2020 VIDEO GAME CATCH-ALL THREAD

[Andrew POE!]

I guess as a member of The Last Of Us Defense Force branch on DVDVR, I find myself seeing the reasoning for not liking the game and find it refreshing it's based on the actual game and how people feel from playing the actual game. None of this "Abby is a man" or "Naughty Dog has an agenda!" crap I see on Twitter.

My only problem with TLOU Part II is it could stand to be edited and actually have the length reduced a bit. But the ending was the only ending that would work given everything Ellie went through from TLOU to Part II.

At some point, I'll play through Death Stranding but it'll be after I do Metal Gear Solid series (I like to see the evolution of a particular style of game before jumping to the most recent one). I know I'm in a world of hurt with MGS 2, 4 and 5. MGS 3 won't be too bad.

Edited July 14, 2020 by Andrew POE!

[Raziel]

I can do a thesis on why you should and shouldn't play MGS5 an an exercise on creator filtering and corporate meddling and the falling out between Kojima and Konami and how it colored everything in the game and turned it into a massive train wreck thats worth seeing, but by no means hold it to the standard of its predessors.

[Zimbra]

 

I gotta have it.

[dragonzombie]

Think I will buy Monster Rancher 2 and play it on my ps3.

Spoiler

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALVCZqaoFPU

 

[Robert S]

I recently finished Ni No Kuni 2 (incl. getting the platinum) and while the game is decent, it feels like a ton of wasted potential. The fighting system itself is better than the one from Ni No Kuni 1, but on the other hand the story is really bland and pedestrian (especially compared with Ni No Kuni 1) and there are a lot of game mechanics that feel either unfinished or badly integrated. For example, you (are at least me) spend a lot of time building up your "kingdom", but at least the resource gathering stuff is just not worth it. You end up with lot of loot that you have no use at all for, as the only real usage for that is crafting weapons and armor. And except the end-game stuff (for which you cannot get the material via the kingdom but have to use the post-game dungeon), you usually get same quality of weapons and stuff via normal item drop by enemies. The whole higgle mechanic is really cryptic and for most of the game, I just did not bother with them (only for the post-game bosses, I looked up a decent set of higgles). Also, I have never bothered using an eatable (I don't know if they are really worth it) and did not bother to choose equipment beyond base stats criteria.

Though that real-time strategy thing - while not really deep - is at least a fun addition.

Most of the characters except the two first ones you get, after they join the party, they have barely anything to do as part of the plot. There are also no subplots for them (well, maybe with that Twitter-ish thingy, but I did not bother using that).

Disclaimer: I played the game using the middle difficulty mode.

Also, I got the Kingdom Hearts Deluxe (or whatever it is called) pack half a year ago, and I recently finished Birth by Sleep and thought that that game was pretty good and had some clever gameplay mechanics. Playing the game with three different characters and having the story of each world unfold playthrough-by-playthrough is quite a neat idea.

Edited July 14, 2020 by Robert s

[Doc Townsend]

3 hours ago, Zimbra said:

 

I gotta have it.

When I saw that this morning, I thought it was a working NES with a Lego shell.  i mean, I didn't think you could insert a game in the slot and play it, but I did think it some sort of dedicated console like the NES Classic.

Needless to say, it was early.  When i looked at it a second time and realized what it really was, I was kinda disappointed.

[Zimbra]

1 minute ago, Doc Townsend said:

When I saw that this morning, I thought it was a working NES with a Lego shell.  i mean, I didn't think you could insert a game in the slot and play it, but I did think it some sort of dedicated console like the NES Classic.

Needless to say, it was early.  When i looked at it a second time and realized what it really was, I was kinda disappointed.

I'm guessing within a day of it coming out there'll be instructions for how to pop a raspberry pi in the system and an lcd in the TV. so you can play games on it.

[Doc Townsend]

Do most people download these days?  Saw a comment from Capcom recently that 80% of their sales are digital downloads.  Is that more or less the industry now?  I'm assuming it's at least 50/50 for downloads, probably more.

