General gaming discussion

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I should have knocked Cuno out but I didn't.

I regret that decision very much.

[Pepe]

I know the feeling.

Although on my second run I tried to knock the cunt down and failed miserably, so count your blessings.

[Ian]

Disco Elysium probably makes my top 10 ever if I were to try and think of a list.

[Pepe]

I would agree with that.

[Shindig]

Now I know why people hate the Water Temple in Ocarina of Time. Bit of a fiddle, isn't it?

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Disco Elysium probably makes my top 10 ever if I were to try and think of a list.

Well you haven't played "Strawberry Vinegar" yet.

[Shindig]

According to my review scores, the best game I've reviewed so far this year is Telling Lies. The worst is a tie between Strawberry Vinegar and Dawn of Fear. I feel bad for the latter being lumped in such company.

It's been a slow year.

[Dark Soldier]

Disco Elysium is phenomenal, still not finished it, been playing it intermittently. Currently on a quest to do karaoke.

Playing as a shambolic superstar cop who believes and trusts his own ego in every instance.

[Ian]

I need to do another Disco Elysium run where I really lean into electrochemistry. Though I also want to do one where I go really heavy on the physical stuff (definitely not just to give Cuno a slap....) Decisions, decisions.

Also The more I play of Thief the more there are things that annoy me. Some of it's just world / level design, stuff that is clearly being done to game-ify the setting even though it makes no sense when considering the logic of the story. Others are little things like it sometimes costs you more in items to get to a bit of hidden loot than it rewards you for doing it, and the City has just been taken over by a different set of lads wo (according to the story) are sort of the good guys led by a fella who apparently likes you but they'll still kill you on site.

I also don't like it when games like this (see also Hitman Absolution) do forced fails, either in the levels or as part of the story. Why can't my master thief stop getting fucking caught?

I'll probably finish it and these are a collection of small annoyances on top of a gameplay loop I find largely agreeable but yeah, the reviews it got are making a lot of sense.

[Kikó]

You owe me an apology

Sir Andy Mahowry
Shindig









Baz
phonics

Two years later and the Gran Turismo Sport platinum trophy is officially mine.

Gran Turismo Sport Update - Week 124

1046 online races finished
255 online races won
152 online pole positions

100% driving school
100% mission challenge
100% circuit experience
409 offline GT League wins

591 driving hours
56243 miles driven
2.23 million of Gran Turismo XP earned

:joy:


Forgot to mention that this is awesome. I totally love pointless grinding - great effort!

[SincereTheRebel]

Pointless?!?

Im deeplly offended.

[Kikó]

Sorry you are right. :) It was completely on point.

[Disco]

Yes. Hadn't seen an update on that in a while, glad you kept going.

[SincereTheRebel]

I did want to finish it before PS5 came out once i realised how much of grind it was. I didnt think it would have been possible as i slowed down the miles dramatically. Given the circumstances i found myself in, i took the opportunity. I was doing about 500 miles per day on average over a 90 day period.

[Baz]

Just seen it. Awesome!

[Shindig]

That is absolutely nuts. I can't even keep up with the daily workouts on that. 500 miles a day is staggering.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Just got a hat and I think it completes the look:

https://i.imgur.com/6o6Apdc.png

:cool:

[phonics]

My Hard-Drive crashed a while back so I just got a 1TB SSD.

Having to download 208GB of Call of Duty is insane, they have to do something about this shit.

[Giggles]

Just discovered SSC2020 has controller support :cool:

[Mike]

Anyone picked up the Command and Conquer Remastered?

[Shindig]

Nah, but it does look quite nice.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Felt like I was in a hole in Disco Elysium as it seemed that most of the stuff that was in the journal couldn't be done until the next day and Kitsuragi had left for the day. However, I went down a Cuno rabbit hole (fuck that kid) and it feels like I've done a huge amount on day 2.

[Kikó]

Do we have a list of user names on xbox ?

Wouldn't mind adding a few for gaming at some point.

[Ian]

I've given up on Thief. All the annoyances and things I just feel apathetic about are stacking up against the bits I was enjoying.

Dunno what to start next because unless the reviews are shit I'll probably be getting Desperados 3 next week.

[phonics]

Just seen this Ian and I think it'll be very much your shit.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mc2hz3LJhTY

BTW if you're looking for games to play, I think you can get the new Prey for cheap which might be up your alley.

[SincereTheRebel]

GT Sport was the biggest grinding game ive ever done, but not the hardest. GT 5 was ridiculous. Some of the races such as the Vettel challenges were near impossible on a control pad. You had several offline 24 hour races you had to complete. They even had the balls to have an online 16-hour race where you had to finish top 3.

[Shindig]

I'm curious to see what structure GT7 takes. I've not fully enjoyed them since they ditched the Car Pokemon style of GT1-4. When you could do your licenses and use prize cars to rattle the percentages off without spending credits. They got away from that. So did Forza as well. In their case they had hundreds of events but only dozens of rewards.

In other news, Assetto Corsa Competizione getting a console release completely passed me by.

[Lofty]

Last of Us 2 getting stellar reviews but a couple of dissenters popping up, and not for the obvious stuff. Deep sale for me I think.

[Ian]

Just seen this Ian and I think it'll be very much your shit.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mc2hz3LJhTY

BTW if you're looking for games to play, I think you can get the new Prey for cheap which might be up your alley.

Gameplay-wise it looks very much my bag, it's just the loop thing I'm not sure. I love Arkane though so I hope so!

And new Prey? Mooncrash?

[Ian]

https://youtu.be/_rkopP_9qis

This very much looks like it could be my jam.

Also: RPS gave Desperados 3 a glowing review. :drool:

Also also:
https://assets.rockpapershotgun.com/images/2020/06/star-wars-squadrons-full-leak.jpg

Please please please please be something Rogue Squadron-y.

[Mike]

The future games show is starting now
https://www.twitch.tv/gamesradar

https://youtu.be/D_wo_EYfqAY

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I just got the "Unbelievably boring fuck" achievement on Disco Elysium, it feels like a personal attack :(

[Ian]

I didn't, because I'm such a laugh.

[Kikó]

I just realised the xbox insider thing existed today and that I can stream to my laptop/phone. Why have I never known about this before?

[Raoul Duke]

Racism

[Shindig]

Viewtiful Joe's coming to a close. I like that game. It's right in the pile of 'Games with tricky combat systems that I say I'll revisit and then never do'. I'm strangely looking forward to The Last of Us 2, as well. Fuck playing 25 hours of it, though.

[Ian]

Did a bit of The Light Keeps Us Safe on Saturday and it's not for me. I basically like and dislike the same things about it as I did Sir, You Are Being Hunted. Dipping in and out of procgen maps to gather shit without dying to take back to a central hub isn't a game loop that appeals to me when done this way at all. Which is a shame, because I love the look of the thing and the atmosphere, etc.

If I don't wait for payday to buy Desperados 3 then I'll start on Pyre seeing as I got it in Itch's ludicrous BLM bundle.

[Ian]

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2020/06/15/star-wars-squadrons-announced-today/

Apparently it will have a single player compaign and 5v5 multiplayer.

