2019 VIDEO GAME CATCH-ALL THREAD

[Craig H]

6 minutes ago, Tromatagon said:

It sounds like they suck a little more than the other games in the series though.

They'd at least hit the synergy attacks.  I mean, you'd be the one initiating them at all times, but they'd not actively fuck them up usually

I'm not sure how it worked before, but you can automatically initiate a synergy attack by pressing RT + Y. If you hit RB + Y, the person you're trying to do the attack with has to hit the A button in time to pull off the attack, but RT + Y just does it automatically as long as the other hero has the power to do it.

And yeah, the AI is dumb as shit. My daughter and I finished the Doc Ock fight the first time we tried, but she accidentally closed out the game when I said it was time for dinner so our progress wasn't saved. Since then, we haven't been able to beat him again because the AI blows. Wanda and Groot both have ranged attacks and instead of hitting Doc from a distancee, they get up close and just start dying really fast. For that fight, you have to basically get through the first part with only one death, which doesn't happen that often considering your AI partners are constantly running up to get their ass kicked. The work around is quickly taking control of someone to get them back. The AI also never looks like they dodge attacks and dodging attacks is pretty much mandatory. 

I think my biggest gripe, aside from the AI, is the camera. It's really shitty. It's especially bad in co-op because if my daughter or me tries to hang back and attack from a distance and the other gets up close for melee attacks, then you can't see what you're doing or who you're attacking because the other person is too far away. The camera should zoom out for that shit and it instead stays fixed on a specific point, which is usually the person farthest away. It feels like something they could patch so here's hoping.

[Coletti]

On 7/20/2019 at 7:47 AM, Andrew POE! said:

Got my 145th Platinum trophy with Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. Probably one of the worst AAA games ever made last gen. Everything about it sucks.

Just figured out you're on PS4 Reddit based on the Trophy Hunting thread (I don't post, just lurk and watch for sales and news)

[John E. Dynamite]

On 7/20/2019 at 7:47 AM, Andrew POE! said:

Got my 145th Platinum trophy with Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. Probably one of the worst AAA games ever made last gen. Everything about it sucks.

I had mentioned the few multiplatform games that were best received on the Wii a few pages back and I'm pretty sure the Force Unleashed games are on that list, particularly the sequel - but I haven't played either. But I've heard one person swear SW:FO2 is only good on the Wii.

Apparently Bully is on that list as well. Same goes for the Godfather game. Go figure.

Edited July 23, 2019 by John E. Dynamite

[Tromatagon]

One of the Spider Man movie games was a lot less shitty on the Wii because the waggle waggle was fun.  I am thinking it's 3.

[AxB]

It must have been 3. 1 predates the Wii by ages, and Spider-Man 2 was awesome on PS2.

[Dolfan in NYC]

For those Starcraft II fans on the board, some sad news about one of its best streamers/personalities:

Geoff 'InControl' Robinson died this weekend because of a pulmonary embolism.   He was 34. 

[Craig H]

Downloaded the free trial of Final Fantasy 14 and played it for a little bit. For an MMO this is gorgeous looking. I decided to play with a 360 controller on my PC and I'm not sure if this is better than mouse and keyboard. In any event, the voiceovers, visuals, and storytelling is very good. Combat is interesting too for an MMO and early on, I think I might like it better than ES:O. I'll play through the whole trial and then decide if I want to keep playing or not.

[Death From Above]

Meanwhile I am up to near the end of Stormblood now, and getting close to starting Shadowbringers.

The last game to suck me in this hard was Skyrim, but I'm not really sure there's much else about the two games that is that comparable.

I won't deny the storytelling gets better in the expansions, but I still find it bizarre how many veterans decry the base game as a complete chore. It's not nearly as bad as they seem to remember it being. I suspect that for a lot of them the levelling progression rate is vastly different than they remember when they first did it. There's no doubt the writing improves in the expansions and a lot of the side characters get a lot more human, but I don't regret any of my time in the base game content really. The only hard wall is when you hit level 50 and about 40 billion things that were the original end game suddenly are available, that seems incredibly overwhelming. But playing through it now it's also wild watching how the dungeon and boss designs build on each other over time and they just keep finding new crazy shit to throw at you as you go.

I honestly never knew what kind of high level gameplay it took to do top level MMO dungeon/boss content. I've found a new respect for what MMO raid parties do in terms of prep work and patience when new content rolls out that roadblocks them for hours even with their combined knowledge. I can handle dungeons and all of the basic trials, that shit I can learn, and the stuff required for the main story hasn't managed to stop me outright yet. I stepped into one of the old Extreme trials and even thinking I'd done my prep work I got slapped around like Glass Joe. That shit is outrageous.

