General gaming discussion

[Ian]

So I've been doing a bit of Hitman 2 and it's been really good so far with suitably grand levels. Building one around a motorsport event is brilliant (and I was very happy when I was mooching around the car park and spotted a guy dressed as a flamingo mascot - I'll be having that, chum") and while the Colombia level doesn't feel like the great big Rube Goldberg machine for the three targets the new Hitman games have gotten me used to I still have to admire the scale of the thing.

[Shindig]

I still fancy running through the series once I eventually pick up 3. One after the other, winging it in a single session. At present I'm back playing Sekiro. Oddly doing alright with it despite the time away. I keep thinking about getting the trophies but it's a lot of faff to get the super cryptic ending I've missed.

[Pepe]

BOTW 2 :drool:

[Ian]

I keep thinking about buying a Switch, then I have a good old lol to myself at the idea of spending £50 on video games as anything other than exception and bin that idea for another month or two.

[Pepe]

Mine has not been used in over a year. Will dust it off for Mario Golf in a few weeks though.

[Shindig]

In the years I've had it, I've only bought Mario 3D Allstars, Odyssey and Breath of the Wild for it. I'm never going to treat a Nintendo console as a main option but it's nice to catch up on the stuff I've missed from being a Playstation kid. I'll be after that Monkey Ball collection and Metroid Dread.

[Ian]

In other news, after a second failed attempt to get into Bioshock I watched a Let's Play of it and enjoyed that. I think the reasons I maybe didn't get on with it as well as the combat just not really doing it for me I think maybe the story being entirely delivered by audio logs, as much as I dig that stuff, perhaps left me a little cold. Lol at that final boss.

Once I've done an initial runthrough of Hitman 2's levels I won't want to go straight back in and properly pull them to bits so I might have a crack at Bioshock 2 and see if I get on with that all. I gather the story is pretty pants but the combat is much better. I also have the collection on Steam anyway so I feel like I may as well at least give each of the games a try.

[Shindig]

The story is very much, "Erm... I guess we need a Ryan surrogate." but the weaponry and tactics of combat is better. If I remember the Big Sisters are genuinely threatening.

[Ian]

Yeah after I finished the Let's Play of the first I went back and read the RPS review of BS2 and it reads very much like they retread a bunch of the same beats but also pretend the character/characters were somehow integral to what was going on in the original despite them clearly being new creations.

I'll go in with expectations suitably low, if I don't like it I'll watch the same channel's LP of it and then give Infinite a bash.

[Raoul Duke]

It's got a barbershop quartet in it, so there's that at least

[Vercetti]

I must have tried to get into Bioshock three or four times, now.

It just doesn't click for me, and the thought of doing the first thirty-minutes or so of the first one, again, makes my soul weep, so I won't be going back. I tried the second one, once, and found that to be even worse. I finished Infinite, though. Thought that was decent.

[phonics]

It just feels awful. It's very 6/10 with a good story attached.

I've been playing Star Renegades. It's beautiful.

https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steam/apps/651670/extras/NEW_scan.gif?

[Ian]

That is very pretty indeed.

[Mike]

Been playing It Takes Two with my other half. Wasn’t ready for it to turn into a dungeon crawler for a level. Was great!

[Ian]

I like the look of that. It's nice to see a game properly designed around having two people going through a campaign together rather a single player another person can just drop into.

[Mike]

I’d really recommend it, it’s been so much fun, each level is different too.
The two characters are a bit annoying at times but that’s part of the story.

[Vercetti]

Finished Disco Elysium.

Good shit. I'll go through it again at some point, now that I have a better grasp on it all, and as a different character build.

Worst thing about it is easily the bloody loading times on PS4. Going back and forth talking to Klassje or the harbour bloke is a ballache, with multiple loading screens to get through for each one. The ones where you're loading a tiny room and clicking on one door to bring on another loading screen can get to fuck.

Still slowly making my way thorugh AC: Valhalla, too. Maybe I'm playing it too soon after Odyssey and Origins, but it's really not pulling me in the way those two did. I think it might be the settlement stuff, mostly.

Thinking of finally playing Grim Fandango. I've always had it on my list, but have never got around to it. I guess I've been too busy. Since 1998.

[Ian]

Yeah for a relatively confined area it can be a pig to get to some places. I think the fast travel needed a) a few more options and b) to always actually work.

[Mazuuurk]

Some PS5's were released here yesterday and managed to snag one :cool:

By the time I had placed the order, they were all out. Coming tonight.


That said - I still need to finish the whole ME: legendary edition on my PS4 so probably will be a little while before I fire it up. Maybe.

[Shindig]

I'm toying with the idea of trading a PS4 in to take the edge off Cex's prices. Unfortunately, they're only giving £80 for a slim PS4. I need to bite sooner or later otherwise I'll miss out on some review copies.

[Baz]

You should’ve bought that one off me for £500. I ended up selling it to CeX for £550, for them to sell for £730. :happycry:

[Raoul Duke]

I can't believe how hard it is to get one of these next gen consoles still. I've been tracking them across multiple retailers for months and not had a single shot at buying one

[Baz]

I can't believe how hard it is to get one of these next gen consoles still. I've been tracking them across multiple retailers for months and not had a single shot at buying oneI got a Series X within 24 hours of joining the Stock Informer Discord: https://discord.gg/eSeFKv9pp2

[Raoul Duke]

Does it cover the Netherlands?

Randomly checked one of the sites and they had the Series X in stock so ordered and it'll be here tomorrow :cool:

[phonics]

Why bother getting a Series X, all the games will be on PC anyway. PS5 is the only console worth buying now imo.

[Shindig]

My plan is to go into GAME tomorrow and ask them if they get much stock in. If possible, I want my name on a list when they come in. I suspect all the stock goes online, though. Y'know, where the scalpers live. :(

[Gray Fox]

I've had the stock informer discord on my list of servers since the original batch or pre-orders went up. Managed to snag a PS5 on the next(and turns out final) wave. Got it for the day after release date(thanks Yodel).

I've been checking since out of interest and the PS5 is by far the hardest to get ahold of. The Series S seemingly is readily available and the X actually gets a decent amount of stock in.

I'd be surprised unless you know a guy who works there if they will put your name down. Tends to be first come, first served for all of these and it's 99% online.

[Shindig]

Yeah, they'd do it for pre-orders but I'd imagine not for something already out.

[Baz]

Why bother getting a Series X, all the games will be on PC anyway. PS5 is the only console worth buying now imo.Multiple reasons, mainly cost and not having to have a PC in my living room.

And I wouldn’t have a PS5 visible in my house even if Sony paid me £5 a month. One of the ugliest devices I’ve ever seen.

[Raoul Duke]

I don't have a PC and want to play the upcoming Bethesda games

[Shindig]

Went into my closest GAME today and they told me they've got stock coming in at the end of next week. If I miss out, they can put me on a waiting list.

