must be hoping there's a two week gap they can capitalise on. If I went now, I could see myself getting one with Odyssey and then maybe putting Sonic Mania on it.

Also, for indie stuff, I'm not too sure how Nintendo are going to be when it comes to store sales. I wish they'd announce their online subscription service plans, too.

[phonics]

They have. They're shit but it's like 15 quid a year. You get a random nes game a month with mp built in (for that month, it removes itself after that but keeps your save if you want to buy it) and the ability to play games online.

Sonic Mania is the other one I have. I was round the parents house the other day and my mum who calls every game ever made 'Sonic'. Even Call of Duty got the 'what are you playing? Sonic?' Treatment down the years. And I'm playing Switch as she walks by and what am I playing? Sonic.

[Shindig]

Sonic Mania was definitely on my list, assuming I don't buy it on PS4 or Steam first. That's a big if.

[Ian]

So getting onto the less pleasant stuff about Wardor, I just watched the video that Many A True Nerd did on the opener hour or so of it. He makes quite a big deal at both the start and end about the microtransactions which I honestly haven't noticed. We'll see how I fare once I get to the end game but at the point I'm at if anything the game is already, much like it did in Mordor once you got more control over the Nemesis system, is getting easier. I kinda wish I'd I'd bumped up the difficulty a touch given there's basically no punishment for death. It would probably have meant that on the point I'm at now where I have loads of skills* to tailor to a given encounter things would be more touch-and-go. So certainly at this stage it isn't made especially grindy or difficult and I could be way further ahead with the story than I am if I didn't love just dicking about with the Nemesis stuff and the world as a whole.

I have an awareness that it's there because there are references made to loot boxes in some of the daily challenges if you look at those and some options on the menu but I honestly don't find it intrusive, and didn't even in games that I like way less than I like this (Hello, Mankind Divided.) Maybe I'm not very observant or I've conditioned myself to tune this shit out but certainly at this point I don't get what the fuss is about.

* So each skill has two or three upgrades which you can only have one of active at a time but you can switch whenever you want. So there's an AOE attack thing that you can buff with poison, ice or fire. And certain captains will have weaknesses to fire or poison to either help you with a fight or basically insta-win it for you. If you game it properly, either in your own combat or with what captains you set against your enemies, you can really start to mop up a region.

[Ian]

So getting onto the less pleasant stuff about Wardor, I just watched the video that Many A True Nerd did on the opening hour or so of it. He makes quite a big deal at both the start and end about the microtransactions which I honestly haven't found to be pressing themselves upon me. We'll see how I fare once I get to the end game but at the point I'm at if anything the game is already, much like it did in Mordor once you got more control over the Nemesis system, is getting easier. I kinda wish I'd I'd bumped up the difficulty a touch given there's basically no punishment for death. It would probably have meant that on the point I'm at now where I have loads of skills* to tailor to a given encounter things would be more touch-and-go. So certainly at this stage it isn't made especially grindy or difficult and I could be way further ahead with the story than I am if I didn't love just dicking about with the Nemesis stuff and the world as a whole.

I have an awareness that it's there because there are references made to loot boxes in some of the daily challenges if you look at those and some options on the menu but I honestly don't find it intrusive, and didn't even in games that I like way less than I like this (Hello, Mankind Divided.) Maybe I'm not very observant or I've conditioned myself to tune this shit out but certainly at this point I don't get what the fuss is about.

* So each skill has two or three upgrades which you can only have one of active at a time but you can switch whenever you want. So there's an AOE attack thing that you can buff with poison, ice or fire. And certain captains will have weaknesses to fire or poison to either help you with a fight or basically insta-win it for you. If you game it properly, either in your own combat or with what captains you set against your enemies, you can really start to mop up a region.

[Dark Soldier]

Somebody on PC found how to give you unlimited loot boxes almost immediately. Seems its not a server side thing but a built into the engine thing, can just use Cheat Engine to give 'em to yourself.

[Ian]

That's part of the reason why it doesn't bother me. You can get XP boosts through some of them. If some other player wants to do that in their single-player then why the fuck do I care? As long as they haven't made the game unnecessarily harder to encourage it which pre-end game they obviously haven't because I'm an enormous cupcake and I'm not finding it a grindy hell of difficulty.

I remember a guy at work getting pissy over XP boosts, extra gear etc. and how some people would use them in Mankind Divided. When I asked him why it should bother him if somebody did it in their game and he didn't need to he just tailed off into random grumbling. MD also did not force anything upon you despite the initial furore.

[Dark Soldier]

Yup I give zero fucks about people cheating/buying boosts or whatever they wanna do in single player. I don't get the anger regarding it some hold. I cheat often in FM (alongside a couple of serious saves), can make the game more interesting if you just wanna piss about.

[Shindig]

See how you feel after 30 hours of the final act.

[wullie]

PS4, Xbox or pc, Wullie?

Sorry, didn't spot this post. PS4 over here

[phonics]

Yup I give zero fucks about people cheating/buying boosts or whatever they wanna do in single player. I don't get the anger regarding it some hold. I cheat often in FM (alongside a couple of serious saves), can make the game more interesting if you just wanna piss about.

I think people are just sick of it at this point. Wardor just caught the flak by being one of the big October releases and single player.

There was a rather disturbing Twitter discussion among teachers who all had stories of kids, nicking their parents credit card, spending hundreds of quids on FIFA packs and stuff. It's rife and manipulative. There's a reason these companies are spending more and more on psychologists and the like to get people coming back. It definitely needs legislating at a higher level than is currently the case.

[Pleb]

I brought Mordor through the steam sale for about a fiver ish and found it very meh but the combat system is smooth and godlike.

[phonics]

Spelunky 2 announced as a PS4 exclusive :(

[Yevrah]

Arse Creed Egypt?

Same formulaic mince as last time?