There's only been one dungeon in the entire game I genuinely dislike. And I still think overall this game might have the best soundtrack of all-time.

[Cliff Hanger]

I really need to get back into FF14.  I ramped up all the jobs in my starting city to like Lv12 and never advanced the story past that.

[JLSigman]

17 hours ago, Craig H said:

Downloaded the free trial of Final Fantasy 14 and played it for a little bit. For an MMO this is gorgeous looking. I decided to play with a 360 controller on my PC and I'm not sure if this is better than mouse and keyboard. In any event, the voiceovers, visuals, and storytelling is very good. Combat is interesting too for an MMO and early on, I think I might like it better than ES:O. I'll play through the whole trial and then decide if I want to keep playing or not.

I'm definitely throwing money at this on Friday. I've got a level 30 archer and have been noodling around with creating and deleting some other classes just to get a feel for them. 

 

14 hours ago, Death From Above said:

I won't deny the storytelling gets better in the expansions, but I still find it bizarre how many veterans decry the base game as a complete chore. It's not nearly as bad as they seem to remember it being. I suspect that for a lot of them the levelling progression rate is vastly different than they remember when they first did it. There's no doubt the writing improves in the expansions and a lot of the side characters get a lot more human, but I don't regret any of my time in the base game content really. The only hard wall is when you hit level 50 and about 40 billion things that were the original end game suddenly are available, that seems incredibly overwhelming. But playing through it now it's also wild watching how the dungeon and boss designs build on each other over time and they just keep finding new crazy shit to throw at you as you go.

Maybe once I've done the base game a few hundred more times I'll be bored, but with it starting in three different cities depending on your class, then choosing which Grand Company opening up different things, there's a lot of variety. I've also noticed you can level up really fast at the beginning, then slow down and have to really start picking up sidequests/levequests and such around level 25ish. 

[LoneWolf&Subs]

It’s official people. I feel very old. Jeff Gerstmann is a father.

[Doc Townsend]

Anyone want to sell me on the idea of a PS4 Pro?

I'm going out to buy a PS4 console after work today.  Right now, planing to buy the limited edition "Days of Play" PS4 console, but I've considered spending the cash on a PS4 Pro instead.  There's a fair number of PS4 games on my want list, but not a lot that seems like it would need the Pro.

As a collector, I'm more into limited edition and import consoles than just the standard "off the shelve at Best Buy" models.   And I still play PS3 and Wii more than PS4.

Any reason I should buy the Pro?  I'm assuming new releases will be supported by the PS4 slim for the foreseeable future?

Thanks.

[Craig H]

1 hour ago, LoneWolf&Subs said:

It’s official people. I feel very old. Jeff Gerstmann is a father.

Yeah! I heard that yesterday. But it's ok, don't feel that old, Jeff is in his 40s now.

When I heard the news on the Bombcast yesterday, part of me hoped he had a boy and named him Ryan or Davis. And then I get really sad and felt like tearing up because if Ryan were still alive he would have been fucking elated.

Man, it's only been a few years, but Ryan's death still makes me sad and brings a tear to my eye today.

[LoneWolf&Subs]

Jeff’s a private dude. We didn’t know he was expecting until yesterday when the baby was born. We’ll probably find out the kids name after Jeff dies, and Giant Bomb is hosted by a man named Ryan Vincent Alexander B. Gerstmann. 

[Raziel]

I'm having fun in Bloodstained, but I'm going to need to do some farming to get the best stuff before going for a New Game+

[Craig H]

lol you might be right. I'm surprised he kept it as private as he did, but good on him. 

[Death From Above]

9 hours ago, JLSigman said:

I'm definitely throwing money at this on Friday. I've got a level 30 archer and have been noodling around with creating and deleting some other classes just to get a feel for them. 

 

Maybe once I've done the base game a few hundred more times I'll be bored, but with it starting in three different cities depending on your class, then choosing which Grand Company opening up different things, there's a lot of variety. I've also noticed you can level up really fast at the beginning, then slow down and have to really start picking up sidequests/levequests and such around level 25ish. 

