2019 VIDEO GAME CATCH-ALL THREAD

[Lamp, broken circa 1988]

here's a pile of reviews that reach back to like January. some are territory I'm gonna be rehashing, I'm just going through this so I can put these ratings in my ratings thing as I remember what I played this year. A large amount of these reviews are negative, so heads up for that if you're not in a place to deal with negative energy.

RED DEAD REDEMPTION 2 [1]
when it asked me to cock the pistol myself was when I began to suspect this game was not for me. I did not play much further than that, because the last time I attempted to make myself play a game that was popular in the zeitgeist that I suspected was not for me, it was God of War, and I was unable to play a singleplayer game without stomach pains for the rest of the year.

THE ETERNAL CASTLE REMASTERED [2]
INCREDIBLE first impression, less than incredible rest of the impressions. I got my hopes up when I ran in here yelling about it, because directly after that the tone started adding in a layer of camp I found completely unnecessary and ultimately deterring.

APEX LEGENDS [3]
So, on my personal scale, 3 means "I Don't Regret Playing It." This can obviously mean a wild array of responses from "it was good but not great" to "it had a lot of problems but god it had heart." This 3 means something specific. When I bounced off PUBG and Fortnite, I had individual reasons. PUBG is aesthetically empty, Fortnite is mechanically dull. So when Respawn- arguably one of the best FPS developers in the world- made a battle royale, I got to learn for myself that no, the problem is I think battle royales are fucking boring. The problem is the looting. I do not find trash collection to be a necessary addition to the action game genre. Obviously, the business has shown me that I am wrong, so whatever. At least through Apex Legends I learned that I have no interest in any battle royale ever, because if fucking Respawn can't move me, I can't be moved. On the plus side, this did lead to me pushing a bunch of my friends into Titanfall 2 and playing a bunch of that with them, so that's also a net positive.

BABA IS YOU [3]
Similarly, Baba Is You taught me that I have no interest in puzzle games unless I'm doing them with a friend. The reward of just like one brain suffering directly at a puzzle game by itself doesn't do a lot for me. The times this game was the most fun for me were when I was talking with someone over the phone, staring at the same puzzles, and one of us would solve it before the other and try to like help them get through. So I might revisit this with someone else, but I'm pretty much done playing it solo.

TRIALS RISING [3]
everything I said above about Baba is You but replace "puzzle games" with "tandem bikes" and "solve it" with "compensate for the landing"

RISK OF RAIN 2 [n/a]
i played it and i'm not gonna talk about it because i don't like helping gearbox

SEKIRO [4]
So I've said what I loved about this game earlier in the thread, and those feelings have just expanded, so instead I'm going to give you a pithy hot take idea that I used to annoy some friends:

If people think game difficulty is bad for the Fear of Missing Out, wait until they hear about foreign languages!
 

Anyways, the next game I'm gonna be getting is the Nintendo Labo VR kit, so I'll keep you posted with how that stuff goes. I'm saving the one where you look into the bird's butthole for last.

Edited April 4, 2019 by Lamp, broken circa 1988

[Casey]

19 hours ago, Contentious C said:

Then is that really a life?

I mean, the only time before this that I've had a Nintendo product was when I was really young and I had a Super Nintendo. I played the WWF games and stuff like Power Rangers and the Marvel games more than the original Nintendo titles (except for Donkey Kong Country, my Mom & I loved playing that). At least I'm giving it a shot, finally?

 

17 hours ago, twiztor said:

i find that Mario games  (specifically newer ones) are best played one world at a time. enough to enjoy it, but not so much that it becomes boring. beat one world, save, start playing again next week.

By "world" you mean all of the stages in the levels, right? Because I've been running through the start of a level all the way to the Bowser battle at the end, then quitting and picking it back up later (or the next day). Although, I did just rage quit on the stage in the second world where when you jump, the platforms disappear and go infront/behind each other, if that makes sense. 

