2018 VIDEO GAME CATCH-ALL THREAD

[Death From Above]

Sure but this is also the same year we had God of War, a 5-year AAA development that was undeniably a tens of millions of dollars project, launch about as close to clean as possible.

NES Metal Gear launched with a puzzle requiring you to find a radio code that nobody in the game gives you. The Wrestlemania game on XBOX shipped with an online multiplayer feature that literally couldn't connect due to a coding fuck up. This shit isn't new.

Cherry picking shit at either end is pretty easy, to be honest.

[Raziel]

11 hours ago, Death From Above said:

Have you ever seen this?

It's shocking how broken this game, apparently, is. I never found ANY of this shit.

Yeah, getting into Speed Running and doing LTTP Rando is's amazing how broken some stuff was.  Just sequence breaking Metroid's using minor programming glitches that automatically give you items is unintended shit.  

 

Symphony of the Night is widely considered the best Castlevania game of all time.  Good fucking LORD the amount of bugs in that game break it wide open.

 

 

[Spritenaut 32]

To be fair, I don't have a huge issue with patching bugs.  My issue is that regard is that some of these bugs would be found if developers weren't pressured to do yearly updates to games and meet accelerated development cycles.  My issue is more with the "Let's hit the release date and fix it later" mentality, which seems to be the industry mindset at the moment.

My issue really is with patches that add online modes and gameplay options.  I'm playing Fable-The Lost Chapters on the original Xbox right now.  It's basically the greatest hits version of Fable - and in fact was only released under Microsoft's budget "Platinum Hits" banner.  It contains approx. 44% more content than Fables and is a much better game.  Apparently, Fable was rushed to market cause no one wanted to delay it a year and miss holiday sales or whatever.  That's a 15-year-old game.  There are probably more recent examples.  So, yeah, I hate all the DLC and extra modes in patches and whatever else.  Along with that, I dislike that it's essentially mandatory to sign up for the console's streaming service and the argument among gamers for this idea is "Well, you can play the game on the disc, but you'll have to play a really broken game."  Gamers are way too quick to give up their money.

I like the idea of dlc and patches to fix bugs in theory, but the way it is executed....ugh....

 

[Ace]

10 minutes ago, Player One said:

To be fair, I don't have a huge issue with patching bugs.  My issue is that regard is that some of these bugs would be found if developers weren't pressured to do yearly updates to games and meet accelerated development cycles.  

 

The bugs are absolutely found. At some point it isn't a bug you can crash the game with 100% of the time, they'll just let it go anyways.

 

[Raziel]

Rule number 1 of coding:  You patch one bug, it spawns 5 more.   The more complex games get, the more that can break.  Yes, releasing games lacking features to hit a date is bad, but patching broken bugs are going to happen.   And changing one thing fucks the balance elsewhere , Then fixing that fucks the game somewhere else,  etc etc etc.

 

I mean, I remember running a MUD and working with the coder on implementing stuff and even that, the shit that got broke changing one thing you'd think was benign.

[Jiji]

I am loving the post-patch free content updates some games have provided fans with the past few years. Sea of Thieves went on a game relying completely on PvP for entertainment to slowly but gradually filling up the PvE side of things now where there will soon be a lot to do beyond just sinking other people's ships. 

Street Fighter IV/V releasing with barebones features and half of the roster expecting you to pay for the rest of them, on the other hand, is bullshit of the highest order.

[Death From Above]

I am really curious to see how Monster Hunter World is on PC, since Capcom staggered that release by over half a year.

Like, that had better have the smoothest netcode of all-time after a delay that long, especially compared to some of Capcom's other PC work (a platform they aren't particularly strong on historically).

[Cliff Hanger]

I also feel like SF5 is a unique clusterfuck divorced from most other modern games. It's pretty clear that the team making it had a mandate to have a game on shelves for Evo 2016, and sacrificed everything not needed for e-sports to make a February ship date. They took nearly two years to put out the finished game and that sucks (though if you were to buy either sku of it today it will feel much more satisfying) but to tar other major releases with the same brush is a mistake. SF5 was a generational bed-shitting at launch. The last launch that hosed was Fallout 3 on PlayStation, with the bug that locked up your console for ten minutes every time someone on your friends list logged in or out of PSN. 

