2015 VIDEO GAME CATCH-ALL THREAD

[BurningBeard]

You'll undestand the opening scene's significance by the time you get to the end. The game isn't about the post apocalypse, that's just the setting

 

That's a fair point BL88, and I'm a big fan of The Line so I get where you're coming from. I suppose more isolated gunning and a more expansive exploration aspect would have suited the narrative more as it would have made your dealings with people more fraught and put you on edge immediately.

 

FWIW I think games are slowly shifting towards that kind of thing but it's still isolated

[Raziel]

The Last of Us might be the most divisive game ever.  Either people think its a masterpiece and the greatest thing to ever grace console gaming, or they think it might be the single most overrated bad AAA game of all time.

 

Visually its stunning, I will give it that.  Its Naughty Dog, its to be expected at this point.  Mechanically, lots of games have done what it does, and better.  Not since, but before, and even in the same year.  

 

Narritively, its bad.  It went a different direction than alot of fiction, but different =/= good, and a big thing for a while is people jump on anything that was different is automatically amazing, and it wasn't  I can accept that the POV character was a piece of shit, and he was, and that the actual protaginist never got her moment, but shit did the ending pretty much render the journey meaningless, and that's the point of a narrative.  Its no the destination, its the journey, and the destination of the game made the whole thing just seem a waste of time.

[Big Fresh]

It's absolutely insane that one person has expectations of what he thought the game SHOULD be (which it was never advertised as being), they didn't come true, and he's faulting the game for it.

It was an origin story of the biggest villain (possibly 2) in that universe. That's not a useless journey.

I'll get more into it later on when I have time.

But you can't really call it the most divisive game ever when the people on one said so drastically outnumber the people on the other.

[Tabe]

Quite frankly, I thought the visuals were overrated. On the PS3 at least. Lots of tearing and other visual problems. The graphics looked great in still shots but suffered once you started moving. Uncharted 2 was better, IMHO.

[Big Fresh]

Quite frankly, I thought the visuals were overrated. On the PS3 at least. Lots of tearing and other visual problems. The graphics looked great in still shots but suffered once you started moving. Uncharted 2 was better, IMHO.

I played it on PS4, so I can't agree or disagree, but the PS4 version was one of the best-looking games I've ever seen.

[Lawful Metal]

I forget when exactly it happened but there's a point where people are like, "there's a psychopath traveling with a little girl" and "you killed all my friends!" and you realize that Joel is a very, very bad man.

He's been out there too long. Plus his decision at the end is so selfish, so narcissistic there's little to redeem him morally. It's such an atypical choice it stands out.

I'm fine with the morals of the game. They're not glorifying his violence. I think it gets revealed how warped he is by the end that you realize just how sick his behavior was throughout.

Still love it.

[SirSmUgly]

I mostly agree with BL88, but my issue with criticizing the glorification of violence in TLoU by contrasting it with Spec Ops: The Line is that the latter had a whole multiplayer aspect in it based on killing for points like any other FPS multiplayer that undercut its message in the single-player campaign about the disconnect between the gravity of the simulated violent act and how those acts are portrayed. That is just one of my many issues with The Line that I won't get into here. 

 

Re: TLoU, I'm just one of those guys that doesn't like Naughty Dog, I guess. Couldn't stand Crash, couldn't stand Jak, thought TLoU was a mediocre stealth game with subpar puzzles and only a decent narrative for a video game...I think that I've been warned off the Uncharted Trilogy and Uncharted 4 for the most part (though I do have a copy of Golden Abyss, and if a lesser-considered developer makes a good Uncharted game, I might just try ND's Uncharted games). 

[Big Fresh]

I forget when exactly it happened but there's a point where people are like, "there's a psychopath traveling with a little girl" and "you killed all my friends!" and you realize that Joel is a very, very bad man.

He's been out there too long. Plus his decision at the end is so selfish, so narcissistic there's little to redeem him morally. It's such an atypical choice it stands out.

I'm fine with the morals of the game. They're not glorifying his violence. I think it gets revealed how warped he is by the end that you realize just how sick his behavior was throughout.

Still love it.

Now see, I was getting ready to post a big, long thing about my feelings, but then you summed it up better than I could. Well done.

[Lamp, broken circa 1988]

Yeah, that's absolutely fair about Spec Ops. The multiplayer feels like a total cave-in to market research, and because the gameplay is purposefully unspectacular it comes off as really poorly made. I imagine that was a compromise they had to make to keep all of the story out of the press run pre-release so people could get properly ambushed by it. At the same time, multiplayer in general tends to exist outside of the context of the singleplayer's themes and messages. The Last Of Us has a multi-player mode, after all. I think for most games that doesn't stand out as being inharmonious, but with how far Spec Ops goes to talk about violence that's a legit gripe.