I'm guessing the single-player will be some throwaway shite to lure people in the multiplayer but fingers crossed.

[Pepe]

Rally The Third Hard troops.

[Disco]

Did a bit of The Light Keeps Us Safe on Saturday and it's not for me. I basically like and dislike the same things about it as I did Sir, You Are Being Hunted. Dipping in and out of procgen maps to gather shit without dying to take back to a central hub isn't a game loop that appeals to me when done this way at all. Which is a shame, because I love the look of the thing and the atmosphere, etc.

If I don't wait for payday to buy Desperados 3 then I'll start on Pyre seeing as I got it in Itch's ludicrous BLM bundle.

Did you ever get very far with Wasteland 2?

[phonics]

Did a bit of The Light Keeps Us Safe on Saturday and it's not for me. I basically like and dislike the same things about it as I did Sir, You Are Being Hunted. Dipping in and out of procgen maps to gather shit without dying to take back to a central hub isn't a game loop that appeals to me when done this way at all. Which is a shame, because I love the look of the thing and the atmosphere, etc.

If I don't wait for payday to buy Desperados 3 then I'll start on Pyre seeing as I got it in Itch's ludicrous BLM bundle.

I bought said bundle.

Jesus Christ is Celeste over-rated.

[Ian]

Pyre was the thing made me go "Cool, I'll get that." I suspect I won't like Celeste as much as the hype but I'll give it a go at some point.


Did you ever get very far with Wasteland 2?

I played 6 or 7 hours but I wasn't getting into it.I think it was a bunch of small stuff that was stopping it grabbing me rather than anything major but I lost enthusiasm for going back to it which is a shame because early doors I thought it'd be very much.

Also I learned today that Larian have been little mini-amounts of DLC and have now added one that gives you four swish sets of armour and a new questline with a big undead dragon boss at the end.

What I don't need is DOS2 luring me in for a third go.

[Disco]

I know what you mean, I liked the setting and the mechanics but there's basically no story to speak of which kind of lets it down.

[Ian]

I think that while I broadly liked the gameplay I was finding things slightly hard work, like fairly simple tasks were taking an unnecessary extra click or two. I reckon that despite the story seeming to boil down to "Well this apocalypse is a bit shit, eh?" that had it been a bit slicker I'd have probably stuck with it.

[phonics]

Pyre was the thing made me go "Cool, I'll get that." I suspect I won't like Celeste as much as the hype but I'll give it a go at some point.

I've heard it gets better with power unlocks but it opens looking like it should control like Super Meat Boy and controls like an Atari 7600 version of Mario.


What I don't need is DOS2 luring me in for a third go.

Baldurs Gate 3 is out in August. Looks mega.

[Ian]

It really does.

[Disco]

The cowboy game and BG3 are the only things I've seen announced that I'm vaguely interested in, I may actually get around to playing the first two at this rate.

[Shindig]

I was watching that big Games Radar thing the other day and so much of it just flew right past me. There's too much on the PC to even digest. I had a look at that gigantic itch.io bundle for Racial Equality and there was maybe 3 games I had heard of or was interested in.

[Ian]

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2020/06/17/beatdown-beatdown-beatdown-beatdown/

https://youtu.be/zgWOdpShmow

This is superb.

[randomlegend]

I knew Monster Hunter would hook into my addictive side. I've played nearly 70 hours so far.

[Disco]

I was watching that big Games Radar thing the other day and so much of it just flew right past me. There's too much on the PC to even digest. I had a look at that gigantic itch.io bundle for Racial Equality and there was maybe 3 games I had heard of or was interested in.

I'm not fussed about new releases at the best of times, there's not even time to play them all so I might as well wait until they've been patched a few times and are actually finished.

On that note, I've just started the first Mass Effect. Question for those who've played it; Should I care about getting a mix of angry/nice points or are there more benefits to sticking to one or the other?

[Ian]

I didn't realise you'd never played them before.

Just try and fill one up. But in true Bioware style there's often not much nuance to the Renegade stuff so especially in ME1 I don't remember many of those options being that appealing anyway. It gets a bit better on that front in later games.

Also if you're starting to find some of the side stuff a grind (and the Mako a steaming heap of shit) then do what I did on my third attempt when I finally finished the game and just ignore the "go to this random planet and do some shit" unless it's for a character quest. It's a shame because the odd one does have characters that reappear and remember your decisions later but Christ some of that stuff is grindy.

[Disco]

Understood. I'm still on the big impractical space station at the beginning so I don't think I've been let loose yet but I've already noticed that the dialogue options are often not that representative.

[Shindig]

Yeah, I would say do what you feel but the choices boil down to "Do you want to punch this person or fuck them?"

[Disco]

I've already had a massive go at some guy over his dead wife so I think the trend is set. I'm right in thinking this is like Dragon Age and I can take the same character/choices through multiple games?

[Shindig]

Yep. To the point where, two games from now, bit-part characters will crop up to say, "HEY! I REMEMBER THAT THING YOU DID!"

[Kikó]

Jesus, reminds me how much I loved Mass Effect. The first two were brilliant.

[Gray Fox]

Isn't it helpful in ME1 to go full Paragon? I know it's old but will spoiler:

Don't you need full Paragon to save the Krogan(Wrex?) that goes mad towards the end?

You can also talk Saren down in the first battle with him. I could be wrong as it's been a while.

[Disco]

That would be a shame but I've already assumed there will be some plot deaths.

Spoilers fine btw, they're old enough by now.

[Ian]

Isn't that a loyalty thing rather than Paragon / Renegade, Fox?

[Shindig]

I think so. I didn't save him but I think it was just a normal dialogue tree.

[Ian]

I think you need to have done his mission for it to work.

Not saving Wrex. :nono:

[Shindig]

It's almost as if you wander into decisions by accident in these games.

[Ian]

Excuses, excuses, MONSTER. Is Wreav a total dickhead to deal with?

I am trying to hold off on Desperados until payday so I've started Pyre from the BLM bundle and am really enjoying it. The Rites game thing could be a little slicker but other than that I like what they're showing of the setting and the characters, etc.

[Disco]

Wrex is the big fish guy right? He seems cool so far so I'll see what I can do.

[Shindig]

Wrex is the Krogan. They're off-brand Klingons with tiny dinosaur arms.

[Disco]

He's a big fish guy and I won't be told different.

[Mike]

I wouldn’t tell him to his face.

[Lofty]

The only way to do Mass Effect is make your Shepard a Phil Mitchell lookalike Renegade.

[Shindig]

It wouldn't work. There's no dialogue option just to sigh.

[Disco]

Early Impressions: The pistol seems to be the best weapon, it's so far the only one that hits anything at any sort of range with any degree of consistency. One vehicle section in and it can already do one, although it is the only entity in the galaxy able to jump (which wouldn't be so bad if the level designers didn't put so many insurmountable ledges in the game) so I suppose that's something. I also don't seem to be able to drop a weapon, which seems odd but ok. The PC port seems a bit poo, the UI in particular is fairly terrible and it runs like shit for such an old game.

Minor gripes for the most part though as the plot is just starting to kick off.