[Raoul Duke]

So getting onto the less pleasant stuff about Wardor, I just watched the video that Many A True Nerd did on the opening hour or so of it. He makes quite a big deal at both the start and end about the microtransactions which I honestly haven't found to be pressing themselves upon me. We'll see how I fare once I get to the end game but at the point I'm at if anything the game is already, much like it did in Mordor once you got more control over the Nemesis system, is getting easier. I kinda wish I'd I'd bumped up the difficulty a touch given there's basically no punishment for death. It would probably have meant that on the point I'm at now where I have loads of skills* to tailor to a given encounter things would be more touch-and-go. So certainly at this stage it isn't made especially grindy or difficult and I could be way further ahead with the story than I am if I didn't love just dicking about with the Nemesis stuff and the world as a whole.

I have an awareness that it's there because there are references made to loot boxes in some of the daily challenges if you look at those and some options on the menu but I honestly don't find it intrusive, and didn't even in games that I like way less than I like this (Hello, Mankind Divided.) Maybe I'm not very observant or I've conditioned myself to tune this shit out but certainly at this point I don't get what the fuss is about.

* So each skill has two or three upgrades which you can only have one of active at a time but you can switch whenever you want. So there's an AOE attack thing that you can buff with poison, ice or fire. And certain captains will have weaknesses to fire or poison to either help you with a fight or basically insta-win it for you. If you game it properly, either in your own combat or with what captains you set against your enemies, you can really start to mop up a region.

I haven't even looked at the loot boxes yet and the game isn't particularly hard. I've basically unlocked nearly every skill and I'm only on the second area. I worry it's gonna feel like there's a load of repetition if I have to grind through this much Nemesis stuff about 6 times.


Arse Creed Egypt?

Same formulaic mince as last time?

Reviews look good, and I like the games enough to pick it up - I'm just elbows deep in too many other games right now. Shame there's no more pirate-based shenanigans :(

[Baz]

What’s the COD WW2 single player campaign gonna be like? Worth £50?

[SincereTheRebel]

Anyone ever used CDKEY.com to buy anything? I want to buy some ps plus membership and it looks like they are by far the cheapest.

[wullie]

Yeah, can't remember what I used them for but it was completely fine.

[Mike]

I’ve used cdkeys loads. Like them on Facebook and get 5% off too.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Yeah, I use them all the time.

[phonics]

A PS Plus membership isn't bad but anyone buying actual games off them are scum.

You're just paying some guy in Russia to buy it with a stolen credit card so the developer sees none of the money but Vlad gets paid.

[Ian]

Yeah I think I've only used it once because it's clearly dodgy as fuck. Not from a customer point of view (from what I've heard) but for the other end.

[SincereTheRebel]

Agent Mahow is russian or ukrainian so he may well be involved in some time of way. I see he likes to give his point when I come to part with my money.

[Disco]

If they offer some kind of payment/transaction protection you'd be well advised to get it, that way when you buy something and the code has already been redeemed you're covered. Paying via Paypal is also a good idea as you can often get them to reverse the transaction if you end up getting screwed.

[Shindig]

RetroArch is just a great thing. It should come installed on every college and school PC ever. Along with Red Alert and Worms Armageddon.

[Dark Soldier]

am a weak man

https://i.imgur.com/pGE1M9t.jpg

[Mike]

Or a lucky man

[phonics]

It's good stuff. Shame you borrowed Zelda really or you'd have till Christmas sorted.

Odyssey just got announced as the fastest selling Mario game of all time.

[Dark Soldier]

I wanna do another playthrough of Zelda as ran through it due it being a lend

[Browning]

Mario odyssey is fucking brilliant. I’ve finished the main story but there’s so much post game stuff to keep me entertained.

[Dark Soldier]

Well Zelda seemed nailed on to be my game of forever but after 12 hours with Mario Odyssey, its looking like it'll usurp it. I've never seen eye to eye with Nintendo bar some Mario Kart games and some Zeldas, never been a huge fan of Mario, but fuck me its a masterpiece.

[Dark Soldier]

Also eurgh

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2017/11/03/call-of-duty-wwii-loot-crates-are-yucky/

[Yevrah]

Jim Sterling is going to shit his load over that.

[Shindig]

It's all he does now. That and dressing up and flouncing over forum comments.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

A Nephew bought a Switch and brought it round here as they came for lunch today.

Had one race on Mario Kart and the urge to buy one has risen.

Will probably try to hold off until just before or just after Christmas.

Edit: Got an old PS4, my old phone which Game will give £100 for and a load of games I don't play.

Tempting.

Edit: Fuck it, I think I'm going in on Friday.

[Danny]

Havent they started to do black friday sales over there?

Might be worth keeping an eye on that.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I doubt they'll reduce the price of the switch.

[Dark Soldier]

Yeah its actually gone up a little bit compared to a few months back. Cost me £323 with Odyssey.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Think I should have £330ish in trade-ins so I'm thinking of getting it with Odyssey and Zelda.

You using the normal joycon clip thing? Worth it to also get the pro/hori/whatever?

[Shindig]

I'm hoping for a couple of deals in December. I've got a fat PS4 to take the edge off and some clubcard points so I should save regardless. Should end up with Mario and Zelda which will keep me sorted for Christmas with the family.

[Browning]

The one thing you should buy for the switch is a charger so you can use it on the move without taking the whole console with you. Other than that I haven’t bought another controller, you already have 3 options in the box.

[Ian]

Flak Ranger-Killer.

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/865116042030707999/BDE3D60202844B395BF89C4859565105B5FEED4A/

Actually has a dead ranger strapped to his shield. Love the captains in this.

[Mike]

Giving this ago again. I tried about a year ago and it didn't run so well yet.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WGGr-bF7zw

[phonics]

You can only get 100 quid for an old PS4? I'll take it off you for mates rates.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

The slim has killed it really. You can buy one of those new for £200.

[phonics]

I'll give you 50 quid.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Can I cover the postage too?

[Danny]

:D

[Raoul Duke]

Been playing a load more Shadow Of War, and I don't know how much else there is going for it now - it's great but I've just conquered my second fortress and it was pretty samey as the first. I'm not sure I can really be arsed with another 6 or so of these. I guess at some point I will get attacked at one I've already taken over, and that'll be something different. I've unlocked near enough all the skills that are worth having.