 

 

Also, if they're not glorifying his violence, they sure spent a LOT of manhours rendering it in hyper-specific, adoring detail. Not a big logic leap there.

[Cliff Hanger]

 

Re: TLoU, I'm just one of those guys that doesn't like Naughty Dog, I guess. Couldn't stand Crash, couldn't stand Jak, thought TLoU was a mediocre stealth game with subpar puzzles and only a decent narrative for a video game...I think that I've been warned off the Uncharted Trilogy and Uncharted 4 for the most part (though I do have a copy of Golden Abyss, and if a lesser-considered developer makes a good Uncharted game, I might just try ND's Uncharted games). 

I've never made it very far into Golden Abyss at all. The basic gameplay is fine and fun, but it suffers from Flagship Launch Title syndrome, in that they had to squeeze in EVERY SINGLE GIMMICK in the Vita (which, let's be honest, is a gimmicky-as-fuck system between the touchscreen, rear touchplate, accelerometer, mobile functionality and corkscrew) to showcase them.

[Tabe]

The Uncharted series is great, with the second one being a top 10 all-time game.

[BurningBeard]

He's been out there too long. Plus his decision at the end is so selfish, so narcissistic there's little to redeem him morally. It's such an atypical choice it stands out.

 

Wow, I totally didn't read it that way! I'd find Joel much more despicable if he just left Ellie to be vivisected by the scientists tbh. I viewed it as him making ammends by not getting another girl killed (which is what happened to his daughter) and getting a fresh start. That's not selfish or morally reprehensible, it just shows that after all they've been through he started to care again

[Big Fresh]

He's been out there too long. Plus his decision at the end is so selfish, so narcissistic there's little to redeem him morally. It's such an atypical choice it stands out.

Wow, I totally didn't read it that way! I'd find Joel much more despicable if he just left Ellie to be vivisected by the scientists tbh. I viewed it as him making ammends by not getting another girl killed (which is what happened to his daughter) and getting a fresh start. That's not selfish or morally reprehensible, it just shows that after all they've been through he started to care again

Yeah, he cared. But he cared about more alleviating his own guilt than saving humanity. I'm with Lawful.

These interpretations, by the way, are why the game is so brilliant.

[Lawful Metal]

He's been out there too long. Plus his decision at the end is so selfish, so narcissistic there's little to redeem him morally. It's such an atypical choice it stands out.

Wow, I totally didn't read it that way! I'd find Joel much more despicable if he just left Ellie to be vivisected by the scientists tbh. I viewed it as him making ammends by not getting another girl killed (which is what happened to his daughter) and getting a fresh start. That's not selfish or morally reprehensible, it just shows that after all they've been through he started to care again

Yeah, he cared. But he cared about more alleviating his own guilt than saving humanity. I'm with Lawful.

These interpretations, by the way, are why the game is so brilliant.

His decision makes total sense. He's not going to lose another girl. But it's not his decision to make. It's Ellie's. That's why he has to lie at the end, and that's why it's selfish.

[BurningBeard]

Iiiiiiinteresting, never really thought of it like that

[Big Fresh]

He's been out there too long. Plus his decision at the end is so selfish, so narcissistic there's little to redeem him morally. It's such an atypical choice it stands out.

Wow, I totally didn't read it that way! I'd find Joel much more despicable if he just left Ellie to be vivisected by the scientists tbh. I viewed it as him making ammends by not getting another girl killed (which is what happened to his daughter) and getting a fresh start. That's not selfish or morally reprehensible, it just shows that after all they've been through he started to care again

Yeah, he cared. But he cared about more alleviating his own guilt than saving humanity. I'm with Lawful.

These interpretations, by the way, are why the game is so brilliant.

His decision makes total sense. He's not going to lose another girl. But it's not his decision to make. It's Ellie's. That's why he has to lie at the end, and that's why it's selfish.

I also have an unusual interpretation of his "lying". In that, I'm not sure he really is because I don't think Ellie's really asking what she seems to be asking on the surface level.

I think it's painfully obvious that Joel isn't telling the truth, she knows it, and Joel knows she knows it. So I think her speech is her saying, "Listen, I know what you told me isn't true. But if you want to, for both of our sakes, we can now live out the rest of our lives pretending that it is. I can be complacent in your lie for you, if you need me to be." And that's what they decide to do. That's why I said earlier, "It is the origin story of that universe's villain (maybe 2)", because if I am interpreting this right, then Ellie is pretty bad too!

[cwoy2j]

 

 

 

 

He's been out there too long. Plus his decision at the end is so selfish, so narcissistic there's little to redeem him morally. It's such an atypical choice it stands out.

Wow, I totally didn't read it that way! I'd find Joel much more despicable if he just left Ellie to be vivisected by the scientists tbh. I viewed it as him making ammends by not getting another girl killed (which is what happened to his daughter) and getting a fresh start. That's not selfish or morally reprehensible, it just shows that after all they've been through he started to care again

Yeah, he cared. But he cared about more alleviating his own guilt than saving humanity. I'm with Lawful.