[Shindig]

I didn't mind the Mako stuff but the vehicle combat is a little clumsy. As for the gear you can't drop, I naturally hoard stuff anyway. And then reduce it all to omnigel.

[Gray Fox]

ME2 is a big upgrade on 1, but the story is worth playing 1 for.

I was tempted to get ME2/3 for a replay while I dont really have internet for a few days but Microsoft can fuck off having ME3 as £20.

[Disco]

I didn't mind the Mako stuff but the vehicle combat is a little clumsy. As for the gear you can't drop, I naturally hoard stuff anyway. And then reduce it all to omnigel.

I've been doing that but I mean if I don't want to bother with shotguns for example I still seem to have to carry one about.

Seeing as you mention it, regarding currencies, do I care more about omni-gel or cash? Cash seems fairly useless so far and the gel can be used to open stuff when I inevitably fail the traditionally terrible hacking mini-game.

[Disco]

ME2 is a big upgrade on 1, but the story is worth playing 1 for.

I was tempted to get ME2/3 for a replay while I dont really have internet for a few days but Microsoft can fuck off having ME3 as £20.

Yeah, it's got a definite 'first entry' feel but I definitely want to finish it before moving onto 2.

[Shindig]

I can't remember if I spent much time buying guns as opposed to finding them. I'd keep some money back just in case.

[Ian]

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2020/06/22/fda-approves-marketing-a-videogame-as-medicine-for-the-first-time/

Interesting.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

RIP Mixer.

[Shindig]

Assetto Corsa Competizione is cool. I like how it really, really tries to prime you for competitive racing. "Do some hotlaps. Here's a bunch of charts and feedback to tell you if you're being consistent. If you're consistent, you're clean." Although the countdown they give for offline races is completely unnecessary.

[Ian]

Chris Avellone apparently added to the creepy bastard list with the implication being that he tries to play the big shot at events, get women hammered and then take advantage.

[Pepe]

Assetto Corsa Competizione is cool. I like how it really, really tries to prime you for competitive racing. "Do some hotlaps. Here's a bunch of charts and feedback to tell you if you're being consistent. If you're consistent, you're clean." Although the countdown they give for offline races is completely unnecessary.

I have yet to play it. There are just too many options. I've been seeing some good sales lately, so it is only a matter of time.

[Yevrah]

Loving Jim Sterling calling out games being absolute bilge compared to movies for their storylines.

[Shindig]

I have yet to play it. There are just too many options. I've been seeing some good sales lately, so it is only a matter of time.

It's the first sim I've played that really, really means it when they say, "Avoid the curbs."

[Disco]

Isn't that a bit dumb though, lots of them offer similar grip to the track irl.

[Baz]

Twitch have sold Curseforge to something called Overwolf, which seems to have very unfavourable reviews.

So long as I can still easily update my WoW addons at the click of the button, I don’t mind, but I’m not hopeful.

[Shindig]

Turns out it's only when the tyre pressures are low and your ground clearance is lower. I've had two races around Zolder on beginner or something. Easy first win but slipped to 4th after binning it in the second race. I wondered if the AI being so slow would ruin coming through the field but they're aware and give you the space to come through. It just reminds me how thick I am with most racing games. I'll try and pass anywhere but, on this, I'm having to stick with lining up passes at places that are safe to do so.

Once I get more track knowledge, I'll start upping the AI and give online a shot. I've also sped through the pitlane once. I've now mapped my pitlane limiter to the pad and crawl in. I assume there's a setting somewhere that allows you to jump the rolling start as well. I've been held back which means there's no reason not to keep the pedal down for the perfect start.

[Ian]

Despite the actual Rites (the sport-y bit) being a bit wonky to control I'm really enjoying Pyre.

The system for letting you choose who gets to be released from exile is really interesting. You don't want to let your best players for the Rites go but what if they're most likely to help you toward a good ending, or you've discovered that their exile was especially unjust and want to send them home? For a story / 'meaningful' decisions wonk like me it's lovely stuff.

[Ian]

There's a Disco Elysium TV show in the works apparently. That really could be either a 10/10 or a 0. Would be so easy to make an absolute disaster of a show out of that.

Speaking of Discos (amazing segue), I'm guessing Disco enjoyed Mass Effect well enough as I see he's now on ME2. Playing that for the first time. :drool:

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

That was seamless.

[Shindig]

Two of the greatest characters in gaming are in that.

[Ian]

Which two you thinking, Shinners? I can probably guess but I'll ask first anyway.


That was seamless.

Cheers, mate.

[Shindig]

The cool Salarian doctor and the cool chainsmoking cool guy who proves smoking is cool.

[Ian]

Didn't expect Illusive Man to be one of them. Mordin is awesome though.

[Shindig]

Some of the returning cast step up but none of them have an office overlooking an exploding sun.

[Giggles]

I’m after forgetting to cancel the Xbox game pass and now got charged the full month whack (had got it for a euro), and I can’t even play the fucking thing.

[phonics]

I’m after forgetting to cancel the Xbox game pass and now got charged the full month whack (had got it for a euro), and I can’t even play the fucking thing.

Seeing as you've got it here are a few games I think you might like and won't struggle with controls etc.

They're all very different so take a peek, I put a mixture of action games, old school stuff, sports/car stuff and a card game or two.

https://i.imgur.com/Hk6VkZw.png

[Shindig]

ACC's mid-session save is apparently not a mid-session save. Bang goes 40 minutes at Monza. And they've botched refuelling a bit. "Hey, let's add 16 laps. Oh, it's litres? Would've been nice to know that. Fuck."

[Disco]

Didn't expect Illusive Man to be one of them. Mordin is awesome though.

Martin Sheen can fuck off, I'm playing to the end of this game on the off-chance I get to punch his smug face off. As in the first game, Garrus + fish bloke is the only combo you need (maybe snake-man, he's ok).

[Ian]

Garrus is ace and your re-introduction to him in ME2 is brilliant. Mordin's still the best though.

Finished Pyre and really loved it despite the Rites needing a bit more of a rethink. Luckily you can level some of your characters in such a way that they become largely trivial. There was a decision near the end that I genuinely took the best part of five minutes making.

[Shindig]

I've err... got another Visual Novel to review. This one's about a dog. Please don't fuck the dog.

[Ian]

Mate, they're gonna fuck the dog.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

And/or kill it.

[Shindig]

Nice, I've been disqualified from my first endurance race in ACC. I went through the pits four times (two for manditory pitstops, a third because I missed my box and a fourth because the first pit I did didn't count). Then I was disqualified because ... reasons. Also, the game decided, unlike the other races, fuel wasn't a going concern. But I still had to refuel in my pitstops. And even though they animate four wheels being changed on the car, they actually weren't.

Fuck me.

[Disco]

They must have heard about your dog-noncing.

[Shindig]

Well, I've got 6 hours of Paul Ricard next. Punishment.

[Pepe]

Shindig. :D

Is it broken then? Been out long enough that you'd expect it to work.

[Giggles]

Seeing as you've got it here are a few games I think you might like and won't struggle with controls etc.

They're all very different so take a peek, I put a mixture of action games, old school stuff, sports/car stuff and a card game or two.