Aside from that I think I've basically done everything it has to offer outside of the story missions, where I'm seemingly buddying up with a "girl" who looks like Rodney from Only Fools and Horses, and Morgan Freeman's regen to, yet again, fight Sauron and friends. I'm fairly certain my ghost pal is going down the classic trope of power/corruption/ring obsession, which is a bit obvious.

[Ian]

Yeah, I think it gives you too many skills too soon. It means that early doors you can game a good number of the fights against the captains. If they're terrified of anything you can break them very easily once you have lots of skills / upgrades to play with.

[Raoul Duke]

Which is kinda the point of the strengths/weaknesses - but it can be a bit formulaic and repetitive.

I tend to just lure them near explosive shit and set it off or turn loose a load of Caragors/Flies. Twice now though I've been up against the main overlord and been saved by one of my captains after getting my arse kicked :D

[Ian]

Having a bodyguard is fun. It's a while since I've been in a properly bad scrape, it's easy to get yourself out of situations when you can summon a graug whenever you fancy, but it's nice when some big lad turns up and starts kicking ass when you're staring down the barrel.

I'd love to have a play with whatever generates the captains because I'm still getting new cool stuff. Hooks and peg legs and face paint and whatnot.

[Raoul Duke]

I'd love to have a play with whatever generates the captains because I'm still getting new cool stuff. Hooks and peg legs and face paint and whatnot.

Yeah, there are some great variations. I had one the other day called Something The Moaner and when I ran into him he just comes on screen and goes: WHAOAAARHGHA AAARGHHRA OOOHAHAGEHAGHHH" :D

[Mike]

Giving this ago again. I tried about a year ago and it didn't run so well yet.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WGGr-bF7zw

Yeah, works perfect!

[Mellberg]

Been replaying FF IX after spotting it in the play store last month. Just coming to the end of Memoria, which means I'm pretty much done. Better than VII for me. Absolute classic and anyone who enjoyed it first time around should go for it.

[Pleb]

I caved in and brought myself a Switch with Mario included :drool:

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

B-Fresh (ugh), the most annoying character in any NBA 2k game is actually a rapper:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ezn3T21lX0I


https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=tb9S2Zs08Hk

Even worse in real life than the game.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

https://i.imgur.com/dhCIGWn.jpg

Why can I not block people on 2k18?

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Bought the Switch.

Couldn't find my old PS4 (it's somewhere in the house) and they wouldn't take my phone as it was too late so more cash output than I wanted to (savings account came in though) and I bought the Mario red one with Zelda too.

Firing it up.

Edit: Given a quick bash on Zelda and Mario and I think the system is great. Ordered a stand (https://www.amazon.co.uk/HORI-Switch-Compact-PlayStand-Nintendo/dp/B01N9RTMWS/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1510250742&sr=8-3&keywords=nintendo+switch+stand&dpID=41QzbHWkw4L&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch) as the standard one is shit. Flimsy as fuck and why is it not in the centre?

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Played a good few hours of Odyssey now (I've done the story bit of the first two main Kingdoms slowly whilst pissing about exploring) and I love it.

Still getting a bit used to the joy con controlling method which is slowing me down a bit too.

[Ian]

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2017/11/10/seven-the-days-long-gone-release-date/

Well that sounds dreamy.

[ItalAussie]

Been replaying FF IX after spotting it in the play store last month. Just coming to the end of Memoria, which means I'm pretty much done. Better than VII for me. Absolute classic and anyone who enjoyed it first time around should go for it.
Top tier: 6, 7, 9
Second tier: 4, 5
Third tier: 1, 3
Other: Other

[Shindig]

I've only finished two of them. 9 beating 8. I enjoy breaking the latter but the former felt like the last great one. I need to give X another shot and get deep into VI. Oh, and VII. I've restarted that game so many times, I'm genuinely sick of Midgar.

[Dave.]

I'm currently playing a really old game called Grand Prix Manager 2. The game is based on the 1996 Formula 1 season and is completely awesome. I've started with Jordan and I've already recruited Jean Alesi for next season to partner Barrichello.:cool:

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Mario Odyssey really is the fucking tits.

Might just be my new favourite game.

[phonics]

Hi Mahon as you've somehow managed to lose a video games console you clearly don't care for it. I've revised my offer to £35 plus post and packaging.

[Boydy]

Hi Mahon as you've somehow managed to lose a video games console you clearly don't care for it. I've revised my offer to £35 plus post and packaging.

Hi Mahow, I'll give you £50 and spell your name properly.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I've found it again and the box.

[phonics]

Great. Forty pounds?

[Shindig]

CoD: WWII's campaign is done. That epilogue felt like such a bottle job.

"Guys, let's liberate a concentration camp. Except it's already been deserted and we're just there to find one guy. So ... let's take pictures of this empty concentration camp."

If you're going to go there, fucking go there. Earn the M rating. Also features one of my least favourite vehicle sections ever.

[John]

It would be impossible to do that stuff properly in a game. Even if you managed to navigate the space between going overboard on the horror and being flippant, within half an hour of release some wank would have a video on YouTube of himself teabagging a suffering Jew and you'd have to update the whole sequence to death.

[Disco]

It wouldn't be impossible at all, just outside the abilities of the people who make modern manshoots.

[Shindig]

I wouldn't even say that. Wolfenstein 2, by all accounts, fucking hits some notes about invasion and occupation.

[John]

It wouldn't be impossible at all, just outside the abilities of the people who make modern manshoots.

I'm not saying the mechanics are impossible, it'd be easy to get that side right and a competent writer will nail the tone. It's that the minute it's out a player uploads the aforementioned video and every media outlet going has you as the anti-Semitic supercunts who made it possible to teabag Holocaust victims.

[Shindig]

That probably says as much about the fanbase and the media than the writing, to be fair. As if by magic, I've drawn some angry comments on N4G for my review. Why do people by the thing they don't like? Every year.

[Ian]

I wouldn't even say that. Wolfenstein 2, by all accounts, fucking hits some notes about invasion and occupation.

The camp in The New Order did some good stuff, it just seemed a bit at odds with the tone of the thing as a whole. Though admittedly, TNO had a really weird blend of BJ's big, sad, harrowed eyes giving us the 'war is hell' line and then letting me dual-wield auto-shotguns against robo-dogs.