These interpretations, by the way, are why the game is so brilliant.

His decision makes total sense. He's not going to lose another girl. But it's not his decision to make. It's Ellie's. That's why he has to lie at the end, and that's why it's selfish.

I also have an unusual interpretation of his "lying". In that, I'm not sure he really is because I don't think Ellie's really asking what she seems to be asking on the surface level.

I think it's painfully obvious that Joel isn't telling the truth, she knows it, and Joel knows she knows it. So I think her speech is her saying, "Listen, I know what you told me isn't true. But if you want to, for both of our sakes, we can now live out the rest of our lives pretending that it is. I can be complacent in your lie for you, if you need me to be." And that's what they decide to do. That's why I said earlier, "It is the origin story of that universe's villain (maybe 2)", because if I am interpreting this right, then Ellie is pretty bad too!

 

 

How is Ellie bad for not wanting to have her brain cut out?

[Big Fresh]

He's been out there too long. Plus his decision at the end is so selfish, so narcissistic there's little to redeem him morally. It's such an atypical choice it stands out.

Wow, I totally didn't read it that way! I'd find Joel much more despicable if he just left Ellie to be vivisected by the scientists tbh. I viewed it as him making ammends by not getting another girl killed (which is what happened to his daughter) and getting a fresh start. That's not selfish or morally reprehensible, it just shows that after all they've been through he started to care again

Yeah, he cared. But he cared about more alleviating his own guilt than saving humanity. I'm with Lawful.

These interpretations, by the way, are why the game is so brilliant.

His decision makes total sense. He's not going to lose another girl. But it's not his decision to make. It's Ellie's. That's why he has to lie at the end, and that's why it's selfish.

I also have an unusual interpretation of his "lying". In that, I'm not sure he really is because I don't think Ellie's really asking what she seems to be asking on the surface level.

I think it's painfully obvious that Joel isn't telling the truth, she knows it, and Joel knows she knows it. So I think her speech is her saying, "Listen, I know what you told me isn't true. But if you want to, for both of our sakes, we can now live out the rest of our lives pretending that it is. I can be complacent in your lie for you, if you need me to be." And that's what they decide to do. That's why I said earlier, "It is the origin story of that universe's villain (maybe 2)", because if I am interpreting this right, then Ellie is pretty bad too!

How is Ellie bad for not wanting to have her brain cut out?

Fair point. But she did want to have her brain cut out. She just changed her mind when she saw how much it would tear up Joel. She chose Joel over all of humanity.

Sometimes a villain doesn't need to be "bad", just very selfish.

[Eivion]

So anyone here play Star Ocean 4? My interest in the series somewhat died with the big reveal in the third game (which I have yet to finish), but seeing the fourth game randomly at a gamestop recently and the announcement of the fifth game a day or two ago has me slightly interested again. Was wondering how the fourth game was. I recall not great things, but I can't remember any details.

[ingrsco]

https://games.yahoo.com/news/cant-wait-buy-mortal-kombat-153001834.html

 

Good article on the current DLC and premium edition woes that gamers face.

[Jiji]

https://games.yahoo.com/news/cant-wait-buy-mortal-kombat-153001834.html

 

Good article on the current DLC and premium edition woes that gamers face.

That's what I'm doing. I remember seeing all the MK9 sales with all the DLC included not that long after release. I enjoy them but am certainly a casual fan of the series.

[Matt D]

i am constantly 3 years behind. And so long as you stay constantly 3 years behind, you're in great shape. 

 

I'm really enjoying Arkham City.

[SirSmUgly]

i am constantly 3 years behind. And so long as you stay constantly 3 years behind, you're in great shape. 

 

I'm really enjoying Arkham City.

 

[Lamp, broken circa 1988]

One of my high school friends used to work comic conventions for some weird upstart webcomic network that faded away long ago, and she told me there was a piano player across the way from her who was taking requests all weekend at Whatever Fest (I am good at details). This was either the same week or the week after The Orange Box came out. Friday it was all like pretty respectable songs, like cartoon stuff and John Williams stuff. On Saturday, someone asked him to play Still Alive. It was brutal at first because he was learning it, and then he got the hang of it, and that's when shit went to hell. Four to five times an hour or more. "Play Still Alive! Play the Portal Song!" Two full days.

 

That's all I can think about whenever I think of Portal. My poor friend. That poor pianist.

 

oh uh i've almost beat mortal kombat x and I have lots to say about it so be ready for that

[NikoBaltimore]

I am bracing myself in anticipation.  That's not sarcasm at all, I'm thinking to get the game at some point.  Have you considered buying the "Easy fatalities" or are you going to hold off?  I've never been good at doing the wacky button combination to do it so I might consider that as an option.