[Spritenaut 32]

Question for the people far more into gaming culture than I am: are games any less buggy than they were 10-20 years ago, even with the ability to simply throw up a patch via your console's online subscription service?  It doesn't seem like it, though that could just be perception.  I don't recall having much awareness of bugs during the PSX/PS2 days, much less encountering game-breaking glitches very often.  It seems like there's much more awareness of that now, though part of that is simply the pervasiveness of internet culture.

On the other hand, I wonder if unbuggy games are simply an unattainable goal?  The leaps forward in console technology allows for bigger, more complex games, which makes game design and coding a lot more complex.  Which means there's a lot more stuff to break.   Maybe it's just a necessary evil of the eight generation (soon to be ninth).

That said, y'all would have to do a lot to convince me that gaming on the whole is more enjoyable than it was during the PS2/Xbox/GameCube/Dreamcast years.  I've been buying a lot of Dreamcast games lately and messing around with the surprisingly lively Dreamcast homebrew scene.  God, I wish Sega still made consoles.  Their catalogs had a lot of great stuff and they took a lot of chances with oddball games (segagaga, anyone?)

 

[Raziel]

So, I'm not 100% complete on Arkham Knight yet, as I still have Riddler Stuff, Militia, and the DLC to finish, but I'm overall dissappointed with the game and need a break already.  The story is good even with the predicitable twist, but it really seems like they only gave a shit about the Batmobile and built the entire game around it, as the game is just way too reliant on it and everything else gets lost in the shuffle.  Even the boss fights were just non-existant except for the end Fear sequence which was great.  I'd have to put it as the weakest in the series, including Origins.  

 

Now finally getting to Rise of the Tomb Raider, and I'm getting used to the crafting system and healing, as the last game didn't have healing at all.

[Spritenaut 32]

Speaking of Dreamcast, I've never played Toukon Retsuden.  Should I?  I can't find much info on the series and review are mostly player reviews by people who's opinion I probably shouldn't trust.

I'm assuming it's more arcade game than sim?  How does it compare to Giant Gram 2K?

I'm looking mostly at TR4?  Any of the others worth picking up if you have 4?

 

[Contentious C]

23 hours ago, Death From Above said:

I am really curious to see how Monster Hunter World is on PC, since Capcom staggered that release by over half a year.

Like, that had better have the smoothest netcode of all-time after a delay that long, especially compared to some of Capcom's other PC work (a platform they aren't particularly strong on historically).

Speaking of which, how is Dragon's Dogma? I've seen a handful of bad reviews with respect to the game just failing to even start up, but assuming I can get it to work, it seems like it might be an OK game. If not, I could probably just nab it for PS3 (assuming it isn't also ass-tastic on that console). 

[Raziel]

Well, TR's engine is what eventually became the current WWE series, so it's nice to see how it started, but AKI took the best parts and improved it for the VPW engine.  TR4 I believe was similar to Royal Rumble which they did in the US, and had an arcade release, but I could be mixing that up with something else.

 

I prefer Giant Gram, but YMMV.  

[Craig H]

I didn't think TR4 was any good because yes, it was basically the Royal Rumble DC game. It's pretty fucking clear what the best wrestling game is on the DC. I know GG2000 has its fans and I've only watched videos of it, but nothing I've seen looks better than FPW D.

[SirSmUgly]

FirePro Wrestling D is, in fact, the best wrestling game on the Dreamcast. Low bar to clear there, sadly, but it is. 

[Spritenaut 32]

Well, yeah, but I played an awful lot of FPR and FP World is the first PC game I've bought since Sim City 4.  Is there any reason to go back to D?

I'm kinda thinking I should pick up a copy of D just to have in the collection, though.

[Zimbra]

Gameplay-wise I don't believe there's anything in D that's not in R, so the only real reason to get it is for completeness' sake.

[odessasteps]

45 minutes ago, Smelly McUgly said:

FirePro Wrestling D is, in fact, the best wrestling game on the Dreamcast. Low bar to clear there, sadly, but it is. 

Vehemently Disagree. 

As always, I think Giant Gram 2000 is the best wrestling game ever, regardless of system. 

The DC was the best system ever for wrestling games, thanks to GG, FIre pro and NJ 4.