My controller is wankered so I can’t play anything. Don’t know what happened it, but I was loving Forza before it stopped going left.

[Shindig]

Shindig. :D

Is it broken then? Been out long enough that you'd expect it to work.

I don't think so. I think it was just a little poor at explaining, "Hey, in this race your mandatory pitstops need a driver change, tire change and refuelling." The Paul Ricard one doesn't inform me I now need to pick a strategy. The one they've given me has 25 minute driver stints so I'll have disobey it to stand any chance of winning.

[Pepe]

I guess it has more to do with the real series having weird rules then.

[Vercetti]

Last Of Us 2 was a bit meh.

Decent, but overly long. Big chunks that could easily have been cut out completely. I'm all for building a story, but it helps if I give a shit about that story in the first place.

Ending wasn't my cup of tea, either.

[Yevrah]

Jim Sterling's video on writing in video games being sub par wank is so bang on.

[Shindig]

"In a world where game narratives are John Wick, this is Schindler's list."

It's John Wick. It is literally John Wick.

[Ian]

To kill time until I hurl a load of money at Desperados 3 I bought Unavowed in the sale. It's got the things I like about adventure games (interesting setting, good writing, good characters) without all the obtuse puzzles that require leaps in logic that I'm never going to make. The puzzles / quests have all been sensible so far, so I'm in favour.

It's pretty funny too.

[Shindig]

I've started the Shiba Inu 'game'. There's a horrendous boredom that permeates all visual novels and this one has genuinely awful dog puns.

[Mazuuurk]

Still fucking about with Red Dead Redemption 2. I find it moves a little too slow, but at the same time as soon as I start playing I get distracted by exploring the landscape or go sit and play poker for about half an hour or so before realising shit what am I doing.


Anyway, I've also just read that Baldurs Gate 3 will "likely not run on PS4" which is absolutely breaking my heart. Maybe I need to get a PC...

[Ian]

Join the Master Race, Maz.

[Mazuuurk]

Used to always be. But with kids running around, I dunno, playing casually in the sofa is so much more doable. It's a pain having a PC standing around with small kids as they go and prod it and push the power button on and off all the time, etc.

And - I've become a tad vain - I don't feel I have a good spot at home to put a desk and a whole massive PC right now.

[Ian]

Just make one of the kids live in a cupboard and use their room as a gaming space.

That Harry Potter kid lived in a cupboard and I'm sure everything worked out fine for him.

[phonics]

Been playing Sea of Thieves. Here’s a clip of me and my friend (clip didn’t pick up his mic so it’s just me commentating)

https://streamable.com/bm8bj9

[Ian]

Unavowed finished. It's a little bit "your choices matter but not really" in terms of how the final bit plays out, it seems, but I still liked it a lot.

Onto Desperados 3. Only had time for the tutorial and the first mission but it's off to a good start, and so far my characters are 100% hatted which is important.

[Ian]

UK government (the Lords, at least) saying loot boxes should be treated as gambling. Hopefully we go full-Belgium and ban them altogether.

Dunno what that'd mean for FIFA, mind. They might need to pivot their CCG to focus on that weird 'football' minigame that, so far as I can tell, nobody actually plays any more.

[Disco]

That's all 3 Mass Effect games done.

Not bad as a series, although they never quite got the annoying niggly mechanics out of their system and it's probably at the wrong end the Bioware scale storywise. I seem to remember people griping about the end of the third game but I couldn't quite see why (unless it was the super-dumb 'maybe you're not dead' sting at the end), the second had far more frustrating railroading and annoying characters that I was never going to care about.

[Shindig]

I think it was the wild expectation that choices should matter and the starchild's 'which coloured door do you want?' pissed them off. Nerd moaning, mostly.

[Disco]

There felt like plenty of choices that mattered, certainly leading up to that point, I've only seen the ending I chose but I assume you just get a slightly different cut-scene (you know, like in all videogames ever and presumably the first two games). The Geth/Quarian choice and the Krogan/Salarian thing that seemed like they could go various ways depending on what you'd done previously plus all the extra stuff that (I assume, I don't plan to play them again to find out) affects who survives and who turns up to help at the end.

[Shindig]

Yeah, they tie things up. I feel whenever a game ending is moaned about, it's because the ending they were given is different to their head cannon / fan fiction. See MGSV, Last of Us 2, etc.

[Disco]

Didn't MGSV have grampas fist fighting on a battleship? How do you better that?

I can somewhat sympathise with that sort of thing though, ME2 pissed me off a few times as it seemed to think I should trust someone who lived in the space equivalent of a hollowed out volcano and had already been outed as a proper wrong'un.

[Shindig]

That was MGS4. MGSV was "Surprise, you're not Big Boss after all!"

[Disco]

Fuck off :D Kojima is such a hack, as if that was ever in doubt.

[Shindig]

He needed a way to get retcon one of Big Boss' many deaths. "A-ha, you didn't kill the real one in first game! SMART!"

EDIT: That Visual novel about dogs is done. Summer with the Shibu Inu, it's called. I'll say this: Nothing about it is creepy. It's just a normal story that could've been told with people but they went with dogs so they could deliver some genuinely awful dog puns. Felt a bit like a slog, though. Glad it's over.

[Baz]

Ahn’Qiraj coming to WoW Classic on July 28th. It triggers a massive event where both factions on the server must turn in items and complete quests (an absolute ton of work) and originally it took EU servers 7 days to do it. Genuinely wouldn’t be surprised if it was less than half that on Classic.

Can’t wait anyway. I’ve no intention to get involved in the war effort but will definitely try to raid the 20 man and 40 man version of AQ. When they introduced Zul’Gurub, the excitement quickly died off cos there was no really good loot that was introduced with it, but AQ is a whole new ballgame. Sooo much loot, sooo many difficult boss mechanics, can’t wait. :drool:

[Baz]

Not sure on the ins and outs of it but a Twitter account @watchbrime recently teased about a new streaming platform to rival Twitch/mixer, rumoured to be started by some top streamers like Dr Disrespect. Cue me having watchbrime.com open in a tab to try to reserve my username, although the Twitter account insisted it was just a code amen and it wouldn’t be called BRIME.

Anyway, just randomly checked the tab - it was previously a default parked domain page - and whoever registered it has now put a message on saying he managed to get the domain and if there was any serious thought or effort being put into this new streaming platform, they’d have planned ahead further than just a Twitter account. :lol:

It’s here: https://watchbrime.com/

OK, Let's have a chat.

First things first, this page/domain was not set up by whomever set up @WatchBrime on Twitter. I have nothing to do with that.
But I'd like to talk about how we got here. Forgive me, this is long but I hope it is insightful.

It is quite funny actually because I was asked if it was possible to set up a new streaming service shortly after the Mixer shutdown announcement and after initially brushing it off as crazy, I actually gave it some serious thought.

After all, I can code and set up infrastructure.
Money though is another story. This is not like starting up a blog or something - it is not cheap to build something like a streaming platform.