I think I'm finally ready to become a digital gamer.  I download occasionally,  but I'm mostly a physical gamer.  I barely know my way around the digital marketplace, even though I have accounts with Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo (no Steam).  But I don't enjoy physical gaming as much.  Rare game prices are shooting through the roof since the pandemic started, importing is harder and a lot costlier, I hare to give LRG too much money up front because when the game come in, their warehouse could be shut down and not processing orders, post office is damaging more discs in transit, etc.

I recently downloaded some XBLA games that I'd never played due to there not being a physical edition (Fez, Mark of the Ninja, Braid, etc) and I kinda dug the ease of it.  I wouldn't mind going that route for a lot of triple AAA games going forward.  It seems kinda odd to keep putting together a big physical collection when the future is so uncertain - assuming we have futures.

Only thing that really keeps me is the storage issue.  I'm used to having a couple hundred PS4 games that I can re-install if i feel like.  How do i get around that issue with downloads?  External storage?  Games like Spider-Man take up an awful lot of space so keeping an entire library on a hard drive isn't practical.

What I'm really wondering is: do I own the games as long as I have an account on XBL or PSN and the games are avaiilable, or is it just till my PS4 goes bad.  I mean, if I download a game to the PS4 hard drive or an external hard drive, and the drive gets damaged or corrupted (or lost), would I have to rebuy the games from PSN or can I re-download them as long as I"m still using the same account/profile?

Thanks.  Like I said, huge game library, but digital noob.  I've wanted to play Braid and Fez since they first came out, but I kept putting it off hoping there would be a physical edition sooner or later.  I download occasionally, but not very often and I'm still kinda figuring it out.

[Zimbra]

Just now, Doc Townsend said:

Do most people download these days?  Saw a comment from Capcom recently that 80% of their sales are digital downloads.  Is that more or less the industry now?  I'm assuming it's at least 50/50 for downloads, probably more.

I think I'm finally ready to become a digital gamer.  I download occasionally,  but I'm mostly a physical gamer.  I barely know my way around the digital marketplace, even though I have accounts with Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo (no Steam).  But I don't enjoy physical gaming as much.  Rare game prices are shooting through the roof since the pandemic started, importing is harder and a lot costlier, I hare to give LRG too much money up front because when the game come in, their warehouse could be shut down and not processing orders, post office is damaging more discs in transit, etc.

I recently downloaded some XBLA games that I'd never played due to there not being a physical edition (Fez, Mark of the Ninja, Braid, etc) and I kinda dug the ease of it.  I wouldn't mind going that route for a lot of triple AAA games going forward.  It seems kinda odd to keep putting together a big physical collection when the future is so uncertain - assuming we have futures.

Only thing that really keeps me is the storage issue.  I'm used to having a couple hundred PS4 games that I can re-install if i feel like.  How do i get around that issue with downloads?  External storage?  Games like Spider-Man take up an awful lot of space so keeping an entire library on a hard drive isn't practical.

What I'm really wondering is: do I own the games as long as I have an account on XBL or PSN and the games are avaiilable, or is it just till my PS4 goes bad.  I mean, if I download a game to the PS4 hard drive or an external hard drive, and the drive gets damaged or corrupted (or lost), would I have to rebuy the games from PSN or can I re-download them as long as I"m still using the same account/profile?

Thanks.  Like I said, huge game library, but digital noob.  I've wanted to play Braid and Fez since they first came out, but I kept putting it off hoping there would be a physical edition sooner or later.  I download occasionally, but not very often and I'm still kinda figuring it out.

I buy digital as much as I can, mostly because I don't want to store discs and am too lazy to get up and switch them out.

With PSN (and I assume with XBL) the games are tied to your account so you can redownload them if you get a news system or your hard drive gets corrupted, etc.

I've got an USB external drive for my PS4 and it works great with no appreciable difference in load times between that and the internal drive.

[odessasteps]

I prefer physical but at least with the switch, if you buy from the eshop, you get more Nintendo points to spend on future games. 

[Tromatagon]

I buy digital when it's cheaper (usually) or more convenient (usually).

I have an external drive for my PS4.

PS5 is going to be a little dicey with how games are supposed to be taking advantage of their SSD.  My external isn't one, so it probably won't be able to be reformatted and migrated over.