As you say though, apparently The New Colossus nails some of that stuff.

[phonics]

Trust

https://i.imgur.com/FIUumcP.png

The

https://i.imgur.com/uK8403L.png

Process

https://i.imgur.com/NkCHHXx.png

[Pleb]

Woof.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

How much of your season did you simulate?

[phonics]

Only games against the Warriors and they're in the other conference so 2 I guess? I'm dogshit at defending so the idea of Steph Curry draining 3's on me isn't happening. Scored 41 points the game before the Rookie All-Star game, got 10 points an assist and 4 turnovers in that...

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Curry is broken. I played all my games (I think I did about 25) before I had traded it in and 2 of them were against Curry. I'm pretty good at defending as I'll just let them have long range, awkward as fuck 3 pointers but Curry was just putting them in for fun. He didn't have a brilliant game in terms of points scored but it was so infuriating.

[phonics]

Some guy I've never heard of called Chambers playing for Charlotte just scored 26 points on me. Still came away with POTG and the W though. #CantStopThis #TrustTheProcess.

There are some super dumb elements though. The main one being when I met Joel Embiid and he didn't know who I was despite both playing for the same team and having scored 18 points alongside him the previous night.

edit: Found a new screen that sums it up well.

https://i.imgur.com/0leMYKN.png

[Boydy]

Can you not have a thread for that basketball crap? I keep coming in here expecting to see something interesting and then I'm just disappointed when it's that.

[Shindig]

Nah, it's only three members that go for it and it passes within a few months.

[wullie]

And I've all but gone off it already due to the huge loading times vs minimum playing time early on in career mode.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

And I've all but gone off it already due to the huge loading times vs minimum playing time early on in career mode.

Put the quarter length to the maximum. That was the only way I could really do anything when my guy first started.

[phonics]

You just have to rinse through those games and know you'll be shit. Performances don't earn you VC like they did in the previous games, only badge progress so it's just a matter of pushing through.

The loading times still aren't great but they're much better than at launch.

[Disco]

Well this lootbox thing is kicking off, EA have managed to register the most downvoted post in Reddit history and have taken the somewhat questionable step of removing the refund button from the Star Wars BF2 shop. Good old Jim Sterling has been having a lovely time:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLDid1UNyg8


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1Nxhy8U_JQ

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

It wasn't because of the loobox thing that they earned the downvotes for.

It's because without micro-transactions it would take a year and 7 months of 8 hour shifts on the game to unlock Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader. Even if you bought the most expensive version of the game.

-682k score on Reddit (and going down) with the previous record for the lowest scoring post in history being -24k.

[Shindig]

All I can imagine is an angry Mickey Mouse in a shareholder meeting with a baseball bat.

[Disco]

It wasn't because of the loobox thing that they earned the downvotes for.

It's because without micro-transactions it would take a year and 7 months of 8 hour shifts on the game to unlock Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader. Even if you bought the most expensive version of the game.

-682k score on Reddit (and going down) with the previous record for the lowest scoring post in history being -24k.

Same difference, it's all about the general shittiness of their business model and the transparency of what they've done since ie lowering the cost of some unlocks while also lowering the rewards (without actually mentioning the second bit).

[Baz]

It wasn't because of the loobox thing that they earned the downvotes for.

It's because without micro-transactions it would take a year and 7 months of 8 hour shifts on the game to unlock Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader. Even if you bought the most expensive version of the game.

-682k score on Reddit (and going down) with the previous record for the lowest scoring post in history being -24k.:lol:

[Shindig]

Booted up Super Mario Sunshine for the first time in ages. Hopefully looking to beat it before I grab the Switch. I'm passed that stupid Sandbird level for the first time in my life. Half-way done. Sod going for the extras. I just want to open the path to Bowser and get this done.

Still feels good. The camera's cock but that's every Mario on the 3D plane.

EDIT: Nope. This is shit. There's a reason speedrunners skip an entire set of levels. They're all bullshit.

[Kikó]

I'm playing the Turing Test and it's great. Basically fulfilling my Portal fix

[phonics]

NBA2K update (tagging Boydy so he doesn't miss out):

What a weird game this thing is, a week or two before the playoffs, I stopped getting cutscenes of any sort and everyone apart from my social media manager never appeared, let alone talked to me. Shammy doesn't even sit next to me anymore.

The last time I saw him, I'd just absolutely rinsed him at backgammon and the week before that told him he sucked too much to get his own shoe unlike me (more on that later) so I wrote some fan fiction in my head that we'd had a falling out, rather than this game being a mess and not bothering to write any post-season stuff, but I can tell he still cares by him passive aggressively eavesdropping on me trying to bribe Isaiah Thomas into inviting me to Michael Jordan's golf party so I can tell him that the name is no coincidence and I am in fact one of his many out of wedlock children from the mid 90s.

https://i.imgur.com/u2oImnl.png

I've since signed a signature shoe deal with Nike, which are absolute fire. The only problem being THIS GAMES A BROKEN MESS so I can't actually equip them ever. Cool game 2K, cool game.

Now onto the real stuff. The playoffs. First up was the Pistons who were frustrating because Andre Drummond, being freakishly tall, is the perfect counter to my 'run at the basket really fast and chuck it in' style that had played so well but I score 25 a game and it doesn't matter. 4-2

Now the real test begins, the Toronto Raptors, I'd played against them previously but I guess DeRozan was out? That man was an absolute machine who would score no matter how many guards you had on him and if you did double team him successfully, he'd pass to Lowry who would score three points and if that came off the rim, some freakishly long human being called Valanciunas would get the rebound and they'd have two points anyway. My tactic of running at the basket was now REALLY not working, so I pumped a bunch of points I'd saved up into my mid-range and 3 point shooting, concentrating on passing round the shape and getting open looks. Around 20 points per game and multiple 10+ assist games. Am I actually getting better at this game? 4-2

The answer is no. The Cavs have just beaten me 2 in a row in a series of depressing defeats. One of them 110-85. I have never lost so badly in this game ever. I scored 9 and 16 points respectively. We now have to go to their patch and win both to have any chance of getting something respectable out of this. I'm just pissing about knowing that the series is over and I'm just playing it out to get some points and start the next season, I score 28 points, get 12 rebounds and 11 assists and we win? My first ever triple double and it's against a team that totally destroyed me the previous 2. This new burst of confidence spreads and I come back on fire. Winning the next 3 games scoring 36, 41 and 41 respectively. We're the conference champions! 4-2.