[supremebve]

8 hours ago, Lamp, broken circa 1988 said:

RED DEAD REDEMPTION 2 [1]
 when it asked me to cock the pistol myself was when I began to suspect this game was not for me. I did not play much further than that, because the last time I attempted to make myself play a game that was popular in the zeitgeist that I suspected was not for me, it was God of War, and I was unable to play a singleplayer game without stomach pains for the rest of the year.

So, playing a game set before semi-automatic firearms became the default is just out of the question for you?

[twiztor]

5 hours ago, Casey said:

By "world" you mean all of the stages in the levels, right? Because I've been running through the start of a level all the way to the Bowser battle at the end, then quitting and picking it back up later (or the next day). Although, I did just rage quit on the stage in the second world where when you jump, the platforms disappear and go infront/behind each other, if that makes sense. 

yep, that's exactly what i mean. play through each of the levels in the "desert world" one day, next time start fresh with all of the "ice world" levels, etc. i know 3d Land is a bit different, but you get the gist. 

[Lamp, broken circa 1988]

4 hours ago, supremebve said:

So, playing a game set before semi-automatic firearms became the default is just out of the question for you?

Nah, it was because that felt like a statement of intent of the mechanics of the game. So when I asked myself if that's something I wanted to do for dozens of hours, the answer was "no." That choice + that tone = pass.

Edited April 4, 2019 by Lamp, broken circa 1988

[Death From Above]

Red Dead 2 was absolutely awful at "press Button to do thing that there's no reason not to be automated". Mechanics have never been Rockstar's strength, and that game is 100% that turned up. It's a pretty legitimate critique that is going to take some people right out of the game.

[supremebve]

1 minute ago, Death From Above said:

Red Dead 2 was absolutely awful at "press Button to do thing that there's no reason not to be automated". Mechanics have never been Rockstar's strength, and that game is 100% that turned up. It's a pretty legitimate critique that is going to take some people right out of the game.

The first hour or two of the game it bothered me, but everything else was good enough that it didn't take me out of the game.  I remember the first time I tried to shoot someone, and nothing happened it was strange, but that's how guns worked at the time.  Sure, I'd love to have a Glock and just give 16 shots to any varmint that looks at me funny, but it wouldn't fit the game.  

[odessasteps]

Of the quibbles I had with the game, that was not one for me. My issues were mainly plot driven.

[Zimbra]

I thought RDR2 was a very impressive game that was not at all fun or enjoyable to play.

[Raziel]

2 minutes ago, Zimbra said:

I thought RDR2 was a very impressive game that was not at all fun or enjoyable to play.

That seemed to be a trend in 2018, RDR2 wasn't the only game like that.

[RIPPA]

HEY! RDR2 never once asked me to press X to Pray Respects

And when I first read Lamp's post I thought it said "Cook the pistols" and I was like "What fucking weird ass mods do you add to this game?"

[supremebve]

9 minutes ago, Zimbra said:

I thought RDR2 was a very impressive game that was not at all fun or enjoyable to play.

This is unbelievable to me, but then again I'd rather drink bleach than play any of the Dark Souls/Bloodborne type games.  I was just as surprised how much some people hated God of War, which I found to be outstanding...other than that one level with the boat.  Different strokes I guess.

[Raziel]

4 minutes ago, RIPPA said:

HEY! RDR2 never once asked me to press X to Pray Respects

 

 

[supremebve]

Since we're kind of on the subject, but what are your biggest gaming pet peeves?