[SincereTheRebel]

I can't believe how hard it is to get one of these next gen consoles still. I've been tracking them across multiple retailers for months and not had a single shot at buying one

:lol:

https://i.ibb.co/d5gLgQb/IMG-20210619-161544.jpg

[Shindig]

Do you get much use out of your PS1? :D

[SincereTheRebel]

No, it is just there for the nerdgasms.

[Raoul Duke]

Spent the day setting up my Xbox and downloading a load of stuff on GamePass. Spent some time on Jedi Fallen Order which is pretty cool and looks great. They've nailed the Star Wars-ness of it really well.

[Ian]

Made a start on Bioshock 2 and enjoying it so far. The story is a bit unimaginative and revisionist but the combat is significantly slicker and it's fun having a big fuckoff drill.

[Shindig]

Ratchet and Clank's a bit good. I sacked Sekiro off again as soon as the mid-game slump hit. I genuinely might get my copy traded in.

[Mazuuurk]

Finished ME:1. The final verdict is.... ok. The story is compelling enough and the general world-building really good, but the whole thing, even if remastered, just lacks in execution which I basically attribute too it being old. Everything is a bit same-ish, and you grow tired of the combat a bit since killing geth really doesn't provide much variation, and your different skills you have don't seem to really be of much use anyway (other than decryption for opening boxes). By the end of it though, I really didn't feel like I had 'explored a galaxy' which I think was a shame.

Sheperd is a very square central character, but it's still better than most other Bioware character designs given he has an identity from the start (seriously, aren't all the best RPGs the ones where your character is in fact NOT a blank slate)?.

Will still play the others. Does anyone know if I can port the save from my PS4 to my PS5?

[Mazuuurk]

But - in the meantime I'm playing FFVII REMAKE ands DAMN am I enjoying it. This is really a showcase of how you can build on storytelling with newer technology. And the way they have managed to respect the old game while not letting the storytelling suffer is impressing.

It's small things like how Cloud reacts by sort of half-shrugging when he can't interact with something (a motion you just know from the original) to how Heideggers laugh sounds (you can really picture the developers going 'ok, how do we make this guy actually sound like what "GYA HA HA HA" looks like.').


The battles do get a little bit chaotic. It's still a lot of fun, but it takes away some of the strategic touches that were there in the classic ATB setup. This is probably more fun all things considered though.

I hope they remake all FF games from 6 to 12 this way :drool:

[Ian]

Choosing Manshep over Femshep. :nono:

[Shindig]

Inherited a PC from my brother in law. It has a GTX 960 in it. Superhot didn't crash this time. It opens the door of picking up Flight Simulator, if I can be arsed.

[Ian]

https://www.thegamer.com/sniper-ghost-warrior-contracts-2-press-event-military-training-experience-arab-middle-east/

This whole thing passed me. Top work, press people.

Got to that because Walker wrote about a COD2 one on Kotaku: https://kotaku.com/why-video-game-press-events-sometimes-go-horribly-wrong-1847165294

[Shindig]

I'd love one of those events under my belt. We did get an invite to one in a castle (although it might've been a Medieval Times type thing) but it was too short notice. And an E3. Whatever an E3 is these days.

[wullie]

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

Got this yesterday, the track and field events are the old favourites but I'm surprised by how many others are in there too, got a 9.6 for the 100m which was pretty special until you see the online leaderboards and someone in Asia is hitting a low 6s sprint. Dickheads.

I've had the PS5 for over half a year now and have still yet to buy a dedicated PS5 game

[Ian]

Next thing I've learned today is that the final boss music for Sonic Rush features a sample of a Malcolm X quote, because of course it does.

https://sonic.fandom.com/wiki/Wrapped_in_Black

[phonics]

Most of the Sonic 3 soundtrack is written by Michael Jackson.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZdiu84GS48

[Shindig]

Ice Cap Zone is this.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2OWC5Hosv8


After the Jetzons breakup, keyboardist Brad Buxer worked with Mathew Wilder, the Temptations, Smokey Robinson, and Stevie Wonder, and was musical director for Michael Jackson for over 18 years.


Around this time, the first child sexual abuse allegations against Jackson emerged. Buxer said the team received no instruction to halt work, and that the finished soundtrack was sent to Sega in mid-1993.[39] According to Hector, Jackson's involvement was terminated following the allegations;[39] his music had already been implemented and had to be quickly reworked by Howard Drossin.[22] Drossin told the Huffington Post that he had expected to collaborate with Jackson, but that this changed when the allegations arose.[39] Sonic co-creator Naoto Ohshima said Jackson recorded an a cappella demo tape for the game, but that Sega was unable to use the compositions due the allegations.[37]:301 He added that Sega probably still had the demo tape.[40]

There's also the weirdness around his Simpsons cameo where he got a stand-in to sing for him.

[Ian]

Did the first couple of hours of It Takes Two yesterday and it's off to a good start, though the tone is a bit weird. Like at a glance you'd definitely say it's designed to include a younger audience but even aside from the fact that it's a story about a child being distraught over her parents divorcing, but you get these really weird tonal shifts from the zany talking book telling you you just need to COOPERATE TO WIN!!!! and then the next moment you're having a sentient hoover suck its own eyes out as it begs for forgiveness. Which is surprisingly horrifying despite there being no gore. Then you rumble on and meet some squirrels who are definitely committing war crimes in their war against wasps and chuckle nervously about it when you find out. The co-op is genuinely very good though with everything geared around that, there's nothing that I've noticed you could just brute force on your own.

I'm also still playing Bioshock 2 and enjoying it. Not much new to add to my previous comments though I will say that the weapons all feel pretty solid (I just got the spear gun but I'm all about the drill, I've already made it stupidly powerful against normal enemies and it's getting there against beefier ones too) and I do quite enjoy the moments when you're going to set down a little sister to gather some Adam, as you weigh up where you think Splicers are liable to come from, what traps you can set, chokepoints, etc. and just getting yourself into the Big Daddy mindset of protecting the little horror-child at all costs. I also really don't feel like they needed to soft-recon the first game and make it sound like Lamb was this big important character before / during the first game, there are other ways they could have done that I think while largely keeping the story as it is.

[Shindig]

Yep. They could've ended the first game on the Atlas reveal and then had him as the villain for 2. Gives you a chance to change Rapture into a 50's crime palace instead of the Randian clusterfuck.

I'm reviewing another visual novel. It's about vampires and it seems to be written by a hipster paedo. "Let's have the country called "Amouricane! It sounds like America but French! America will also be in this universe because I've heard it's cool." All the characters have poncey names like Lux Appolon or Jeanne Juanquaxaqetal. And it begins with a disclaimer "ALL CHARACTERS IN THIS STORY ARE OVER 18. In the first scene there is effectively a date rape. But we're supposed to sympathise with the characters because the victim got murdered on the same night. They don't want to be framed for a crime they didn't commit, do they!?