What about investors and funding? Well, it is difficult to market this to investors since if Microsoft, a company that in my opinion is OK with losing a bit of money on something to remain in the market - pulled the plug. That is a move that is going to frighten quite a lot of investors or potential backers, since no one wants to throw money at something unless there is some sort of chance of a return and if a company like Microsoft can walk away after all their investment, it does not really inspire confidence for others to jump into that market.

With all that in mind and ignoring all the obvious ways it could go wrong, could it theoretically take on Twitch (and Amazon)? I sincerely doubt it and I held no false illusions about that, I said so as much to those who asked or thought about starting an alternative. But the technical side interested me and that is what got me thinking about it and actually keen on building something (without announcing it though) to see if I could pull it off. An ingestion server, transcoding server/process and transmitting it out to many viewers with little to no latency.

That was as far as the idea got at that point and I was not intending on going further.

And it didn't.

--

The next day, this "WatchBrime" Twitter account came out and I was told about it by others.


OK, cool! Someone was already giving it a go, I thought.

They sounded like they were way further along than my 'back of the napkin/do it for the experience' stage of my idea on how to do this and the timing was just strategic or highly coincidental. Strangely though, there was no information, the name appeared to be an amalgamation of WatchMixer and Amazon Prime, the details revealed were weird and gimmicky at best and it really looked like some sort of piss-take.

Yet people were taking it seriously.

That led me into doing some simple whois checks. Trying to dig information up because if it was legit than surely they registered relevant domains?
I noticed none of the domains I would have registered if it was me (or anyone with a percentage of seriousness about starting this up), like "watchBrime.com" or variants with TLDs like .live or .tv, were taken.

It's odd because it's really something you would register way ahead of time to prevent exactly what I did here, codename or otherwise and at the very least, before you even mention any name publicly.

I said this to a few people who kept talking about "Brime" and how they really hoped they would pull it off and surprise everyone.
None of what I saw added up to this and to say anything more against it was considered negative or pessismistic by others.

So I bought watchBrime.com and parked it. Domains are not really that expensive.
I did so more to prove a point, that it was not real. I would not have paid the money required for a .tv or .live (they can be a lot more expensive than a .com) but now, I can see others did.

Then something weird happened.

People were tweeting as if they got into some special 'partner program' and even mentioned URLs of *this* domain that did not exist or ever existed.
What the hell? Were people *still* talking about this? Some even started drawing lines between a popular Twitch streamer being banned and *this*.

Then some news websites, reddit, twitter, talking about this domain among the others.

I couldn't believe it. None of it was making any sense to me.

Well, may as well put something up I thought to myself.
If people would generate theories with close to nothing, then what would happen If I added an image to a page?
I published the page and whacked on some analytics to see real world impact, and then watched as this thing just exploded.

Then the regret kicked in.

So, I apologise to those that had hope about this thing as a result of this web page. If it's any consolation, I have been inspired to tinker away on the idea I mentioned earlier as a form of penance and also becaue I really am interested on a technical level but I wouldn't start holding my breath to be a user of that any time soon, nor should you expect any Twitter accounts or other forms of 'teasers', it's just not how real people interested in building something kick off.

In closing, I honestly believe this whole thing started with just a couple of streamers that got together and started spitballing an idea around and the furthest they got was a twitter account. They did not actually have any capacity to execute or follow through on their `snowball's chance in hell` dream and were very likely way out of their depth and it would not have gone further any other day of the week, but the internet did what the internet does. The coincidence and timing of certain events certainly did not help.

--

I think redirecting to a Rick Roll-style video or other form of 'gotcha' may have been easier than writing all this up, but I think it's important we understand how we got here.

We started with a weird Twitter account, and then it just snowballed into this mess with people filling in the blanks. Some well meaning, some not so.

If I had not registered this domain, someone else would have.
Would whoever had registered it have tried to get email addresses, etc? I don't know.

But, I am responsible for somewhat wasting your time with this page and/or possibly giving you false hope and I wanted to apologise for that.

I sincerely hope the above was if anything, educational or at the very least - interesting.

Fun and games.

Although there is supposedly another new one in the works called Compose, which is on Twitter too @WatchCompose. Who knows though.

[Disco]

I await news of them folding in a year or so.

[Shindig]

Might explain what Dr. Disrespect got the boot for.

[phonics]

That rumour is completely fake and just his fan boys making up excuses for their fav being problematic.

It falls apart the moment you factor in Discord banning him too.

[Raoul Duke]

The idea of being a "fan" of some YouTube dickhead is one of those things that is just beyond me getting my head around

[Pleb]

Horizon Zero Dawn is on Steam for pre purchase and £27.99.

Get on it if you haven't played it. Releases beginning of August.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

That rumour is completely fake and just his fan boys making up excuses for their fav being problematic.

It falls apart the moment you factor in Discord banning him too.

Haven't his GIFs been scrubbed too?

At this stage it has to be noncing.

[Shindig]

Either that or he was plugging someone behind his wife's back again. Or his endorsement of David Icke's conspiracy theories got him pulled. It's a fascinating to see what floats on twitch and youtube.

[Gray Fox]

The end of his last stream was interesting. He was going along as normal and then pulls his phone out to read a message. From when he reads it his mood completely changes. He seems like he's almost holding back tears and goes a bit rambly and nervous. He then goes on about David Icke(yells WAKE UP) and puts a random Roblox video on.

Sits there clearly processing whatever said message told him before he says Fuck and then cuts.

Felt very much like a guy who'd just been told it was all over. His sponsors as yet haven't dropped him so it's either going away or it's a contract dispute with Twitch over something.

[Disco]

You don't get binned for relationship strife, that would be lawsuit central. I don't really know who the guy is but it smells very strongly of him being conclusively me too-ed.

[Shindig]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5fdsGgKzjmm3T6t2GhQG86L/the-games-of-the-past-that-deserved-to-be-played-today

I don't know who this cunt is but I hate him on sight and his bland opinions.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

He's got a hat though, what have you got?

[Shindig]

Two hats.

[Manc]

Has anyone played Through the Darkest of Times?

[Ian]

Onto Desperados 3. Only had time for the tutorial and the first mission but it's off to a good start, and so far my characters are 100% hatted which is important.

Loving this, as expected. It's cool that compared to Shadow Tactics they've made open combat way more of an option, as you'd hope for a cowboy game. I haven't done many shootouts but I'd be tempted to do a different run where I played more gunslingery.

[wullie]

Finished Last of Us 2. Loved it, it was really more of the same with a lick of paint which was fine by me although it had that RDR2 thing where I thought the game was finished but you've got about three hours still to go so I ended up rushing a bit just to get it done. I avoided all the spoilers apart from a) you go to Seattle and b) something in it made right wing dickheads shit their beds.

The Seattle part was a mix in that you see the Space Needle briefly but don't get tofart about on it, but the Seahawks stadium was done better in post-apocalypse than EA Sports manage across two franchises.

https://i.imgur.com/2SrWlKA.png

Don't know what part it was that made the idiots scream about SJWs and threaten everyone in sight though

[Disco]

As if it's not shit enough working for Naughty Dog in the first place.

[Shindig]

It's mostly the trans stuff and the fact there's a buff woman.

Some of the complaints about the writing is legit, though. Teen kid Ellie had a much better personality. New Ellie is angry and boring.

