2016 VIDEO GAME CATCH-ALL THREAD

[J.T.]

Do a search for Watch Dogs read my JT Finally Plays Watch Dogs posts.  Oddly enough, I don't think my posts are in the original Watch Dogs forum, I think I posted all of my pain in this Catch All thread.

Then do yourself a favor and don't even bother playing the first game.  I have already suffered for your sake.

[Michael Sweetser]

Yeah, I 100%'d the original Watch Dogs, and JT's got the right idea.  You are not missing a damn thing, and none of it affects this game anyway.

[Cliff Hanger]

I loved just fucking around in Watch Dogs 1 but found the combat and story utterly tedious. the highlight was Aisha Tyler as "herself" bragging about stealing silverware from five-star restaurants.

[J.T.]

14 hours ago, Cliff Hanger said:

I loved just fucking around in Watch Dogs 1 but found the combat and story utterly tedious. the highlight was Aisha Tyler as "herself" bragging about stealing silverware from five-star restaurants.

She's in two Easter eggs on that game. 

1. The Privacy Invasion interlude you mentioned.

2. She has a cameo in the game mission, "A Wrench In The Works."

 

[Cliff Hanger]

I never got that far.

[Raziel]

So I went and picked up the Metal Gear Legacy collection for PS3 for $25 on Amazon.  It's MG1 and 2, Peace Walker, MGS1, 2 and 3 Substinence with the HD upgrade, and 4 with trophies.  I'm also intending to eventually pick up Ground Zeroes and Phantom Pain soon (as they're like, $30 combined on Amazon.)

 

I'm toying with should I play them release order, or chronological order.  I'm thinking release as I'm kind of shuddering going from MGS3 to MG1.

[Cliff Hanger]

My last playthrough of the series was a few years ago, but I found that it's actually pretty easy to go to the 8-bit games after MGS3, just because they're excellent 8-bit games. MG2 especially holds up.

 

Be warned, Peace Walker was designed for Monster Hunter-style ad hoc multiplayer and is FUCKING HARD solo. I've never beaten it because of that.

[J.T.]

19 hours ago, Cliff Hanger said:

I never got that far.

I did.

And then some.

[cwoy2j]

On 11/14/2016 at 4:39 PM, Tromatagon said:

I haven't, but the only time I hear anyone talk about it is to say how mind numbingly boring it is

Is Nobunga's Ambition better?

[Andrew POE!]

I decided to get back into Watch_Dogs 1 because I don't learn from the mistakes and suffering of others.

[Chaos]

Going back to my HDD Conundrum, I am having trouble finding anything larger than a 1 TB drive that apparently is not riddled with issues. Unless I find something not overpriced, I may be forced to just go the HGST Travelstar route that at least has the 7200 Spindle Speed.

[Zimbra]

I've been playing tons of Grim Dawn lately.  I feel comfortable calling it the best throwback ARPG going.  The game's DNA is pretty split between Diablo 2 and Titan Quest, but with plenty of modern conveniences, like the ability to travel back to town whenever for free and plentiful respecs.  Good stuff.

It's also in the current Humble Bundle for $14 if it sounds like your thing.

[odessasteps]

Anyone ever play the Swindle?

looked interesting and it is on sale on Xbox gold/black friday.

[Lamp, broken circa 1988]

HYPER LIGHT DRIFTER [4]: Here is the abridged list of answers I will accept for the question "what is the best game of the year 2016?"
-Hyper Light Drifter
-DOOM
-Hitman
-Firewatch*
-"I haven't played enough games"
Every other answer is just your favorite game of the year**, which is way more valuable. Hyper Light Drifter is a must-play game. Play it on easy if you have to. Play it.
*i may pull a face if you say Firewatch, but, I won't argue
**mine is Pocket Card Jockey

GUNMAN CLIVE [3]: It's good. I like it. I don't know that I have a good pitch for it because i bought it to have something to do until I got the next game on here, but, it's good. It's like Mega Man without the level select, and with Super Mario damage model (one hit and you die, get a power up for one extra hit).

POKEMON MOON (or, pokemoon) [4]: I have not played a pokemon since Silver. So, I have no idea what is actually different versus what is just different from when I was playing it. That being said: I am loving my time with this. Getting rid of the gym system is completely brilliant and it makes everything feel more like an adventure and less like a hike. I still have very little idea what's actually happening with the Festival Plaza, but I'm going to put in enough time to figure it out. Definitely can recommend if you're thinking "eh, maybe I'll give Pokemon another chance!"

also i am naming all of my pokemon after luchadors so that's fun

TITANFALL 2 [3]: This is a weird thing. I bought it during the Target sale, and was nicely surprised by the single player campaign. I think it's overhyped but I also think it's better than anyone was ready for it to be, so at least it's a natural version of overhyping. I also think the multiplayer is fucking fantastic. I just don't know how much longer I'll be playing it because none of my friends are biting (Overwatch got them hooks in deep) and there's not like a big playerbase here either. So like, I love it, but I don't know how long it's going to be in my life, so at least I don't regret giving it a chance.