Everyone else is ecstatic. They never knew we would come so far. Me? I'm contemplating the futility of life.

https://i.imgur.com/gtYHvBn.png

It all comes down to this:
https://i.imgur.com/mntC9dt.png

PS. I'm literally the greatest player still in the playoffs. Whoop Whoop.

https://i.imgur.com/PImK8mt.png

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

lol at not knowing how to equip shoes. Noob.

[phonics]

Mahow if you were any good at this game, you'd have the deal and know it's a known bug that you can't select your custom shoes. You can select any you buy but not the ones you're given.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I didn't get a custom shoe because I didn't play the 90 odd games you have to go through in a season.

My averages are miles ahead of yours, chump.

[phonics]

So they should be when you admit your quarters are 3x as long as mine.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

When I first started, which is what most people do because otherwise you get no time.

As minutes go up, quarter length goes down.

[phonics]

'Everyone cheats'

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Others bitch and moan instead...

[phonics]

I know everyone is on tenterhooks for an update.

James Harden got injured shooting a three in the first game. He hasn't played since. I'm up 3-1. Not sure what to do now, if I win the playoffs in my first year what's the goal to aim for?

[wullie]

Retire and give minor league baseball a try.

[Baz]

Or try to put on those custom Nikes you claim to have.

[wullie]

Get Spacejam 2 made finally.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Become best buds with Kim Jong-un.

[Kikó]

The Turing Test was great. Probably a little bit easy but the ending was ace - the choice between being a bastard of not was too hard to turn down.

I was a bastard.

[Baz]

code from a cereal box for the latest NBA2k game. I think it's in game currency? It was a little hard to read so 0 might be O, and O might be D? The last set of 5 characters is what gave me trouble to read.

D6NQC-IH1GC-V6YP0-4YZXR-DLD2E

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

What cereal box gives out codes for an NBA game?

[Baz]

What cereal box gives out codes for an NBA game?Denver Nuggets.

[wullie]

WeetaKnicks

[Dark Soldier]

Ah man Yakuza 0 is fucking brilliant.

[Ian]

My mate who I was playing Divinity OS 2 with has decided, dozens of hours in, that he sort of hates the character he's ended up with and can't be arsed finishing it. :moop: Should just be a case of my getting the save file off him and cracking on in single-player but it's a bit annoying, the multiplayer is great.

And I feel like the game is building toward something with the multiplayer too that would have led to conflict between the party members so booo, etc.

[phonics]

Double XP on NBA2k this weekend.

I won the Playoffs and Shammy came back. He duly noted that the only success he's ever had was 100% down to me so at least he's grateful.

I didn't make any posts about it because THE GAMES FUCKING BROKEN AS SHIT. No Rookie of the Year, didn't even make the Rookie 2nd team which I thought was weird when this popped up.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DPGS_n8VQAAd7wh.jpg

Eat my ass 2k.

Onto the next one, literally every team in the league wanted me apart from the Celtics, the Lakers and the Pelicans.

IT'S THE CAVS BABY

https://media.giphy.com/media/3ohzdNzYZoPbJwLHtC/giphy.gif

Which means I just get shunted around but I play almost every minute of every game and my team-mates can actually shoot.

I spent all the money earnt throughout the playoffs on some gawdy clothes, a bad haircut and some trick moves.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Can't get Rookie of the year :harold:

[phonics]

Yes as you may have noticed I played 0 games, scored 0 points and got 0 assists all season. Very good game.

[Ian]

Danny Jordaan feels like an odd person to RP as in a basketball game.

[Shindig]

Guys, earth shattering news:


It’s not every day we get to bid farewell to a title supported for more than 8 years, especially one so foundational to how we play games today.

First, let’s get the tough news out of the way: on February 28, 2018, the servers for Demon’s Souls will be shut down. The game will remain fully playable, but online functionality such as in-game messaging, player death locations, and World Tendency features will stop working.

:( Although it's sparked speculation for a Remaster.

[Dark Soldier]

I don't normally do this lads, but a PSN flash sale ends today, and the best game of last year, Inside, is only £6.50. I ask you all to buy it please.

[phonics]

Inside is nonce sense. So was Limbo. The most over-rated game devs of all time outside the Journey crew.

[Dark Soldier]

You have no soul though

[wullie]

I like the look of that, reminds me of Deadlight in style. I'm in

[Pleb]

You should all get Hollow Knight. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollow_Knight)

Top notch game :chief:

[phonics]

Or play a good one of those from last year like Ori or Axiom Verge.

[Dark Soldier]

I like the look of that, reminds me of Deadlight in style. I'm in

Good man

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Or play a good one of those from last year like Ori or Axiom Verge.

Two years ago, no?

Edit: So was Axiom, for PS4 at least.

[Dan]

Anyone fancy a free Steam key for Passpartout? It's in the Humble monthly bundle for December but I've already got it, Might have some other duplicates from older bundles as well if I can ever be bothered to check.

[Pleb]

Game Awards had their ceremony last night so...uh...winners and categories etc...