One of mine is not giving the gamer enough information.  I replayed Mass Effect 3 recently, which is my first replay since I beat it when it originally came out.  One of my favorite missions was the one where you go to save the school and catch up with Jack.  So, I get the message that the school is under attack, but I get caught up with the whole Krogan plot and go to the Krogan planet to cure the genophage.  Little do I know that you can literally go anywhere else in the galaxy and still do the school mission, except if you go to the Krogan planet.  Another thing the game doesn't tell you is that you should wait until just before the final mission to do the Citadel DLC.  I get a message about going to an apartment, at a point in the game when I only have Liara, Ashley, James, Garrus, and Edi unlocked.  It's a mission about getting the band back together for one more mission, and it allows you to start the mission before you actually have all the members of the band.  That's bad enough, but it's also a long ass mission that you have to finish before you go back to the main game, so you can't actually correct the mistake of starting it.  Just give me the info I need, so I can have as much fun with the game as possible.  

[Guest The Magnificent 7]

I haven’t played RDR2 yet but I would probably like that realistic mechanic. One of the reasons the fight and action scenes in Last of the Mohicans are awesome is that Michael Mann goes out of his way to show how you get one shot and then it’s a brutal fight with edged or blunt weapons, heightening the intensity. 

At least that’s how I am imagining the mechanic in the game. Better know your sidearm well and be good with it or you’ll be dead in the majority single action only / cap and ball days.  

As for video game annoying stuff, lore for the sake of lore does my head in. That shit better be interesting or good writing if you’re saturating “examine this” in every damn area. 

Edited April 4, 2019 by The Magnificent 7

[SirSmUgly]

I love Baba Is You, but it is fucking brutal. It's especially disheartening to spend an hour trying to get through a tough puzzle, finally figuring it out, and then going to the next puzzle and seeing the SAME FUCKING THING almost except with a variable changed that makes it ten times harder. Oh, you took an hour to figure out the last puzzle? Now one of the text pieces that was crucial to completing the last puzzle is floating above you. Good fucking luck.

I haven't played Sekiro yet, but it can't possibly be harder than Baba Is You. 

However, those games are hard on their face. Yoshi's Crafted World - my favorite game of this year of our Lord 2019 so far, by the way - is sneaky hard in mid-to-later levels because it's basically Where's Waldo except sometimes the level scrolls or you have to "find" the hidden background and foreground objects by making a surprisingly difficult shot at it with an egg. The platforming is, as usual for Yoshi platformers, easy to manage. The finding of objects, not so much, so thankfully my wife enjoys sitting on the couch and helping to point out any hidden objects that I need to find. 

It's definitely a flawed game for a few reasons (having to replay a whole level in order to get another shot at a timed challenge that you failed; those Giant Mecha Yoshi punching levels) but it's so creatively-developed and has the best art direction in a game this year or last year or maybe any year since Super Mario Galaxy 2 came out that eh, I can live with the flaws.

[Tabe]

2 hours ago, supremebve said:

Since we're kind of on the subject, but what are your biggest gaming pet peeves?

Off the top of my head:

1) Any game where you're the last hope of some group/civilization/army - and you're armed with a pistol.  Sometimes it makes sense in the story context, most of the time it's just a gameplay mechanic and it's dumb.

2) Similar to #1, games where you load up on weapons/ammo/armor/whatever, complete a mission and ... all of your stuff is now gone.

3) AI partners that don't help with puzzle solving.  You're in some room, you need to figure something out, you've got an AI companion or three with you and...they do nothing.  Yes, it makes the game easier if they talk but THAT'S WHAT A COMPANION WOULD REALLY DO.

4) Any AI opponent that does stuff you can't possibly do, reacts to things it couldn't have "seen", or otherwise cheats.  RTS games are notorious for this - creating units faster than is actually possible, having knowledge of you or the map they shouldn't have, etc.  Or fighting characters that can pull off "charge for 2 seconds and then attack" moves in 1.2 seconds or immediately after doing something else.  Race opponents that are twice as fast as you.  And so on.

[supremebve]

1 hour ago, Tabe said:

3) AI partners that don't help with puzzle solving.  You're in some room, you need to figure something out, you've got an AI companion or three with you and...they do nothing.  Yes, it makes the game easier if they talk but THAT'S WHAT A COMPANION WOULD REALLY DO.