[Ian]

You could even just change it so Lamb isn't this pivotal figure who somehow goes unmentioned the first time. I don't hate the idea of the story, just have her be a relatively minor character (have a throwaway comment in a Ryan audiolog if you want) who seizes her opportunity after Rapture's fall / Ryan's death. Just a bit of a weird choice.

One other Bioshock 2 comment: the maps remain horrible.


"ALL CHARACTERS IN THIS STORY ARE OVER 18.

"And with that bit of housekeeping out of the way, let's get on with the nonceing."

[Shindig]

Well, I finished it. You know how these things usually have some basic level of interactivity? This one is all reading. It was torture to get through. Dialogue is trying to be hip and teenage but then the overarching vampire cult comes in and it's all "Behold, my liege! We shall inherit the moon particle!"

So what I was hoping to be a grounded 'that lass framed me' story dove off a cliff into supernatural arsery. Everyone has a dodgy past, special powers or, in the case of three characters, they are all parts of the same person. And there's an evil corporation. And a Vampire mafia cult. And a moon crone. She lives on the moon which is where you go when you die and sometimes you come back. Long as fuck.

[Gray Fox]

I find myself with an urge to go back an play The Division 2 again.

I quite enjoyed the game on my playthrough and my interest in FIFA is dying. My issue is my playthrough was on the XB1. I'm now a Sony Pony so it'd mean starting over again, unless there's some way I could carry my data across platforms(I doubt there is).

[Ian]

Anybody listen to any decent gaming podcasts? I appear to be between series on a few things I listen to and I don't listen to any gaming ones other than the two main RPS ones and The Back Page so I'm wondering if there are other ones I would like to fill the game.

[Mike]

I listen to GiantBomb’s Bombcast ( https://www.giantbomb.com/podcasts/), I used to prefer the Beastcast but they had a few staff leave. Thankfully they started up a new one, Nextlander (https://chartable.com/podcasts/the-nextlander-podcast), last month.
I also listen to The Computer Game Show ( https://tcgs.co/show/the-computer-game-show/), though not weekly. They’re all pretty lighthearted. The Bombcast being the most serious of the three.

[Ian]

Ta. Might give them a bash. :)

[Ian]

Did the first couple of hours of It Takes Two yesterday and it's off to a good start, though the tone is a bit weird. Like at a glance you'd definitely say it's designed to include a younger audience but even aside from the fact that it's a story about a child being distraught over her parents divorcing, but you get these really weird tonal shifts from the zany talking book telling you you just need to COOPERATE TO WIN!!!! and then the next moment you're having a sentient hoover suck its own eyes out as it begs for forgiveness. Which is surprisingly horrifying despite there being no gore. Then you rumble on and meet some squirrels who are definitely committing war crimes in their war against wasps and chuckle nervously about it when you find out. The co-op is genuinely very good though with everything geared around that, there's nothing that I've noticed you could just brute force on your own.

Further to this, did a bit more yesterday and you have a section where you're flying a plane made of pants while the other player mans the guns and ends up with them having a Street Fighter-esque fight with the squirrel leader on the wings of the plane and then this leads directly into a really depressing scene where the kid is depressed as fuck because she thinks her parents are ignoring her.

I like the game but the story/gameplay don't really tie into each other. It makes for a very weird combination.

[Shindig]

I don't think Josef Fares' previous games have been like that. Brothers and A Way Out were played a lot straighter. I can't imagine the tonal whiplash this is giving you.

[Gray Fox]

The Mrs was in town while I had to wait on a delivery, so I asked her to go in game and pick up Ghost Recon Breakpoint. It was only £10 2nd hand so I thought I'd take the punt. I also saw the Divison 2 I'd had a feeling to play was only a fiver, so added that in. I didn't know there was a 3 for 2 on, so she's gone and picked up the Witcher 3 on the fly.

I'll likely start on one of those over the weekend if this work pattern doesn't finish me off.

[Shindig]

I now have a PS5. One penny less than the Baz price from GAME. Looks like branches are getting regular weekly stock. I bought Demons Souls with it.

[Baz]

Over four months later :dc:

[Shindig]

But it's new and not travelling from St. Helens.

[Gray Fox]

That makes it worth the wait.

[Pepe]

Art of Rally is very good.
Shindig, get on it.

[Shindig]

I like the look of it. It's not out on Sony platforms yet so I'll keep an eye out and see if I can sneak a review copy.

[Gray Fox]

Astros Playroomm isn't a bad little intro into the PS5 if you haven't touched it yet.

You've also still got a couple of days to claim Junes free games. The new ones don't come in until the 7th.

[Shindig]

I've already got what I want. I've got Bugsnax, Astros Playroom and Soulstorm. There's a couple from the PS Plus Collection I want as well.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Been hammering Disco Elysium the last few days and I'm almost finished.

Not sure if fucked it near the end or if it was the best possible outcome (doubt) but I'm now close to finding the killer.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

And I'm done. Great game.

[Pepe]

Did you smash Cuno's head in?

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I did not.

I went for a weak as shit build. Lent heavily into intellect and motorics.

[Pepe]

Then you're not done.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Remind me how smashing his head in went for you?

[Pepe]

My revenge is coming, worry not.

[Shindig]

Dragon God. Name a worse Souls boss. It's reminding me I might not know that game as good as I think. I'm sure the columns in that fight were bigger in the original. Staying out his sight seems real tricky now.

EDIT: And now I'm finished. Couldn't be arsed with King Doran and chasing other trophies. Only took 16 hours. On my first playthrough it took 21 hours just to get 3 bosses down. :D

[Pepe]

I am garbage at it, but Hades is very good.

[Ian]

So I was reading some comments on RPS about the new FIFA and:


Check their steam page.

It says:

Incorporates 3rd-party DRM: EA on-line activation and Origin client software installation and background use required.
1 machine activation limit

This is apparently applying to their other sport games as well.

Is it 2007 again already?

[Disco]

I'm assuming people who buy FIFA are expecting to get shafted, it's part of the experience at this point.

[Ian]

From what I played of FIFA 20 that seems a fair assumption.

A sub-dom thing probably.

[Raoul Duke]

I've recently started replaying GTA V for about the 3rd time. It's still great. Really hope they double-down on the heist stuff on the next one.

[phonics]

So I was reading some comments on RPS about the new FIFA and:



This is apparently applying to their other sport games as well.

Is it 2007 again already?

The 'machine' in that case would be your Steam account. There's an edge case it blocks but that's all. It just means that even if you Steam Refund Fifa, they still get paid.

The edge case is how you can use 'Family accounts' on Steam to lend each other games.

[Ian]

So why are they saying 'machine' then?

I'm not saying you're wrong, it just seems a stupid way to word it when it's literally not what they mean.

[phonics]

They pay a lot of lawyers to do things.

[Pepe]

SOR expansion out today. :drool:

[Pepe]

Any opinions on that Steam Deck thing?