Game of the Year: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)
Best Game Direction: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo EPD)
Best Narrative: What Remains of Edith Finch (Ian Dallas / Giant Sparrow)
Best Art Direction: Cuphead (Studio MDHR Entertainment)
Best Score/Music: NieR: Automata (Keiichi Okabe, Keigo Hoashi)
Best Audio Design: Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice (Ninja Theory)
Best Performance: Melina Juergens, Hellblade (as Senua)
Games for Impact: Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice (Ninja Theory)
Best Ongoing Game: Overwatch (Blizzard)
Best Independent Game: Cuphead (Studio MDHR Entertainment)
Best Mobile Game: Monument Valley 2 (ustwo games)
Best Handheld Game: Metroid: Samus Returns (MercurySteam / Nintendo)
Best VR/AR Game: Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (Capcom)
Best Action Game: Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus (MachineGames / Bethesda)
Best Action/Adventure Game: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)
Best Role-Playing Game: Persona 5 (Atlus)
Best Fighting Game: Injustice 2 (NetherRealm Studios / Warner Bros. Interactive Ent)
Best Family Game: Super Mario Odyssey (Nintendo EAD / Nintendo)
Best Strategy Game: Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle (Ubisoft Paris + Milan / Ubisoft)
Best Sports/Racing Game: Forza Motorsport 7 (Turn 10 Studios / Microsoft Studios)
Most Anticipated Game: The Last of Us Part II (Naughty Dog / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Trending Gamer/Youtuber (:cab:): Guy Beahm ("Dr. Disrespect")
Best eSports Game: Overwatch (Blizzard)
Best eSports Player: Lee Sang-hyeok "Faker" (SK Telecom 1, League of Legends)
Best eSports Team: Cloud 9
Student Game Award: Level Squared (Kip Brennan, Stephen Scoglio, Dane Perry Svendsen / Swinburne University)
Best Debut Indie Game: Cuphead (Studio MDHR Entertainment)
Chinese Fan Game Award: jx3 HD《剑网3》重制版 (Kingsoft Corporation)

[phonics]

Best eSports game: Overwatch.

lol. It's quite literally one of the biggest and most expensive fails of any esport since the old days of Cyber League Gaming.

[Ian]

So the means of making you unlock them is largely a waste of time but I've got all the new Pyro stuff in Team Fortress 2 and once you start to get to grips with it the new jetpack is a joy.

[Dark Soldier]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CO9az7gPYdE

:drool:

[phonics]

Monster Hunter Worlds looks nice. Shame it's not on Switch, perfect mobile game.

[Pleb]

So the means of making you unlock them is largely a waste of time but I've got all the new Pyro stuff in Team Fortress 2 and once you start to get to grips with it the new jetpack is a joy.
I'm still shite at it.

[Ian]

It takes time to get it. I'm by no means an amazing player but it does take time and playing with people giving you advice. I learned significantly faster because I was playing with Sama than I would have done playing by myself.

[phonics]

I'm amazing at it, wonder if it runs on this piece of shit work laptop.

[Ian]

Me and Sama can often turn the tide of a match purely by being the only two who are actually coordinating. If we had a semi-competent group of us it'd be amazing.

[phonics]

I play Scout and Sniper so I'm not a great partner.

There's nothing more satisfying than getting a long range Sandman hit on a Heavy and gunning him down.

[Ian]

Divinity OS 2 definitely loses something when playing solo, and it probably doesn't help that I foolishly went for a custom character back at the start of the game. Still enjoying it though and I think I'm on the final stretch now.

Did you finish it, Disco?

[Disco]

I haven't even bought it yet, currently dipping in and out of Wasteland 2.

[Ian]

Seemingly I'm at the last stages of Shadow of War. I've got the 'last' mission to go, and then the Shadow Wars. Which I'll may start but am not anticipating finishing. I read an AV Club thing saying that The Bright Lord is kind of the main ending anyway and then the much-maligned Shadow Wars are an extra thing which will get you an extra cut-scene. Like the Riddler crap in Arkham Knight, for example. But grindier.

I'll probably try it just to see how doable it is without grind and / or microtransactions because I've had no reason to spend a penny so far.

[Shindig]

Bayonetta beaten. Rattled through it on very easy for the sake of getting it done. Will return to it on the other difficulties. Daft fun, even if it does feel like Devil May Cry with a gender swap. Looking forward to the other two hitting the Switch.

[Baz]

Keep seeing the advert for CODWWII and really can’t wait to play it all Boxing Day. :drool:

[Raoul Duke]

Seemingly I'm at the last stages of Shadow of War. I've got the 'last' mission to go, and then the Shadow Wars. Which I'll may start but am not anticipating finishing. I read an AV Club thing saying that The Bright Lord is kind of the main ending anyway and then the much-maligned Shadow Wars are an extra thing which will get you an extra cut-scene. Like the Riddler crap in Arkham Knight, for example. But grindier.

I'll probably try it just to see how doable it is without grind and / or microtransactions because I've had no reason to spend a penny so far.

I sorta stopped playing it after getting the second area opened up. Is it basically just the same thing repeated ad infinitum?

[Ian]

Pretty much. The story missions don't have enough variety either. other than one particular mission I mostly enjoyed it to the end. Though I feel like the Nemesis system should have been integral to the story (not just in the Bruz questline) given it's the best thing in the game.

I took one look at the first Shadow Wars and said "lolnope, not doing that."

And to be honest, given there is inevitably going to be a sequel I thought the 'first' ending is better than the Shadow Wars one, which I googled. The game as good as says that the Shadow Wars bit is a thankless slog and while it's pretty obvious (including quotes from the devs) that it's not necessarily the 'true' ending of the game and is an attempt to get people's money out of them I'm still not having the "think of the children!" nonsense that was getting bandied about when it first got released. It's cheap and nasty and a lot of nonsense but it's not "predatory." If it had been something key to the story and not easily ignored without missing out then yeah, I'll get pissed off.

[Ian]

RPS review suggests whoever's done the HD swish-ifying of Okami for PC has nailed it. That's going on the list.

EDIT: Also I know zombies are a bit yawn but this is something different and looks like it could be fun:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=93&v=4MmFslPILuM

Like if Rebuild was an RTS.

[Boydy]

Pro Evo 2016 (old now, I know but I've got a good master league game going) seems to have stopped working for me. It gets to the Konami screen as it loads up and then just crashes. I've googled around and tried loads of different things (including reinstalling) but nothing seems to work. Anyone have any ideas?

EDIT: On PC.

[Raoul Duke]

Pro Evo 2016 (old now, I know but I've got a good master league game going) seems to have stopped working for me. It gets to the Konami screen as it loads up and then just crashes. I've googled around and tried loads of different things (including reinstalling) but nothing seems to work. Anyone have any ideas?