Even worse is when your A.I. companion is not only completely useless, but when they are actively working against you by stopping in doorways or wandering into your line of sight when you're shooting.  I think my least favorite thing is when it is a companion who you have to revive, and they constantly run into the most dangerous situations.

[BrianS81177]

6 hours ago, supremebve said:

Since we're kind of on the subject, but what are your biggest gaming pet peeves?

Invisible walls. Don't make it look like I can go somewhere if I fucking can't.  

[Death From Above]

At this point with like 30 years of gaming, bad menus drive me absolutely nuts. There is zero excuse for that. If I have to fight a menu boss I get very sad. 

I am also really, really opposed to this trend in gaming in the last decade that we replaced manuals (and then in-game tutorials in many cases) with literally nothing and you're now just supposed to consult the Wiki where fans wrote one for you. A lot of genuinely great games are guilty of this, but that doesn't make it good.

[Casey]

First impressions on the 3DS games I bought... Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon is hella fun, a welcome change of pace from something like Super Mario Land 3D. I'll be sinking a lot of time into Ocarina Of Time, it seems really good but I've only played for about 30 minutes so far. Haven't touched A Link Between Worlds, don't really want to be playing two Zelda games at once since I like to focus on stories and these both have the same characters so I rather just be fully engrossed in one then go to the other when I'm done completely with OoT.

Monster Hunter Generations is dogshit, but it was only $5 so whatever.

[SirSmUgly]

I sometimes feel like I should get a 3DS, but really all I want to play is Kid Icarus: Uprising. I guess Majora's Mask would be nice to have handheld too.

But I didn't really love my DS or it's design, and the 3DS is nearly devoid of games that I'm remotely interested in, and really I just want those two games that I mentioned released on the Switch ASAP.

[Tabe]

3 hours ago, BrianS81177 said:

Invisible walls. Don't make it look like I can go somewhere if I fucking can't.  

Uncharted was great at this. You can climb here but not there. You can jump sometimes but not others. 

[LoneWolf&Subs]

5 hours ago, Casey said:

Monster Hunter Generations is dogshit, but it was only $5 so whatever.

I love Monster Hunter World. So after loving the Next Gen version of that game so much, I decided to track down the previous entry in that series, and I too got it for the 3DS. I’m not going to call it dogshit, but goddamn I can not get past the early portion of that game. The quality off life in it is horrendous. No wonder they held back on releasing it for the Switch until after World came out. Also the text in it is awful for a person with colorblindness, due to the fact every important word is highlighted in red. I got it again for the Switch this time to see any improvements. Nope... none at all. Fuck that stubborn piece of shit game. It’s not even that the game is hard. It just has no momentum, and it expects you to not have a job. 

Edited April 5, 2019 by LoneWolf&Subs

[Doc Townsend]

7 hours ago, Smelly McUgly said:

I sometimes feel like I should get a 3DS, but really all I want to play is Kid Icarus: Uprising. I guess Majora's Mask would be nice to have handheld too.

But I didn't really love my DS or it's design, and the 3DS is nearly devoid of games that I'm remotely interested in, and really I just want those two games that I mentioned released on the Switch ASAP.

I'm a big fan of most of Nintendo's IP's, so the 3DS's catalog appeals to me, but I have no interest in handheld systems.  Why did it take so long for manufacturers to start selling handhelds that could be hooked to your tv and played as a console? If nothing else, it seems like something that would make a system like the 3DS more attractive to console owners, thereby increasing the 3DS's potential consumer base.

I just started digging through the Vita catalog because I never had any interest in buying a Vita, but I did pick up a PlayStation TV last week, so some of the Vita catalog is now available to me.

I'm probably just as glad I skipped the Vita proper.  Not really a fan of innovative controls (motion controls, touch screens, etc.).  I like the Wii library quite a bit, but I'd like Wii and Wii U more with traditional control schemes. 

Edited April 5, 2019 by Doc Townsend