[Shindig]

Looks good. I bet it gets really hot. Seems like Valve want it to be flexible although I don't really want my PC gaming on the go.

[Pepe]

Yeah, after posting that I was thinking that I never use my Switch in handheld mode.

[phonics]

The buttons look like a fucking joke.

[Shindig]

I play it handheld but on my arse at home. Mainly because I can't be arsed to dock it and plug another console up to this TV. And unhook the joycons so they're in the grip.

[Baz]

I might get one.

[Yevrah]

AOTennis 2 is not great. It seems almost impossible to keep the ball in court when going for a winner.

[Pepe]

Still haven't managed? Shame, I've been itching for a tennis game for a while. I guess Super Tennis is still the best the genre has to offer.

[Ian]

I dunno that I've played any tennis games since the Wii one that had Andy Murray on the box.

Have there been (m)any good ones since Virtua Tennis 2?

[Yevrah]

Still haven't managed? Shame, I've been itching for a tennis game for a while. I guess Super Tennis is still the best the genre has to offer.

It's tragic, isn't it.

I also don't understand why tennis seems impossible to license properly. I get why a game might not have one of the big 3, but this doesn't have two of them and is also followed by a selection of other wank that despite being real players, you'd struggle to ID from a police line up.

[Baz]

Any opinions on that Steam Deck thing?

https://i.imgur.com/DkkXN1m.png

[Shindig]

It's tragic, isn't it.

I also don't understand why tennis seems impossible to license properly. I get why a game might not have one of the big 3, but this doesn't have two of them and is also followed by a selection of other wank that despite being real players, you'd struggle to ID from a police line up.

Smash Court Tennis Pro Tournament 2 on the PS2 managed to fill a World Tour with 150 fake ones. Worked out surprisingly well. The licensing is one of those scenarios where the players aren't covered by one single entity. Hell, Tennis doesn't have a union so you can't do that deal. It has to all be done on a player by player basis and that will always get expensive.

[Pepe]

I think that I would prefer all fake players than having one top player, a handful of mediocre ones, and a bunch of fake ones.

[Shindig]

I just want the numbers up so you're not playing the same people. From what I remember, the World Tour was pretty fluid with some of the fake ones developing over time. I got upset after winning a couple of slams which feels kinda awesome. I want to say Virtua Tennis 4 kept you largely with the licensed crew so you were playing Gael Monfils every week.

[Baz]

Add a horse racing game to the list of “why isn’t there a properly licensed game of X” too.

G1 Jockey + licenses with real race courses and jockeys omfg

[Ian]

Rhythm action "shoot the horse" minigame to a knockoff Channel 4 racing theme.

[Vercetti]

I remember playing a Virtua Tennis years ago, and being really irked that it scored things 2-1, rather than 30-15, etc.

The series was dead to me, after that.

[Shindig]

Smash Court Tennis Pro Tournament had first to 5 or something down by default. So you could win by holding your serve and you always went first.

[Ian]

Finished Bioshock 2. Story is mostly bobbins (there are some nice ideas in there but Lamb is basically "What if Ryan but opposite day?" and trying to rewrite Bioshock 1 is silly and unnecessary) but the combat is solid and it's still nice just to be in Rapture. Minerva's Den came with the collection and the reviews for that seem to have been pretty good so I'll do that before I move onto something else.

[Shindig]

The one cool thing that happened to me was entirely by accident. I'd went through the game not doing much with the Little Sisters and, near the end I decided to sacrifice one. When erm ... the fucking whatshername ... the daughter turns up and Big Sisters up, she harvests the kids because, "I learned from watching you!"

Video game consequences.

In other news, Chilvalry 2 is fun. It's carnage and you don't always get the best team composition but I like the swordplay. And screaming. Not so keen on the adaptive triggers indicating your stamina is low. Every time that kicks in, it just feels like the controller is broken.

[Ian]

Yeah I like that because it's totally logical after she's spent the whole game pining for you as her father figure that she'd follow your example once she's free.

It's also just fun having a Big Sister to summon because she's a total badass.

[wullie]

AOTennis 2 is not great. It seems almost impossible to keep the ball in court when going for a winner.

I got it in the PS sale a few months ago and while I can't argue too much at the price, it's one of those games that feels like it was made by a very small team who didn't quite finish it.

[Danny]

Sounds very much like Big Ant. They are on cricket title 3 or 4 and it still feels that way.

[Shindig]

Having the editing tools probably lets the community bail them out slightly. "Cool, someone made Chris Benoit for this."

[Kikó]

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2021-07-21-pes-renamed-efootball-goes-free-to-play-digital-only

PES rip.

[randomlegend]

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2021-07-21-pes-renamed-efootball-goes-free-to-play-digital-only

PES rip.


which is due out on consoles, PC and mobile with cross-play.

:vomit:

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Finally finished Spider-Man: Miles Morales yesterday.

Shame it was so short as they made a lot of improvements over the base Spider-Man game.

I was also surprised how different (in combat) Miles felt over Peter Parker's Spider-Man and not just because of the electrical powers he has. He feels a lot smoother than Pete.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I also see Arse Creed Greece is down to £12 due to a PSN sale. I might have to dive in, even though I have other games to finish.

[Shindig]

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2021-07-21-pes-renamed-efootball-goes-free-to-play-digital-only

PES rip.

I could live with that if the product wasn't such a work in progress. And had a good edit mode which the free-to-playness kind of rules out. The online beta test they brought out last month was a problem. They must make enough money on PES Mobile and MyTeam to pull this off.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I also see Arse Creed Greece is down to £12 due to a PSN sale. I might have to dive in, even though I have other games to finish.

And I've bought it and it's gone to the top of my list.

Started today and chose Kassandra (as I remember people on here saying to do so and The Internet seems to agree). Didn't do much by the time it all downloaded other than a couple of main missions, 1/2 side missions and I climbed up the massive Zeus statue (including doing up his knob, to which Kassandra said "I shouldn't be climbing up this") for my first synchro.

[Gray Fox]

Full Dead Space remake is coming. Yes please.

[phonics]

Can we start making new games again instead of just remastering and remaking ones I’ve already played?

[Ian]

Man you're gonna shit your pants when you discover the internet and see how many games are getting made.

[phonics]

If I haven't got a Playstation, what big AAA has come out in the last 2 years that wasn't Cyberpunk or a sequel?

[Pepe]

Don't know what counts as AAA exactly. Hades? Outer Worlds? Control? Sekiro? Horizon Zero Dawn?

What is wrong with sequels?

[Shindig]

Returnal?

[phonics]

People naming two playstation games kind of proves my point.

Control is a good shout but I'd call Remedy a bit of a B-Game studio. Same with Obsidian.

I'm just a bit narc'd because I feel like I havent got a game to play that isn't Sea of Thieves, Call of Duty or Tekken.

[Pepe]

Pretty sure that all of the games I mentioned are available on PC.