EDIT: On PC.

Disable your internet and retry it. Probably some calling home shit.

[Boydy]

Disable your internet and retry it. Probably some calling home shit.

You have to be connected to play the game. It won't let you play offline. That's another problem people often have with it.

[Raoul Duke]

Have they killed the servers? Maybe they just shat on your chips remotely.

[Boydy]

No idea. I bought the new one anyway.

It doesn't run properly on my PC. :(

[Pepe]

:harold:

[Pepe]

Just get Fifa and be done with it.

[Boydy]

I tried the demo of the latest FIFA last night. Didn't like it at all.

[Pepe]

Fair enough. Haven't played any football games in a while, but last time I did I liked Fifa better, although I am not exactly sure why. It just felt better. Ultimately it probably boils down to which one you're used to.

[Pleb]

RPS review suggests whoever's done the HD swish-ifying of Okami for PC has nailed it. That's going on the list.
It looks beautiful as fuck. Apparently the game is locked to 30FPS which isn't putting people off from buying the game.

[Ian]

Anybody refusing to buy a game for that reason would probably be in need of a slap anyway.

[Shindig]

Yeah, I hate that grasping for 60 frames like it's some holy grail. My first experience of Half-Life 2 was on the Xbox at 10-15 frames a second and I loved watching it barely keep its shit together.

[Ian]

I don't upgrade my PC until it renders new games unplayable. If the graphics are a bit iffy but relatively smooth I'm happy.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Trying to play Skyrim on my old laptop at about 5 fps was fucking incredible. I couldn't even make it up the curved stairs right at the start of the game as I kept falling to the bottom.

[Ian]

Whichever PC I played Skyrim on was absolutely fine for it other than whichever city it was that seemed to be made up entirely of open-plan stone staircases and that rig did not like that place one bit.

My first attempt at a PC gaming experience was before I understood that buying games for PC was not like buying games for a console so I just picked up Outcast from Woolies. It did not go well. Wouldn't even install it, as I recall. Still never played it. I got a refund and then ended up using the money to buy Championship Manager 97/98. Not because I thought I'd like it. I thought quite the opposite. More because it was football and I thought our piece of shit Tiny PC would run it.

And of course the rest is history, as are the thousands of hours I've wasted on CM/FM games.

[Shindig]

I hate how my PC is too good to run Far Cry and Mafia.

[Ian]

I should go and play the opening bit of Crysis 3. New PC since I played it the first time and I bet it looks swanky.

[Ian]

This is ace:
https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2017/12/21/elite-dangerous-rescue-mission-christmas/

And I love the sound of this:
https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2017/12/21/phantom-doctrine-preview-2/

[Boydy]

Got Pro Evo 2018 working in the end. Sort of. It works fine in windowed mode for some reason. I don't like it that much though. It feels slower and generally just worse than 2016's version. Ugh.

[ItalAussie]

Just finished Star Control II again, and re-playing X-COM (the original).

Picked up psi-labs really early this time around, which means things should go more smoothly than my last abortive attempt.

[Disco]

Do you use Open X-COM? So many quality of life tweaks for UFO and TFTD.

[Ian]

Just finished Star Control II again, and re-playing X-COM (the original).

Picked up psi-labs really early this time around, which means things should go more smoothly than my last abortive attempt.

Have you played the new ones?

[ItalAussie]

Have you played the new ones?

I haven't. Do they play like the original?

[Ian]

I haven't played a huge amount of the original but I believe the answer, in short, is no. The style of gameplay is broadly the same but certainly as we get to the point of the most recent expansion (which I've yet to play) there is more room for power-fantasy-with-permadeath.

Here's the original RPS review for the first of the new ones, written by Alec Meer who was a huge fan of the originals and makes reference to that:
https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/10/08/xcom-review/

XCOM: Enemy Unknown is currently less than £4 in the Steam sale, unless anything in that review massively puts you off I'd say it's worth a bash at that price. It's probably also the one most like the originals before Firaxis really started to make their own thing of it, which is possibly part of the reason they consciously changed the formatting of the title.

[Boydy]

I've not played any of the XCOM games but I see Xenonauts is on sale on Steam. It's meant to be like the early XCOM games, I think. Any of you played it? Is it good?

[Ian]

I think it's a bit more like the original X-Com but also not as good as either that or new XCOM.

[Disco]

Yeah Xenonauts was a fan made remake of UFO started during the bleak years when all anyone wanted was a modern version. That is now available through mods and Open XCOM so if you're looking for something more like the original then a modded version of it is you;re best bet. The new ones are very different games from UFO and TFTD.

[Boydy]

I bought it anyway. It was only £4 or so. I had it on my wishlist for a while as the premise intrigued me enough without being a fan of the XCOM games.

[Shindig]

Some unused dialogue got revealed for Bloodborne today. Turns out everyone's been saying 'Ebrietas' wrong.

[Boydy]

PES 2018 has stopped working for me now on PC. Konami can go and fuck themselves.

[Disco]

Did we just see a genuine 'Fuck Konami' develop organically?

[Pleb]

Isn't PES shit anyway? #sorrymike

[phonics]

Got a Giant Bomb subscription for Christmas. Any reccomendos Mike ?

Currently deciding whether to use Christmas money get a PS4 or use that to upgrade the PC I'm building from a 1050 to a 1080.

[ItalAussie]

I haven't played a huge amount of the original but I believe the answer, in short, is no. The style of gameplay is broadly the same but certainly as we get to the point of the most recent expansion (which I've yet to play) there is more room for power-fantasy-with-permadeath.

Here's the original RPS review for the first of the new ones, written by Alec Meer who was a huge fan of the originals and makes reference to that:
https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/10/08/xcom-review/

XCOM: Enemy Unknown is currently less than £4 in the Steam sale, unless anything in that review massively puts you off I'd say it's worth a bash at that price. It's probably also the one most like the originals before Firaxis really started to make their own thing of it, which is possibly part of the reason they consciously changed the formatting of the title.

It doesn't look bad, but it doesn't grab me as something I desperately need to play immediately. I'll get around to it at some stage I imagine, but the first one is a bit special.