[wullie]

My biggest issue with the writing is that they made so many of them thick, particularly leaving a map behind with OUR BASES IS CIRCLED HERE

Abby is pure beef, I read that people assumed she was trans and immediately threw the Metacritic 0s at a game they hadn't played. I didn't realise until afterwards that the actual trans character was such, I spent so much time shitting it waiting for something to jump at me that I missed a lot of the dialogue.

[Shindig]

Yeah, that's the gist of it. The dumb characters is really annoying to me. It runs all the way to the end and just makes me think they were contriving ways to get people characters in positions.

[Vercetti]

I lolled when I read about people getting their knickers twisted up about a trans character. I only read about it after I'd finished it. Otherwise, I might have assumed they'd abandoned all pronouns and chucked JK Rowling in as the main antagonist.

I'd have liked a bit more depth on the Seraphites (or whatever they were called), and a little less wandering about in fucking aquariums.

[wullie]

The California gang too, unless they're planning DLC for that area it was just 'here's some new bad guys to kill' and that's it.

[Shindig]

It's the first Naughty Dog game I've looked at and realised there's no characters I care about. That's a bit shit considering they've been really good at building characters in Uncharted and The Last of Us.

[Ian]

Loving Desperados 3. I reckon I spent about twenty minutes of one mission last night just watching all the routines of the NPCs in the next bit I had to do just to work out how best to proceed without kicking off a scrap. As these games (Commandos, Shadow Tactics, etc.) have always had it's a bit of a domino effect if you're taking everybody out. Once you manage to put some character skills together to prise open that first opening everything starts to fall into place.

I feel like the voodoo lady isn't a little OP but we'll see how it goes as the missions go on.

[Trancemeister]

Bought Ghost of Tsushima yesterday. Looks so stunning.

[Shindig]

Dead Cells is great.

[Lofty]

Bought Ghost with my FA cup winnings but taking forever to download from PSN despite me having superfast Virgin broadband which is annoying. Thought they had fixed the slow download issue.

[Lofty]

Had a couple of hours with it now and it is a beautiful game, enjoying how the combat has done me over a couple of times without feeling unfair. Like a hybrid of Tenchu and Breath of the Wild.

[Trancemeister]

It's a fantastic game. Up there with RDR2 for me. Definately a 10/10.

[Shindig]

Well, after a run to the final boss that ended in defeat, I have had the worst run luck in Dead Cells. I've got random starter gear unlocked which usually means I'm starting with low damage wank (Spartan boots - Great as anything other than a main weapon) or big damage sluggishness (Fuck the broadsword and the hammer).

[Gray Fox]

Xbox games showcase starting at 5pm. Going to have to be a good one to top the Sony one.

Big rumour of the day is they're to announce Xbox Live going free.

[Ian]

Desperados 3 finished. The final little standoff they do is excellent bar one small annoyance.

I just want Mimimi to keep making this sort of game forever.

[Yevrah]

Xbox games showcase starting at 5pm. Going to have to be a good one to top the Sony one.

Big rumour of the day is they're to announce Xbox Live going free.

Why would they voluntarily kill that revenue stream?

[Shindig]

Gamepass. And when there's enough on that, they'll bump the price on it.

Also: Using a slow cover of X Gon' Give it to Ya for a trailer. Fucking hell. :D

[Gray Fox]

Looks like the rumours were bollocks then.

Games wise, Halo looked good in it's more open world setting, whilst Fable will always interest. Beyond that I think the blue side has me more interested in the games so far.
One thing that was massive is it seems all Xbox exclusives are now going to hit Gamepass on launch day. Halo included.

Annoyingly though still no price and/or release date from either side.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I think they're both hoping the other will make the first move regarding price so the other can slightly undercut.

[Shindig]

Sony's ramped up production because they think a second wave is going to keep people indoors.

[Mike]

GamePass is properly good and seemingly going to keep getting better.
Was a bit underwhelmed with the games though.

[Ian]

Fatshark have some annoying practices and it'll be a shame if we're not getting new Vermintide but I'm curious about them doing something similar but in Warhammer 40k.

[Ian]

With Desperados down I wanted to go for something quite different having done two tactics/strategy things quite recently so in the absence of some big beefy RPG I want to get into it's DOOM next.

[phonics]

I’ve been playing Creature in the Well. It’s like a pinball game but you’re a hack and slash character. It’s very cool.

[Ian]

Should be getting my PC upgrades ordered this week. :drool:

[Pepe]

What did you get?

[Ian]

Haven't ordered yet but I think these bits:
https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/zFKJK4

May need a new PSU as well, I can't find the extra connectors that came with it so I'm not sure yet if my current one will be compatible with the new stuff but I can get one that'll do the job for a reasonable price if need be so not the end of the world.

[Baz]

Haven't ordered yet but I think these bits:
https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/zFKJK4

May need a new PSU as well, I can't find the extra connectors that came with it so I'm not sure yet if my current one will be compatible with the new stuff but I can get one that'll do the job for a reasonable price if need be so not the end of the world.Oh, happy to use their referrals, eh!

graphics card (https://amzn.to/30QDz5R)
ram (https://amzn.to/2P62mND)
motherboard (https://amzn.to/2P20FB6)
processor (https://amzn.to/32VlbLP)

[Gray Fox]

Without even looking I can tell he's got all of those with his affiliate link in there.

[Ian]

Well I changed most of it up before I ordered and didn't use them anyway so yeah.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

What a cunt.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Started on Fallen Order today after signing up to Boomerang and it's alright so far.

The Oggdo Bogdo (shit name, mate) is annoying. I think I failed 5 times before giving up but I will return and have his head. The smaller version, Bogdo, was also very annoying and in a place I did not expect. Died a couple of times but then I just ran past him and got high so I could fuck him up with a drop attack.

[Ian]

The big toad things are just tanky. My issue as with many things in Fallen Order was initially wanting to rush through fights.

[Gray Fox]

Patience and getting your timing right is the way to go. Enjoyed the game, though the Xbox One S did struggle in battles.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I keep getting lost.

When I turned it off today I just didn't know which way to go or what to do and the map is pretty shit.

Edit: Although having had time to think about it, I know what I need to do when I play tomorrow.

[Ian]

The map IS garbage. Specifically that it doesn't give you more control to see what you're looking at.

[Shindig]

So apparently a load of Nintendo source code (Ocarina of Time, Link to the Past, Yoshi's Island, etc) got leaked.

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/7kp7bx/a-massive-leak-of-nintendo-source-code-is-causing-chaos-in-video-games

PRESERVE IT ALL.

[Shindig]

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

It's the one thing I look at and see as proper next-gen.

[Pepe]

Flight simulator sounds like something I should be really into, but then when you actually try it you realize that you basically spend hours doing absolutely nothing.

[Shindig]

Yep. I can probably get what I want using the 'flight sim' in google maps but I sort of love how much procedure is involved in flight sims.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Those spiders on Kashyyyk can fuck right off.

[Ian]

Have there ever been any fun spiders to fight in games?

[Yevrah]

Skyrim?

[Kikó]

Tomb Raider 2.