I have barely had to touch sidequests, but I have the 30% enemy bonus XP up to level 70 from the Shadowbringers pre-order. Still on the whole especially past 40+ the real XP boon is doing a few daily roulettes because the quest XP for them is very generous. Once you have access to Levelling, Trials, and Main Story Quest roulettes, those alone can speed you along substantially if you are bored of sidequests. There's also a 50/60/70 dungeon roulette that will open up as well. Obviously how much time you have to play is going to severely dictate how appealing that is, but I hit them most days and i'm going to be starting Shadowbringers, which raised the level cap to 80, at level 78. Then again I am the kind of player willing to hit that stuff hard.

A lot of sidequests, especially at 50+, do unlock new dungeons or trials, which is cool. Most of it isn't really story essential though. Anything with a blue marker is going to unlock something, be it content or a feature, and I hit almost all of the base game ones except for the ones that are about changing your class. Much less so for the expansions as just doing main story alone is a massive time investment for now, and I can always come back to those. If you do play up to level 50 and finish the base game story I would look into the Crystal Tower quest chain though, as it both will end up unlocking the 24-player raids, and actually has a couple story bits that are... kind of significant enough later I think they should be in the main quest chain.

[Andrew POE!]

8 hours ago, Craig H said:

Yeah! I heard that yesterday. But it's ok, don't feel that old, Jeff is in his 40s now.

When I heard the news on the Bombcast yesterday, part of me hoped he had a boy and named him Ryan or Davis. And then I get really sad and felt like tearing up because if Ryan were still alive he would have been fucking elated.

Man, it's only been a few years, but Ryan's death still makes me sad and brings a tear to my eye today.

I didn't even know Jeff was married or had a son. He had "I'm fucking divorced" vibe to him IMO.

[SirSmUgly]

51 minutes ago, Andrew POE! said:

I didn't even know Jeff was married or had a son. He had "I'm fucking divorced" vibe to him IMO.

He talks about his wife's yearly FFX playthroughs fairly often (well, every year that it happens, at least) on the Bombcast, which is why I'm assuming that he's taking all this parental leave. He doesn't want his wife passing down this FFX-on-a-yearly-basis tradition to his child. He's going to be there to stop it before it starts.

Oh, and also he probably wants to bond with the new baby, too. Yeah, also that. 

Edited July 25, 2019 by Smelly McUgly

[Craig H]

Yeah, Jeff got married a couple years ago I think. He talks about going on day trips with his wife a lot. Seems pretty happy.

[Doc Townsend]

Does anyone own Dark Souls Remasted for the PS4?  Does it include the dlc (Artorias of the Abyss) on the disc?

I already own the Prepare to Die edition of Dark Souls for the PS3.  Will buy the PS4 remaster if it includes the dlc on the disc.  Might skip it if you have to download the dlc.  Generally, with Game of the Year editions, Complete editions, Definitive editions, etc., I buy that version if the dlc is on the disc, do not buy it if the package includes a code for a free dlc.  

I assume Artorias of the Abyss is already on the disc, but I can't find anywhere that confirms that.

Thanks.

Edited July 25, 2019 by Doc Townsend

[Raziel]

Why yes, this is me pissed off that I seem to have an unnaturally fast draining CMOS battery in my PS4 and since I already cracked it open, the warranty is off.  I'm hoping a PSU replacement help, but I'l SOL if it's a borked motherboard.

[LoneWolf&Subs]

22 hours ago, Doc Townsend said:

Does anyone own Dark Souls Remasted for the PS4?  Does it include the dlc (Artorias of the Abyss) on the disc?

I already own the Prepare to Die edition of Dark Souls for the PS3.  Will buy the PS4 remaster if it includes the dlc on the disc.  Might skip it if you have to download the dlc.  Generally, with Game of the Year editions, Complete editions, Definitive editions, etc., I buy that version if the dlc is on the disc, do not buy it if the package includes a code for a free dlc.  

I assume Artorias of the Abyss is already on the disc, but I can't find anywhere that confirms that.

Thanks.

It is in there.

 I really need to finish that game honestly. But I went down a wrong path, and I basically fucked myself with a boss that I wasn’t ready to beat.

Edited July 26, 2019 by LoneWolf&Subs

[AxB]

Because I thought I had no internet all weekend, I had to play something offline. So I went back to my GTA: San Andreas (PS4) save. It's really hard to re-acclimatise to PS2 era GTA controls. I keep looking out of the right window when I want to accelerate, and switching to the rightmost target instead of shooting.

[Guest The Magnificent 7]

I am having a blast with Samurai Shodown. I am looking forward to the dlc characters and eventually a KoF game with looks this good. I am such an SNK mark.