[Pleb]

RPS review suggests whoever's done the HD swish-ifying of Okami for PC has nailed it. That's going on the list.


It looks beautiful as fuck. Apparently the game is locked to 30FPS which isn't putting people off from buying the game.
It's fucking gorgeous :drool:

Played 40mins(ish) of it last night and controls pretty well without an issue so far.

[Ian]

So I finished Divinity. It's really an incredible game. Can't wait to see what they do with the third.

I bought Fire Pro and am enjoying it a lot. it's a totally different kind of system to what 2K use (even ignoring the graphical difference) and takes a bit of getting used to. The striking is wonky as fuck but otherwise it ends up being quite intuitive after initially seeming very obtuse.

Lastly, I've started Dishonored: Death of the Outsider. I'll be interested to see where the story goes and if they give me any particularly interesting new abilities. I really liked the slight twist you got playing as Emily in 2.

[Mike]

Spent a few hours playing What Remains of Edith Finch. I loved it. Some of the stories where brilliantly done. The guy in the fish factory might have been my favourite.

[Mike]

Got a Giant Bomb subscription for Christmas. Any reccomendos Mike ?

Currently deciding whether to use Christmas money get a PS4 or use that to upgrade the PC I'm building from a 1050 to a 1080.

Sorry for the late reply.

Watch anything with Vinny in of course. Phatasmagoria and BioForge are amazing. The opening of BioForge was on a UPF but you can miss that. Watch the whole of the Contradiction: Spot the Liar! play, it starts in the quicklook and then they carry on for premium.
The Mario Party videos are good, but very very long. Drew storming off was good :D
The current Mario Sunshine stuff is good as are all the battlegrounds videos.
Drew's Korea trip video is good too. As are the flight sim things, Flight Club I think.

More recent stuff, the GBeast playdates are always good. UPF's aren't the best.
Enjoy :D

[Shindig]

I keep thinking about one whenever they're on sale but I watch enough tat as it is. Or I've seen the best bits on compilation videos.

[phonics]

I decided to watch the Yakuza series as I know I'll never play it. It's very good, I've been watching Sunshine when I get tired of reading subtitles.

[Mike]

Bioforge next. For some old school classic Vinny. The UPF section it started on he discovered that walking backwards moved much quicker than forwards.

[wullie]

Got UFC 2 in the PSN sale for £8. I have absolutely no idea about what I'm doing grapple wise or what I should be doing, but it's all so satisfyingly meaty to play. I've played Splatterhouse, Mortal Kombat, Manhunt and shot several people in the face in games over the years, but posturing up and elbowing someone repeatedly in the face in this is by far the most gruesome feeling I've had in a game.

[John]

The underarm punches from 'back side' position are quite brutal too.

The most satisfying feeling in the game though is when you put together a fluid combo that ends with a knockdown.

[wullie]

I don't know if it's the style of fighter I chose or most likely my own fecklessness but I've got absolutely nowhere with submissions so far, in career mode I've won twice by decision and the rest via TKO. I've got no tactics at all so my player is throwing slow wheezy kicks and somehow getting away with it. My best so far was a 35 second win where he was on the floor with his feet up and I dived over and smacked him in the chops and then just hammered him until it was stopped, he didn't even put up a fight.

The career mode looks a bit more comprehensive in 3, might end up picking it up.

[John]

Making heavy use of L2 to duck and dodge and just throwing the odd punch or kick until the opportunity opens up for a more sustained combination is the way to go. If you're murdering your stamina bar by just whacking away you'll get tonked when you go up a difficulty and the computer suddenly knows how to block.

[wullie]

This is basically my fight style in the early days of my career

https://frinkiac.com/gif/S06E08/835484/839020.gif


I've got it set to adaptive difficulty so hopefully that works as intended and it just gently nudges me towards competence, I remember one of the older Undisputed games made me feel like I'd been dropped right in the deep end whereas this is a little more forgiving and intuitive so far.

[John]

One more word of advice, train punch and kick speed early and often. It's far easier to overwhelm someone with lots of quick, low impact punches than it is to land one whopper when it comes in like you're punching through water.

That way you can just pop a jab out between blocks or dodges and be pretty sure it'll land and do some damage. Land enough jabs on one side and you begin to cut them up, at which point punches to that side do more damage and they take longer to recover.

[wullie]

Ace, cheers. I've been trying to cover all bases just to be even, but if I'm steering clear of submissions anyway it makes sense to focus on striking.

[John]

If you're focusing on striking just get your takedown and submission defense up, then whatever they call the defensive grappling stat. You should be able to avoid takedowns most of the time, and the odd time you do go down you can evade submissions long enough to pop back up.

Go back to rounding your guy out once you get the important stuff for your play style up.

[Ian]

So Death of the Outsider gives you yet another variant on teleporting. And you can, I discovered to my shock, Displace yourself INTO somebody and, erm, well....

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/918038954236013698/11C89E24A670DAF4F6086A6E2CB87B3BAF1E880B/

I hadn't at that point worked out where his head or torso had gone.

[Smiffy]

There is a sale on in the PS Store so I bought Grim Fandango, Limbo and currently downloading Rocket League. I did a minor victory dance when I saw Manny Calavera.

[Dark Soldier]

Should've got Inside instead of Limbo, best game of 2016.

[phonics]

Dark Souls Remaster to be released on all consoles and PC.

Should be fun, I've never played the original.

[SincereTheRebel]

Just picked up gran turismo and first impressions. Its ordinary and im disappointed. Also picked up hitman which ive wanted to play for a while.

[Shindig]

Dark Souls Remaster to be released on all consoles and PC.

Should be fun, I've never played the original.

You're in for a treat. Probably. The original had such a specific feel and they've switched engines since. I might grab it.

[ItalAussie]

There is a sale on in the PS Store so I bought Grim Fandango, Limbo and currently downloading Rocket League. I did a minor victory dance when I saw Manny Calavera.

I'm so glad Grim Fandango exists. I'd love to see a version of it with an expanded fourth act though.

[Magic]

I just ragequit a game for the first time since like 2007. Gran Turismo 5, ps3. feels good man.