Oh you said fun.

https://youtu.be/Ou2ZAxxu2JM

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I'm not even scared of spiders but putting them in as a jump scare in Fallen Order is horrible.

[Shindig]

I think all the spider bosses in the souls series are fairly shit. Armoured Spider is the worst.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Fallen Order needs some sort of fast travel back to the ship because it's a fucking mission it itself attempting to find you way back.

I'm on Zeffo and I just turned the game off because I genuinely have no idea how to get back.

I kept looking at the map and thinking "Oh, this must be where I go" and when I got roughly there I either noticed I can't get further as what I need is on another level or it's actually taking me further away.

[Ian]

I never had that much trouble getting about but you're 100% right that they make the travel more of a chore than it needs to be, especially given when you do go through it's more of a chore than it needs to be.

I've made a start on DOOM. I love the tempo of it. Making you survive fights by getting stuck into them even harder is a bit genius for getting you into the spirit of the Doomslayer.

[Shindig]

Yeah, that's a great exercise in tone. Doom Eternal kind of shits itself over that.

[Ian]

It feels like a proper video game instead of trying to simulate anything. Like, the meleeing/chainsawing things to get your health or ammo topped up doesn't "make sense", but it makes the game fun which is what ought to matter. All to big metal tunes.

Reviews I've seen for the sequel are mixed where it adds a bunch of extra stuff (more jumping puzzles, etc.) and layers the story on a bit thicker and that basically while the shooting is still as good the other stuff takes away from the experience as a whole. I also saw it's about twice as long, whereas the ten hours-ish I will apparently get with Doom seem about right.

[Mazuuurk]

Anyone played Dragon Quest XI? I downloaded it and have it lined up to play after I eventually manage to get through Red Dead Redemption 2.

On the latter - it's REALLY dragging out. At the beginning I was really mesmerized by the whole world and spent time hunting and playing poker and what not. Now I'm at Chapter 7 and I'm basically just trying to get through the story. Which I managed to spoil completely for myself as well...

...Arthur gets sick and I googled how to cure it, only to realize it's actually an integral part of the story and he's going to die, which really took the fun out of doing a lot of the things now.

Apart from that while I find the story has finally started getting a little more interesting, it does seem very dragged out and repetitive (Dutch does something rash that Arthur doesn't like, Arthur complains but does it anyway, Dutch says "TRUST me Arthur, we JUST. NEED. MONEY" and then you fuck whatever the plan was up and restart.

Still, I do want to finish the game before moving on...

[Ian]

My understanding from spoiler-free stuff I've read is that RDR2 does what feels like a finish and then carries on doing more story for about another 700 hours.

[Mazuuurk]

Yeah it's weird, when I save my game it says I've done 56% of the story only, but I've been playing for weeks now and it does feel like it's near the end.

So, yeah.

[Ian]

The new PC bits are working nicely even if it took me an age to do it because I've never done stuff with a motherboard before and a) I was being cautious and b) some bits look like they'd be fiddly even if it wasn't your first time.

Still, things are running very nicely on it and I'm thinking about what I should play once I'm done with Doom to put it through its paces. I assume ArseCreed Odyssey with everything cranked up is swish so I might go for that if I don't just cave and buy Horizon Zero Dawn once it's out on PC.

[randomlegend]

Plugging some of the wires into motherboards once the CPU heatsink is on and it's in the case can be a fucking BALLACHE.

[Ian]

Yeah I put the graphics card and CPU, etc. in first but then even when that's in place it was a pain in the tits.

Especially the little ones that connect up your power / reset button, HD LEDs, etc.

I thought I'd properly ruined my evening when I had everything in place other than one of the fans which I'd managed to screw in place under the motherboard but luckily I didn't have to unscrew the whole bastard thing to get to it.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcITAzKW3fY

Free on PS+ this month, it's a battle royal game based on Takeshi's Castle/Ultimate Wipeout etc.

Looks fun but they've had to disable matchmaking because demand has been MASSIVE.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

It's fun but every single time I'm on a team task I'm put on Team Spastic.

Team egg - No one from our team was guarding our eggs unlike the other teams (I was one of few that were consistently getting eggs from other teams)
Team football - Our team was shocking despite having an extra man
Team ball race - Team spastic were actively pushing the ball away from the finish line
Team tail game - For some reason the game kept going into overtime (although I'm sure at one stage one team was losing) and after 5 overtimes our team lost. I had a tail every single time overtime ran out, including the last one, but team spastic just couldn't hold onto them.

I also won my second ever race more through sheer dumb luck (I got pushed about 5 times forward by spinning arms) and I can consistently qualify in the see-saw races.

[Mazuuurk]

My understanding from spoiler-free stuff I've read is that RDR2 does what feels like a finish and then carries on doing more story for about another 700 hours.

Yeah I reached this point now. Very weird. Feels like the game definitely reached it's end (but which would have been very inconclusive in a way as there were a lot of open ends) and then I ended up in a farm as a secondary character doing farm chores. So, now the game is about milking cows apparently :cab:

But I learned that apparently this is a prequel, so. I dunno, I feel very very done with this game now but I also kind of feel like I have to complete it proper, so gonna try to rush through the cow milking and shit shovelling as best I can.

[Ian]

Cow milking, eh. Whatever will those zany edgelords at Rockstar think of next?

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Just got to the final round (of 6) in a game of Fall Guys and I was so close to winning it. Some guy beat me to the crown by a fraction of a second.

[wullie]

I'd finished RDR2 and figured I'd give the epilogue the 10 minutes or whatever while I was still in the mood. Fucking hell. Last of Us 2 pulls a similar trick.

[Ian]

Has somebody in video game writing circles just seen Return of the King and gone "Hey, that thing had 27 endings and made a shitload of money so people must love it when you pretend you're gonna end but don't!"?

[Mazuuurk]

Did it? I only remember the one ending?
wullie - so you're saying I shouldn't bother sticking with it then?

[wullie]

I'd definitely stick with it, it's just that what I expected to be a swift little 'after the credits' kind of thing is actually bigger than some entire games I've played.

[Gray Fox]

The Doc has reappeared on Youtube out of the blue. Still nothing on what happened with Twitch but looks like he has a new home.

[Shindig]

I'm not sure if that's a step up or not.

[Gray Fox]

Well he has 330k viewers after being silent for over a month and he hasn't even said anything or appeared on screen yet. I don't think he'll do too badly.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I don't understand how the reason behind the ban hasn't leaked yet.

[Ian]

Well I'd have been curious to see how they'd have handled the Superman game they were linked with for ages I'm much more up for this:
1291720790447136768

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Oh fuck :drool:

[phonics]

It's an online Co-op Game As A Service thing apparently as well :cab:

[Ian]

It's an online Co-op Game As A Service thing apparently as well :cab:

Oh great. Hard to flaccid in one sentence there.

[Shindig]

How will they justify the streets being exclusively packed with criminals this time?

[phonics]

How will they justify the streets being exclusively packed with criminals this time?

https://i.imgur.com/RiMG573.png

By setting it in a black city [/problematicjoke]

[Mazuuurk]

Finally finished Red Dead Redemption 2.