[phonics]

I'm not sure how a 4 year old playstation game getting a PC port refutes my point.

[Pepe]

Alright then.

[Gray Fox]

Death Stranding, Ghosts of Tsushima(?), Spiderman, Returnal and Godfall come to mind of the last 2 years specifically.

Not sure why it matters if it's a sequel or AAA title as long as it's good.

[Ian]

Oh, AAA games? Then I don't know and largely don't care. They're normally thirty quid above the 'wait until it's cheap or on a subscription service' price range for me.

[phonics]

Death Stranding, Ghosts of Tsushima(?), Spiderman, Returnal and Godfall come to mind of the last 2 years specifically.

Not sure why it matters if it's a sequel or AAA title as long as it's good.

Literally all of those games are or were Playstation exclusives.

[Pepe]

What is the issue with PlayStation games?

[phonics]

Oh, AAA games? Then I don't know and largely don't care. They're normally thirty quid above the 'wait until it's cheap or on a subscription service' price range for me.

Me too. I've played all those games (apart from the Sony exclusives) and enjoyed them but it's just been very slim pickings the last few years. I'm not saying that 'games are shit' I'm saying that the big studios have got very shit at making them.


What is the issue with PlayStation games?

I don't own one?

[Pepe]

Most of them are available on PC though. You own one of those, don't you?

[Pepe]

I mean, you are right that there are tons of remakes right now. But overall, there are way more games than anyone could ever play. My backlog is insane. I spend all my time on Street Fighter and Guilty Gear though.

[phonics]

If you ever play Tekken 7 I'm about.

[Pepe]

I am garbage at it, but I'd be up for playing some matches. It'll be laggy as fuck, but whatever.

[Pepe]

Are you any good?

[phonics]

I've played for years and I'm yet to beat anyone in online multiplayer who isn't one of my mates.

[Pepe]

Let's do it then. :cool:

[phonics]

Onetwofree on steam.

[Pepe]

I'll hit you up tomorrow. :thbup:

[phonics]

I'll hit you up tomorrow. :thbup:

me and my mate are playing Tekken now.

[Pepe]

About to have dinner. Maybe after, but unlikely. Tomorrow I should be up for it.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Got annoyed at Assassins Creed Odyssey today.

I completed a mission and about 50m was a fortress to take down. I move over and get the bird out but some unseen enemies come out and attack me. Due to my build (full assassination) they slap me down.

I re-load and try to look for them but I can't find them so I go into a bush before getting the bird out. They find me again, despite being in a bush and effectively invisible. Load up again but find a bigger bush, still they find me. Load up again drop down a cliff a bit and wait a good 5 minutes before going back to a big a bush and they find me.

Why is it that these 3 enemies are able to pinpoint my location very easily (I've had enemies look right at a bush I'm hiding in from close and not see me but these guys see me from far away)?

I think I'll have to change my build to full warrior, go back, and then slap them down because I'm far too squishy with what I have on now to take on the fortress.

[Shindig]

The track limits in Montreal in F1 2021 are quite bollocks. There's the usual nonsense at the wall of champions but also the driving line appears to completely miss a second half of one of the esses. Fucking Codemasters. :moop: AI looks a bit easy, as well. At least on normal. At least it's decent to drive without assists, even if the adaptive triggers like to mess with your feel for the throttle.

[Ian]

Got annoyed at Assassins Creed Odyssey today.

I completed a mission and about 50m was a fortress to take down. I move over and get the bird out but some unseen enemies come out and attack me. Due to my build (full assassination) they slap me down.

I re-load and try to look for them but I can't find them so I go into a bush before getting the bird out. They find me again, despite being in a bush and effectively invisible. Load up again but find a bigger bush, still they find me. Load up again drop down a cliff a bit and wait a good 5 minutes before going back to a big a bush and they find me.

Why is it that these 3 enemies are able to pinpoint my location very easily (I've had enemies look right at a bush I'm hiding in from close and not see me but these guys see me from far away)?

I think I'll have to change my build to full warrior, go back, and then slap them down because I'm far too squishy with what I have on now to take on the fortress.

I normally had enough gear about my person to just switch to full fight mode as and when I need it.

Full Bethesda-style suit-of-armour-down-your-wizard-trousers level of preparedness.

[Mike]

UFC 4 might have the worst character creator I’ve used. Just a massive collection of slab heads no matter what you do. Dion Dublin is my trainer though!

[Ian]

The main new weapon they give you in the Minerva's Den DLC for Bioshock 2 is pretty dull. Beam weapons are hard to get right I think as there's no satisfaction just from shooting the gun so you need what happens at the end of it to be satisfying and just lasering Slicers down is not in and of itself that exciting.

[Raoul Duke]

Started playing Microsoft Flight Sim. It's great and all but the interface is absolutely shit and designed for PC dweebs. I have no idea what I'm doing other than mooching about. Accidentally crashed into Mt. Everest yesterday too :moop:

[Ian]

I'm sure you're just making a mountain out of a molehill.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Easy to do with something that small.

[Shindig]

Yeah, I know it’s got plenty of options for normal people but I’d want all that plane nerd stuff. I want to push 17 different switches just to get the engines spinning.

[Disco]

DCS World is pretty good for that.

[Baz]

Surely it’s summer 2021 now? Where is Disco Elysium’s Xbox release?

[Raoul Duke]

Yeah, I know it’s got plenty of options for normal people but I’d want all that plane nerd stuff. I want to push 17 different switches just to get the engines spinning.

It's got all that as well. I just want to fly around like it's GTA and check out places I've been on holiday

[Ian]

Minerva's Den done. I'll definitely be playing Infinite but not right away. I'll do some other stuff first to mix it up a bit.

Think I'll be giving Mad Max a try next. Big old open world game that is supposedly the very epitome of the 7/10 sounds like it could be right up my alley.

EDIT: Though I've literally just spotted that The Ascent is on Game Pass. Hmmmm.

[Ian]

Mad Max is fun so far. It lives up to its reputation as being a classic 7/10 and it's very much a clear the map open world affair but it's fun. And you can choose to give Max a big old hobo beard so what's not to like?

[Shindig]

Superhot is finished. Nice little game, that. The ending comes up pretty quick but I'm not entirely sure it needs to be longer. That game has good momentum and being reset after death isn't that much of a bother.

[Ian]

Yeah I liked Superhot. Sounds like it should be a lot easier than it turns out to be.

[phonics]

The Ascent is awesome and fucking berautiful but I can't even run it at 1080 on medium. Will have to wait for an upgrade.

[Ian]

I've just learned that it's just over ten years since Duke Nukem Forever. was released.

Old enough to remember its 15 year development hell ending 10 years ago. Feels bad, man.

[Yevrah]

The Ascent is awesome and fucking berautiful but I can't even run it at 1080 on medium. Will have to wait for an upgrade.

I downloaded that last night. Will give it a bash over the weekend.