[SirFozzie]

For those of you who have Amazon Prime, I'd suggest downloading the twitch for windows app, about 20 free games (including pillars of eternity and Tyranny) over the next couple weeks

[JLSigman]

18 hours ago, Contentious C said:

Speaking of which, how is Dragon's Dogma? I've seen a handful of bad reviews with respect to the game just failing to even start up, but assuming I can get it to work, it seems like it might be an OK game. If not, I could probably just nab it for PS3 (assuming it isn't also ass-tastic on that console). 

A lot of folks I know say the updated version, "Dark Arisen", is really good. It's currently on sale on Steam.

[J.T.]

I am only a little ways into the game, but so far I am digging Battle Chasers.  Thanks for the awesome recommendation, guys!

[Cliff Hanger]

Fuuuuuuck Yakuza karaoke

[Contentious C]

4 hours ago, JLSigman said:

A lot of folks I know say the updated version, "Dark Arisen", is really good. It's currently on sale on Steam.

Yeah, that's why I was asking, and given I have little to no RPG play time on anything not made by Bethesda, Bioware, or Square Enix, I felt like seeing if DFA's Capcom disclaimer applied here or not. I guess, worst-case scenario, I can buy it, then see if I get the horrendous lock-up/CTD errors others are pointing to within the first few hours. If I do, just refund the bastard.

[CSC]

8 hours ago, SirFozzie said:

For those of you who have Amazon Prime, I'd suggest downloading the twitch for windows app, about 20 free games (including pillars of eternity and Tyranny) over the next couple weeks

Spoiler

• Pillars of Eternity: Definitive Edition: July 2-4
• Metal Slug 3: July 3 - August 2
• The Last Blade: July 3 - August 2
• Twinkle Star Sprites: July 3 - August 2
• Q.U.B.E. 2: July 3-4
• Battle Chef Brigade: July 4-11
• Manual Samuel: July 5-12
• Gonner: July 6-13
• Next Up Hero: July 7-14
• Uurnog Uurnlimited: July 8-14
• Hue: July 9-15
• Deponia Doomsday: July 10-16
• Observer: July 11-17
• Tacoma: July 12-18
• The Bridge: July 13-26
• Brutal Legend: July 14-27
• The Red Strings Club: July 15-21
• Tyranny: July 16-18
• Broken Age: July 17-31
• The Framed Collection: July 18-31
• Serial Cleaner: July 18-31

 

[Ramo2653]

On 7/2/2018 at 10:15 AM, Player One said:

Question for the people far more into gaming culture than I am: are games any less buggy than they were 10-20 years ago, even with the ability to simply throw up a patch via your console's online subscription service?  It doesn't seem like it, though that could just be perception.  I don't recall having much awareness of bugs during the PSX/PS2 days, much less encountering game-breaking glitches very often.  It seems like there's much more awareness of that now, though part of that is simply the pervasiveness of internet culture.

On the other hand, I wonder if unbuggy games are simply an unattainable goal?  The leaps forward in console technology allows for bigger, more complex games, which makes game design and coding a lot more complex.  Which means there's a lot more stuff to break.   Maybe it's just a necessary evil of the eight generation (soon to be ninth).

That said, y'all would have to do a lot to convince me that gaming on the whole is more enjoyable than it was during the PS2/Xbox/GameCube/Dreamcast years.  I've been buying a lot of Dreamcast games lately and messing around with the surprisingly lively Dreamcast homebrew scene.  God, I wish Sega still made consoles.  Their catalogs had a lot of great stuff and they took a lot of chances with oddball games (segagaga, anyone?)

 

 

As someone that's done some game coding before on browser based games, there's always bugs. The biggest difference now is that you won't have games that are completely broken and can never be fixed since updates can be made. But you'll lose some of the more fun glitches that are around like the star trick in Mario 64 or some of the stuff in Metal Gear Solid. I remember the souls glitch in Demon's Souls that got patched pretty quick.

As far as what generation of games is the best, it's probably more based on age. Destiny or some other current generation shooter is probably a better game than Contra on NES, but I'm in my mid-30s so I grew up playing Contra and I spend more time playing that on emulator and playing Destiny. I'd rather play Street Fighter Alpha 3 or Marvel vs. Capcom 2 than SF5 or MvC 4.

And I'm eternally salty that my Dreamcast got caught in a basement flood a few years ago.