All in all, it was a bit of a weird game. The world they created is nothing short of amazing. The immersion tops even that of Witcher 3 for me. But it's a little bit at the expense of gameplay (like how you are not able to run in your own camp). This is more annoying in the start, until you sort of let the game immerse you.


But the gameplay got insanely repetitive after a while, all missions followed more or less the same template, even if the settings kept it quite fresh. The story was also a little sub-par in a way. It wasn't bad per say, just also quite repetitive and felt like it was more about exploring the world and maybe character arcs than telling a real story.

[Ian]

Opted for ArseCreed Odyssey to try on the new gear and it looks lovely. I also feel like all previous ArseCreed games would have been improved if they had the "boot that motherfucker into orbit" ability.

[Mazuuurk]

I've started with Dragon Questt XI and it's... weird. Seems like some sort of crossover between Zelda and Final Fantasy. Not a huge fan of having a silent protagonist like that, it feels a bit dated. But I need to try to stick with it and give it a chance, only really gone through the first 20 minutes or gameplay so far.

[Gray Fox]

I may well be gifted a PS4 next week.
Sister-in-law says her kid now went Xbox to play with his mates so it's gathering dust. Says the controller has seen better days but I can't complain if I'm getting the console for free.

That being said there's now some games that I couldn't play before, I could play now. Horizon Zero Dawn, Spider-Man, Last of Us and Death Stranding are the ones in my mind. Any other must plays?

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

https://media3.giphy.com/media/YqiO23Q2gfurS/giphy.gif

[Gray Fox]

I forgot about Disappointed Dad Simulator.

[Shindig]

MGS V, if you haven't on PC. Bloodborne. Nioh. DOOM.

[Ian]

I have to say, as a man who likes dress-up in games ArseCreed Odyssey has a very strong cosmetics game. Firstly it adjusting colours so that shit you put on together matches but also that once you've owned a bit of gear you can apply the appearance of it to any other gear you find so you don't have to sacrifice the cool thing you like for something with better stats.

[Baz]

I have to say, as a man who likes dress-up in games ArseCreed Odyssey has a very strong cosmetics game. Firstly it adjusting colours so that shit you put on together matches but also that once you've owned a bit of gear you can apply the appearance of it to any other gear you find so you don't have to sacrifice the cool thing you like for something with better stats.
Is that what "transmog" is? [Retail] WoW is like that, but I've never played it so don't understand it. I'm not sure I like it.

[Ian]

It's a very long time since I've played WoW but if it's what I think it is then yes.

So for the sake of argument I find Sweet Hat A, which is a big metal thing with curly animal horns and shit on it and has good stats.

Then I find Naff Hat B, which is like.... I dunno, one of those Russian things with the flaps. Anyway, Naff Hat B has much better stats but it looks like a dead chinchilla has been tied to my head so I take that but give it the appearance of Sweet Hat A.

[Pepe]

I don't like it. If you care so much about looks, then deal with the consequences. Kids these days are so soft.

[Ian]

If you care so much about consequences then why don't you MARRY THEM.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I'm pretty sure he has.

[Raoul Duke]

Transmogrification - noun. the act or process of being transformed into a different form.

[Gray Fox]

Halo: Infinite delayed until 2021. I wonder if it's due to the bad feedback since the big reveal.

[Danny]

Throwing it out there. Fall Guys is fun.

[Mazuuurk]

MGS V, if you haven't on PC. Bloodborne. Nioh. DOOM.


I haven't plated MSG since the first one on PS1 - can I jump into V now all these years later? Story-wise that is. Story is like 90% of a game for me.

Also, how is Nioh story wise?
And is Bloodborne really difficult because that's what I read? Can it be adjusted?

[Ian]

I was going to say for MGS V you'll want to ignore the story anyway.

I won't bang on in here about it again but basically I endured the hideous first.... hour? Felt like about a fortnight. Then was really enjoying myself until more on-the-nose Kojimaness started happening and pretty much instantly lost interest.

[Baz]

I don't like it. If you care so much about looks, then deal with the consequences. Kids these days are so soft.

+1

[Ian]

You're playing WOW Classic so we all know fun isn't a big factor for you.

Safety wink.

[Baz]

You're playing WOW Classic so we all know fun isn't a big factor for you.

Safety wink.:(

I actually let my sub run out just as my server got the AQ gates open. Playing FM instead. It’s less stressful/disappointing.

[Ian]

I realised I was only really enjoyed WoW as a sort of combined online messenger / gaming combo and when the group I played with started fucking off I realised it really is just a grind treadmill. I tried some others (Guild Wars 2, Warframe, TOR) and it's all the same shit. No interest in getting onto that again.

I doubt I'll play FM again either to be honest, for slightly different reason. Which on the one hand is sad because I had some good times with CM / FM back in the day but it's also a bit of a relief that when when I saw FM20 on offer recently I mentally recoiled from the idea of buying it.

Of course I say all that about WoW while I'm playing a Ubisoft icon-hunt game but what can I say, watching my character hit a kobold until it let's me collect its teeth or whatever is less engaging that galloping about ancient Greece shanking Athenians.

[Gray Fox]

I haven't plated MSG since the first one on PS1 - can I jump into V now all these years later? Story-wise that is. Story is like 90% of a game for me.

5 bridges the gap in story between 3 and the original Metal Gear games for the NES.

1 is set in 2005
2 is set in 2007
3 goes back to Big Boss in 1964
4 then skips back to the future of 2014
5 goes back again to 1975-84.

1, 2 and 3 really are very good so I'd play them for sure. 3 is probably the best in the series. 4 feels a bit forced and the story goes a bit(even for MGS) nutty.

5 was the big shame. Story wise it gets very messy towards the conclusion of the game. However while he was making it, Konami told Kojima it was to be finished ASAP as they were essentially sick of writing him blank cheques to make games and their focus was turning towards Pachinko machines. There was some kick off(obviously) so they removed him from the studios, game cover etc. and told the staff to finish the game off without him. Wouldn't let him attend any PR about the game or collect any awards it won.
As such the game is not really finished. They patched it into something workable as best they could. It's a shame because the actual gameplay is amongst the best of the series.

[Pepe]

Throwing it out there. Fall Guys is fun.

Agreed.

[Ian]

Doesn't it famously have an absolutely garbage ending as well? If it's what I remember reading it was that has Kojima all over it.

[Gray Fox]

Doesn't it famously have an absolutely garbage ending as well? If it's what I remember reading it was that has Kojima all over it.

It does. There was going to be a second act to the game, but that was completely cut off.

Eli steals a Metal Gear prototype and fucks off with it to Africa. Not one person ever follows or hunts him down. After release they showed the plan was to have Venom Snake go after him and they even had most of a level done where he tracks Eli down. But that was cut due to Konami pulling the plug.

[Ian]

Basically I want somebody to make that exact open-world stealth game that lets me call in a helicopter blaring out Take On Me but without all the Metal Gear Solid-ness.

[Gray Fox]

Basically I want somebody to make that exact open-world stealth game that lets me call in a helicopter blaring out Take On Me but without all the Metal Gear Solid-ness.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aGKA_3JXfU

What more do you want?