[Shindig]

I've just learned that it's just over ten years since Duke Nukem Forever. was released.

Old enough to remember its 15 year development hell ending 10 years ago. Feels bad, man.

Half-Life 2: Episode 2 is even further back. Speaking of things that took too long, I've started playing The Last Guardian on my PS5. That game is PS3 as fuck.

[Ian]

It Takes Two finished. I basically stand with all my earlier comments. Gameplay: some of the best co-op gaming ever. Story: mad tonal shifts, no idea who it's aimed at. Overall: Excellent fun, a shitload of effort gone into making it look beautiful and some really cool areas, varied gameplay which doesn't sit on one idea too long, some frankly horrific deaths and too many cutscenes with a clearly traumatised little girl.

Weird but very good and would 100% recommend to anybody looking for some couch-style co-op.

[Ian]

I forgot to mention about It Takes Two that there was a boss fight where my character was turned into a tomato (not as a debuff, that was my form for part of the fight. Later it was a potato then a lime) and I was absolutely laughing my hole off at that.

I'd love to have been in that meeting.

"Guys, hear me out - what if one player gets turned into a tomato here?"

[Pepe]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhIAIEH-dL4

Yes, please.

[Shindig]

I don't get on with strategy games like that but I bloody love SNK's art. I might buy it for that alone.

[Pepe]

I like them in principle, but tend to drop them fairly quickly. The only one I remember finishing in the last several years is Fire Emblem, which was very good.

Between this, SOR4, the upcoming TMNT game, and Windjammers 2, Dotemu might be becoming my favorite publisher. Now if they could only move forward with those Garou 2 mockups they showed.

[Lofty]

It Takes Two is awesome. I agree though the tone is all over the shop, the kid is a bit of a weirdo too.

I got Darkest Dungeon for £6 with all DLC from PSN and I am loving the whole package.

[Ian]

It Takes Two is awesome. I agree though the tone is all over the shop, the kid is a bit of a weirdo too.

Yeah she's a bit uncanny valley isn't she?

Also: Fuck Dr Hakim. If anybody deserved one of the game's horrifying deaths it was him.

[Ian]

I'm finding myself drawn into the busywork of Mad Max as I often do with an open world-er. But I've got so many other things I could be getting on with that I think I'm going to mainline the story and just worry about side stuff if HoboMax or the car need levelled up a bit because I'm hitting difficulty/grind spikes.

[Yevrah]

Sounds like I might love Mad Max.

[Ian]

It's very much in the Ubi-style open world mould, just made by Avalanche. My problem with clearing icons off the map isn't that it's bad, just that I've realised I'm probably doing it for its own sake when (as with any of these things) the entertainment value of the activities varies.

If I had no other games I'd like to get into next I'd be quite happy pootling about but I think game pass alone has added a couple of things I want to get into before I even look at my existing backlog.

[Manc]

How does Europa Universalis compare with Crusader Kings on gameplay depth and difficulty?

[Ian]

Ooft, I barely played any EU because I preferred the RPGness of it.
Disco might be able to tell you? Not sure who else might have played EU.

[Disco]

I never got on with it, far less accessible than CK2 let alone 3. All I remember is slider hell and not knowing why I did terribly.

[Shindig]

Okay, now I realise why the Paul Rodriguez pro challenge is so dodge on skate. Slowdown right as you trick on to the ledge. The actual motion with the stick isn't too tricky.

[Manc]

Cheers gents, I will avoid.

[Ian]

Have you played CK3, Manc? It's very good.

[Manc]

I really enjoyed CK2. Is 3 a huge upgrade or much of the same?

[Ian]

If what you enjoyed of CK2 was getting invested in the characters then CK3 will 100% be your thing.

And I find it hard to imagine liking CK2 but not the "RPGness" of it so yeah, if you liked 2 you should 100% try 3.

[Vercetti]

I'm still rocking along with AC Valhalla. Its grown on me, I must say.

I still occasionally marvel at the sheer amount of 'stuff' there is to do in these games, though. I think I'm over 80hrs deep, now, and there's so much shit that I'll never clear off the map. You'd have to be a fucking masochist to try to 100% it.

I've also got Hades and Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice ready to roll. A real upside to this Gamepass lark is that I can try stuff that I'd likely never risk dropping cash on.

I've banged a month of PS Now on, too. I've never played more that half an hour, or so, of God of War, and Red Dead Redemption 2 is also on there, which I haven't played at all. I'll never find the time for it all, but y'know.

[Mazuuurk]

OK I finished Final Fantasy Remake + the Yuffie mission now. Thought it was great, even if I think the ending was a little out there, and that perhaps a little more context around Sephiroth would have been nice. I mean, I know what the story is (at least supposed..) to be, but it just irks me a bit that the the storytelling in it is centered around everyone going "woah Sephiroth is evil" whereas it's never explain who he actually is.

Besides I remember him being more of a mystery in the original until you understand his motivations.


All in all though, it was great fun and I thought they definitely did the original justice in the right ways.

[Mazuuurk]

Now I'm a little lost. There aren't all too many games available for PS5 specific, so not sure what to play.

AC Valhalla is an option. But I started with Mass Effect 2 on the PS4 now instead for the moment. REALLY struggling to get into it though. It's something about the gameplay that just doesn't resonate with me, and Shepherd being just as square a character in the second instalment as the first is a bit of a let-down. It really doesn't look like all to much have changed between games... Some of the textures are a bit nicer but thats about it. Animations etc are just about the same, and even the environments are still as confusing and kind of claustrophobic.

Not sure I have the patience to stick with it.

BTW - anyone tried the next Ratchet & Clank?

[Ian]

It's a pity you're not getting into ME2. The Suicide Mission is one of the best gaming levels/missions of all time.

[Raoul Duke]

I've started on Control. Pretty good so far but had to fiddle with the difficulty as I kept getting annihilated. Powers and weaponry feel good (reminds me a bit of the Force powers in Fallen Order). Story is batshit but good in an X-files/Bioshock kinda way

[Ian]

I did like Control but didn't love it. Regardless of the enemies you face the combat is a bit rinse-repeat but luckily it's almost always fun to lob a desk at somebody's face. I think my main wish is that when you get some of the movement-based skills it made you a LITTLE bit more agile.

[Mazuuurk]

It's a pity you're not getting into ME2. The Suicide Mission is one of the best gaming levels/missions of all time.

I might need to give it some time. But so far it does a good job of keeping me confused. I don't really understand/see any depth in the character building. Being a Soldier class, my Shepherd can't really do that much else than shoot. I sometimes run out of ammo only to have it restocked in the next scene. I don't always understand where I'm going next, and for an RPG - it seems awfully mission/level-based.

Also - I'm not sure I'm even getting EXP for killing enemies? I like my grinding.