 

Still working on Neon Struct, going to finally try Hitman in the next month, just started on Thumper (early impression: it's amazing), and still waiting for The Last Guardian. Here's my prediction: A lot of people are going to hate it because it currently appears to be a game about training animals and I question the overlap between "Good dog owners" and "people who want to play the last guardian." I also have an indie game I'm eyeing but I don't want to commit to it because money is so tight.

[Zimbra]

14 hours ago, odessasteps said:

Anyone ever play the Swindle?

looked interesting and it is on sale on Xbox gold/black friday.

Yeah, it was free on PSN a while back.  I didn't care much for it; it felt like the difficulty ramped up pretty quickly without giving the player enough new tools or skills to deal with it.  And the more runs you make, successful or not, the more the difficulty ratchets up so it's easy to run into a brick wall and have to restart.

[odessasteps]

Ah. i would have grabbed it if it was free. thats why i wanted opinion.

[Andrew POE!]

Playing through Watch_Dogs and what J.T. said is true. All of it.

[Ryan]

In the third one you play a dog that just watches things. It's a step up.

[Chaos]

I picked up Hitman for basically $26 during the PSN sale with the 10% off coupon. I've only been playing through and trying to hit all of the challenges on the Prologue, but the hype for that game is definitely real. It's one of those games that's mildly fun to watch other people play via stream too.

[Michael Sweetser]

See, I liked Watch Dogs 1, but I wasn't party to the immense hype of its varied modes, so I just took it as a GTA clone with h4x0r1ng and enjoyed it on those merits.

Those drinking games can eat a fucking dick, though.

[SirFozzie]

Think Trophy collectionists are bad? NES Collectionists are mental.

There was 10,000 copies of Stadium Events ever made (remember, the one that was the power pad game before Nintendo bought it and the Power Pad and turned it into World Class Track Meet?).. Now, there are so few copies left in the wild that for those trying to get a copy of every NES game ever produced will pay $30,000 or more, despite the SAME game (the Nintendo version) going for $3.

Somehow I doubt we'll be doing the same thirty years from now for say, Call of Duty.

http://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/18121761/the-true-story-nintendo-most-coveted-game

[Kevin Wilson]

1 hour ago, SirFozzie said:

Think Trophy collectionists are bad? NES Collectionists are mental.

There was 10,000 copies of Stadium Events ever made (remember, the one that was the power pad game before Nintendo bought it and the Power Pad and turned it into World Class Track Meet?).. Now, there are so few copies left in the wild that for those trying to get a copy of every NES game ever produced will pay $30,000 or more, despite the SAME game (the Nintendo version) going for $3.

Somehow I doubt we'll be doing the same thirty years from now for say, Call of Duty.

http://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/18121761/the-true-story-nintendo-most-coveted-game

Maybe if there are only ten copies around of it  Rare Item + Crazy Fans = Worth Lots of Money. Hell, NBA Elite 11 is listed on Ebay for $4,000 and its only five years old. Granted, it may have peaked, but in 25 years who knows.

[Tabe]

Just finished The Tetris Effect by Dan Ackerman.  Terrific book covering the full history of Tetris and its early development.  I've read a ton of articles, seen multiple documentaries, read the Tetris sections of various books.  I *know* the story.  And STILL learned a ton.  Couple drawbacks: 1) The book includes a couple of "bonus" chapters that try to attach greater societal significance or science behind the game.  They're terrible and a waste of space; 2) The story stops with the release of the NES version.  Sure, that's where all the excitement is but it covers none of the post-NES stuff other than a brief mention of the formation of The Tetris Company.  

So, if you like reading about video game history, pick it up.  You won't be disappointed.

[J.T.]

On 11/26/2016 at 6:55 PM, Andrew POE! said:

Playing through Watch_Dogs and what J.T. said is true. All of it.

For those of you that wish to laugh at my pain. my Watch Dogs gameplay saga begins on Page 22.

[Ryan]

1 hour ago, Tabe said:

Just finished The Tetris Effect by Dan Ackerman.  Terrific book covering the full history of Tetris and its early development.  I've read a ton of articles, seen multiple documentaries, read the Tetris sections of various books.  I *know* the story.  And STILL learned a ton.  Couple drawbacks: 1) The book includes a couple of "bonus" chapters that try to attach greater societal significance or science behind the game.  They're terrible and a waste of space; 2) The story stops with the release of the NES version.  Sure, that's where all the excitement is but it covers none of the post-NES stuff other than a brief mention of the formation of The Tetris Company.  

So, if you like reading about video game history, pick it up.  You won't be disappointed.

Maybe they can use some of it for the film trilogy. I still have no idea how you make that a film. Stupider things have been made into movies, but they usually have nothing to do with what they're actually based on beyond some gimmicky thing. Think Battleship when that comes to mind. The games have no inherent plot or anything, so are they going to be films about a modern Utopia where buildings are built using giant floating blocks, but they've mysteriously started disappearing! Oh no! What will our heroes do? Keep stacking until they can't stack anymore and the true evil mastermind comes forth. Boris Yeltsinstein, he just wanted some party friends in the next world. This is the first 8 minutes of the first film. Now come up with the next 300.