[Ian]

I mean you've chosen the most boring class so that won't be helping. :D

I'm not sure I ever found it particularly confusing and I think for both the characters that carry over from 1 and the new ones there's plenty of solid character building. ME2 probably has my favourite set of party members of any game. There are some duffers of course like Jacob and I never much cared for Miranda and their fixation with her arse but there's a lot of gold in there.

XP is for missions and choices and stuff I think. I mean there's no grind as you don't go back to combat areas to find them repopulated, etc. It's much more of an action game than ME1, obviously, but I think in terms of character arcs (more so than overall story, though there are some really good missions and story beats) it's among my favourites.

[Mazuuurk]

Gonna stick with it. I didn't realize I was so locked into my class when picking it, just kind of went with what I had from ME1 as my character transferred, and it appealed to me that it was "the only class with health generation".

To be fair, I have a complete gung-ho playstyle in most games (i.e. no patience) so it's probably best for that. I've already died twice and dying does my head in in games so it might be for the best.

We'll see where we go. I just recently found Garrus again which was nice, at least. Also, I can sort of get onboard with the Miranda obsession, to be fair.

[Ian]

Vanguard is the way to go. Use biotics to do Force Shoulder Tackle then whip the ol' shotgun or SMGs out to finish 'em off. :nodd:

I love the Garrus stuff, basically being space Batman. Have you got Mordin yet?

[Gray Fox]

The Miranda stuff just felt like they saw Chuck at the time and thought she was hot, so decided her entire likeness should be that character. The deliberate ass camera angles were something to lol at.

[Mazuuurk]

Fuck, seems like I can't change class. I'm about 4h of gameplay in, so fuck restarting.

What stupid mechanic that you can't actually tweak your fighting style as you go along.

[Ian]

She did become a more genuinely interesting character as the game goes on and into DLC/ME3 but The Back Page did an episode ranking Mass Effect character recently and they had her in 4th or something which is demented and I refuse to believe that was anything other than guys letting their horny younger selves have a say.

[Disco]

That is baffling, however I had so little to do with her in my game that I genuinely had to look her up at the end when they put her name on the memorial thing.

[phonics]

They actually removed the arse shots in the remake. I remember seeing some incels furious about it.

[Disco]

She wasn't in the first one was she?

[phonics]

Nah she worked for Jed Bartlett.

[Disco]

Now I'm confused, they removed her from a remake of a game she was never in?

[Gray Fox]

She was not in the first one. Remake or no.

In the remakes she was in the others as usual, but the camera shots of her ass were taken out.

[Disco]

I didn't know they'd remade anything other than the first one.

[Shindig]

I'd struggle to think of 4 top Mass Effect characters.

1. Garrus
2. Wrex
3. Ashley
4. Keith David?

Actually, Thane's right up there.

[Disco]

1. Garrus from 1
2. Garrus from 2
3. Garrus from 3
4. Who could care

[Cord]

The correct answer is Mordin.

[Shindig]

I can't believe I forgot him. I'd still ride or die with Garrus.

[Ian]

Javik wildly underrated because they were cunts and stuck a character who was clearly meant to be in the game in some day 1 DLC instead.

Mordin is the best though, then Garrus.

Maybe tomorrow I'll do my own, correct full ranking of all the Mass Effect characters when I'm bored at work.

[Gray Fox]

I didn't know they'd remade anything other than the first one.

It's more like just a new lick of paint rather than a full re-do from what I can see, but for all 3.


The correct answer is Mordin.

Correct answer is correct.

[phonics]

The only characters worth ranking, ranked.

Mordin Solus
Urdnot Wrex
Tali'Zorah nar Rayya
Thane Krios
Ashley Williams
Garrus Vakarian
Liara T'Soni
Miranda Lawson
Jack

[Ian]

Such a bullish opening only to put Ashley at 5.

[phonics]

I think Mass Effect 3 turned her into a surprisingly funny and well rounded character.

[Ian]

She got a bit better but that's a low bar given her only redeeming feature in ME1 and 2 is that she isn't Kaiden and therefore doesn't get exploded on Virmire.

[phonics]

She got a bit better but that's a low bar given her only redeeming feature in ME1 and 2 is that she isn't Kaiden and therefore doesn't get exploded on Virmire.

She's this completely normal person in a world of absolute weirdos and they play off of it well.

[Ian]

Alternatively she's a boring character with a mostly uninteresting arc in a world filled with more engaging characters.

Right:
Mordin Solus
Garrus Vakarian
Tali'Zorah nar Rayya
Javik
Urdnot Wrex
Jack
Thane Krios
Legion
Grunt
Liara T'Soni
Kasumi Goto1
Miranda Lawson
Zaeed Massani
Samara
Ashley Williams
Edi
Jacob Taylor
James
Kaidan Alenko

I think I'm happy with that. Everything from Tali to Legion I might shuffle on a given day but everybody's broadly in the right bit of the list.

And Ashley is firmly near the bottom where she belongs.

[Ian]

Also following my previous Mad Max post I'm really struggling against the map-clearing urges. Some upgrades for the car are locked behind it and I'm not struggling in the car chases/combat but I want them and it's problematic.

It's a fun game though, and it has possibly some of the prettiest cloudy skyboxes of anything I've played. I think Avalanche did well to accept that they need to make the lightning, etc. gorgeous if they wanted people to spend hours driving about a rocky, desert-y wasteland.

[Disco]

I had that issue with Andromeda, there was no reason for me to bowl about clearing the maps but I felt compelled to do it anyway.

[Ian]

Thing is other than car upgrades all you really get out of it is upgrading the NPC fortress things so that when you go to them they'll top up your health, ammo, water, etc. but.... the game has fast travel, so once you've maxed out one fortress there's no great motivation for doing that either. It's literally just that looking at the map has part of your idiot monkey brain going "Oh look at all those icons you haven't dealt with."

[Mazuuurk]

Plz mind the Spoilers lads. :wave:

Not sure there were any, but didn't really dare read through all those posts properly.

[Ian]

Yeah I nearly put a lot more rambling on my list then realised it'd be spoileriffic so left it out.

[Disco]

I fancied some RPG based shootums and remembered that Wasteland 3 exists. £55 on Steam a year after release, get fucked :D

Fallout 3 acquired for less than a tenner.

[phonics]

I fancied some RPG based shootums and remembered that Wasteland 3 exists. £55 on Steam a year after release, get fucked :D

Fallout 3 acquired for less than a tenner.

Probably because it's free on Gamepass.

https://i.imgur.com/f4vcADK.png

[Disco]

It's fine, it'll be reasonable at some point.

[Ian]

One thing about Mad Max that is shit, doesn't matter THAT much but is really odd that Avalanche would get wrong: When you're not in your car sometimes there are bits where it feels like it expects you to be a bit platformy or navigate some obstacles as Max, and given these are the people who do Just Cause which is all about making a guy feel like a superhero as he zips about the environment Max, by contrast, feels like an old man when running / jumping. Fortunately for most of the time you're on foot you're either doing the Arkham-y combat or following fairly clear paths through enemy bases but still, sometimes he feels tanky as fuck and you'll suddenly slip off something and plummet to your doom. Which is a shame because the save system (just like me quicksave like a proper game, dickheads) is also baaaaaaalls.

Still enjoying it though. Think I'm about halfway through the main story now so hoping to batter through a chunk of that over the next few days.

[Mike]

It Takes Two finished. I basically stand with all my earlier comments. Gameplay: some of the best co-op gaming ever. Story: mad tonal shifts, no idea who it's aimed at. Overall: Excellent fun, a shitload of effort gone into making it look beautiful and some really cool areas, varied gameplay which doesn't sit on one idea too long, some frankly horrific deaths and too many cutscenes with a clearly traumatised little girl.

Weird but very good and would 100% recommend to anybody looking for some couch-style co-op.

Finished it last night and loved it. It maybe goes on for slightly too long, and that book can do one, but other than that, it was fantastic! Loved the rainbow road ending, commented it looked like it then Cody does his best Mario impression!

The tone remained odd throughout, looked like a kids came at times but had some freaky stuff in.
Would recommended it 100% for anyone looking for a co-op game, it’s easily one of the best.
May is a right bellend at times though.

[Ian]

I don't like May or Cody. They can both go in the same bin as Doctor Hakim. The kid would be better off without them.

[Mike]

12 Minutes is out and on gamepass. Excited to try it!

[Lofty]

Any good? I got Darkest Dungeon with all DLC off PSN the other week £6, bit of a learning curve but enjoying it.

[Ian]

Mad Max done. Fun, but even without getting every upgrade and clearing every icon the last mission was still a bit of a rinse. The ending was a bit more glum than I was hoping for but that's probably to be expected. It's not perfect but if you want an open world icon-clearer with a sweet ride, Arkham-y punching and the ability to look like a murderhobo then I can recommend it. There's probably at least double the 25 hours I spent in it too if you really want it.

Next will be........... Call of the Sea or Psychonauts I think. Not sure which yet. And I might dip into Humankind as well.

[Ian]

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/psychonauts-2-review

Super positive review there. That might confirm Psychonauts (original one) to be the next thing I play.

[phonics]

Recompile. Looks great in a gif, fucking hate playing it.

[Ian]

I added that to my Game Pass list. Will give it a go at some point.

[Shindig]

Finally picked up a classic Doom bundle in the steam sale. All my shareware FPS experience starts with Quake 2 so this is completely new territory for me. Early impressions are that it holds up really well and feels like something they just don't make any more. DOOM 2016 tapped right into the pace of combat and it's for the better.

[Yevrah]

Agree that Doom holds up, which is bloody incredible really.

[Ian]

Are the likes of Dusk that close to original Doom or just an inspired-by sort of affair?

[Shindig]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drD6pWAKnJk

That should probably answer that. They're certainly trying with the speed but Doom was a little more claustrophobic.

[Ian]

The "Meet Your DOOM" bit is very subtle.

[Mazuuurk]

Sort of a bit more into ME2 now. Though I think I have done most of the main game actually. I'm ahead of what I think is the end-game (I'm supposed to go get something called an IFF) and it sort of feels like I barely scratched the surface? I haven't even gathered the full squad yet, but I keep getting thrown into story-advancing missions and it's taken me (all fucking game) a while to understand that you're not supposed to talk to the Illusive Man unless you want to be thrown into story-advancement.

So anyway, gonna finish up gathering the crew and get on with it, basically.

A lot of stuff still annoys me with this game. But I can't deny the world-building is impressive.

[Ian]

I dunno if that's gonna fuck you for loyalty missions but... yeah, I would advise you do all that if you can. And not just because it's all good shit.

I don't really remember the main story dragging me along whether I liked it or not, I felt quite leisure with just pootling about doing other stuff until I had no more side stuff to do.

If I remember the order rightly you'll want to get as much stuff as done before you start the IFF mission. It's not quite a point of no return but I think it sticks a soft timer on you at that stage.

[Mazuuurk]

Aye thats the plan. Helping out my man Garrus at the moment. Also Jack is weirdly appealing.

[Mazuuurk]

Oh and I already did the Shadow Broker thing, without realising it was a DLC. That was a great mission.

[Ian]

Mass Effect 2 and 3 have some properly decent DLC. I love the lines the Shadow Broker gives you about whoever your third companion is. Who did you take?

And Jack is a very good character after initially seeming a little one note.

[phonics]

The Alien assassin guy was DLC and he was great.

[Ian]

Thane? He wasn't DLC was he?

[Shindig]

Nah, there's some South African bloke that's DLC. He has a scar on his face. Zaeed.

[Ian]

I assume given Phonics said both assassin and alien he's just getting mixed up with who was DLC as Zaeed doesn't fit any of those. The character DLCs were Zaeed, Kasumi and (in ME3) Javik unless I'm forgetting anything.

[Shindig]

Aye, I misread. So erm ... yeah, he probably meant Thane.

[Ian]

Between the stuff you see in 2 and 3 and what was in the one Mass Effect book I've read (Annihilation, about what happened to the Quarian ark) I'd be right up for a game where you're just playing as a Drell assassin.

I'm thinking Hitman but with Hanar.

Everything should have Hanar.

And give me my Blasto game, damn you.

[Shindig]

A Hanar and Elcor buddy cop movie would've been special. On a sidenote, I'm weirdly excited for the Saints Row reboot that's apparently getting announced today.

[Ian]

Buddy cop Elcor/Hanar would be good, also a management game where you're running that all-Elcor Shakespeare company.

[phonics]

Oh Thanes not DLC but if you use him during the DLC he has loads of extra lines. My bad.

[Ian]

I think they did a good job of that in general, to be honest. Thane is ace though.

Fuck's sake I want to replay ME2 again.

[Ian]

I'm glad I was planning to use my pad anyway because there's somebody about my mouse that Psychonauts (1) really doesn't like and it's the floatiest shit going.

Did an hour or two yesterday. Decent start so far though some of the platforming feels a little floaty (my word of the day apparently) and loose but it doesn't seem to punish you too hard so far.

[Ian]

Loads of trailers from Gamescom here:
https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/every-game-announcement-from-gamescom-opening-night-live-2021

The couple that were of particular interest to me:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7uj71zKmGw

Wasn't sure how I felt about April here but then I lol'd at her literal mic drop so I'm in.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wz8Vw5tOf5M

And this is a cinematic only for the Marvel X-Com.

[Shindig]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gdGxjdm6yE

Right tone but I'll reserve judgement til gameplay. Psychonauts 2 looks really good but I fell off the original in a big way.

[Ian]

Psychonauts 2 looks really good but I fell off the original in a big way.

Gameplay, story, whole thing?

I wouldn't be entirely surprised if I don't finish this because of ye olde jank but like it enough to give the new one a go.