All digital is fucking bullshit until they come with a system to gift games to people, but it's the way things are going, especially considering a significantly cheaper PS5 is coming out that ONLY does digital.  If Gamestop was fucked before (they are), ohhhh man.

Edited July 15, 2020 by Tromatagon

[Eivion]

I buy whatever is cheaper between digital and physical though if I'm gettign something just coming out I tend to lean towards physical.

[supremebve]

I buy digital 98% of the time. I'll occasionally buy a hard copy,  but that's only when I see a deal that is far too good to pass up. One of the last times I moved I bought a tablet and decided to start buying games and movies digitally whenever possible. Im someone who condones way too much media to want a hard copy of everything. Seriously, half my move was bides if books, games,  and movies.  That's when I realized I was destroying my back for no good reason. 

[Jiji]

How many of you do the console share deal that both Xbone and PS4 support? On those machines I'm 100% digital. With Switch, I try for physical though there have been a few exceptions. 

[Brian Fowler]

Most of my Switch games are physical because they are ten bucks cheaper at Walmart than digital.

I think my PS4 library is probably about 50/50, maybe slightly more digital.

Xbox One is mostly digital and I have a 5 GB external for it.

[Raziel]

My PS3 library has about 10 physical games, bout 100ish digital.  My PS4 and current PC catalog is 100% digital.  My issue is gonna be when the servers finally shut down.

[Doc Townsend]

1 minute ago, Raziel said:

My PS3 library has about 10 physical games, bout 100ish digital.  My PS4 and current PC catalog is 100% digital.  My issue is gonna be when the servers finally shut down.

Yeah, that's always been my argument for physical.  

I've 250+ PS4 physical games, plus 3 or 4 digital.  My collection skews heavily towards imports and physical indie games from iam8bit, Limited Run, Signature Editions, etc.  Since the pandemic, though, I've been enjoying collecting indie limited run releases and imports less and less.  Same thing with my Switch collection.

I think, for the time being, I'm going to play a lot of digital exclusives and then figure out if I'm ready to move on from physicals or if this is just a phase.  Looked over the XBLA store a bit ago and there are at least 50 games I'd like to play.  Probably more.  There are a lot of games I don't know anything about.  I don't even typically pay a lot of attention to digital exclusives, so a lot of good digital games go under my radar.
 

Did get a cool piece of hardware today.  Bought a Star Wars Xbox 360 console later last week and it was delivered today.  They really aren't that rare on eBay, but most of them eBay listings don't have all the parts, or don't come with the box.  Been wanting one that was CIB and included the box, packing, and manuals.  Timing was just never right until now.  Think it's my favorite X360 limited console.  The only one that comes close is the maroon/black Gears of War Limited Edition.

 

[Raziel]

A lot of my library is either Plus freebies or taking advantage of flash sales and other things that drop the price significantly.  I'm pretty sure the only games I've payed full price for in the last few years was RE2, RE3, and FF7R.  Everything else I've waiting until it hit a sale of some sort (although I'm going to lose that with Cyberpunk at least.  I *might* be able to hold off on everything else).

[Zimbra]

Except for Animal Crossing I haven't paid full price for a game since...Red Dead 2 maybe?

When they finally shut down all the servers and I lose my games I will face god and walk backwards into hell.

[RIPPA]

Most of my collection is physical - either due to just the fact that I like the physical version or due to the fact that I buy used games a lot.

That being said - I also have plenty of digital copies of games whether it be due to getting it for free (via something like Games With Gold) or that it was on sale digitally

 

[JLSigman]

17 hours ago, Eivion said:

I buy whatever is cheaper between digital and physical though if I'm gettign something just coming out I tend to lean towards physical.

This is my take - if I'm doing my once a year purchase of a new game, I'm usually getting a physical copy. Kingdom Hearts III was the outlier, but that's because I picked up the "here's every game and update for $99" digital bundle last year . Anything else is me getting cheap older stuff through Steam. 

[Andrew POE!]

I don't want to think about my digital library from PS3 and PS4. It's a lot.

For whatever reason, I'm trying to Platinum Just Cause 3 before I do The Last of Us Part II. Whatever you do, do not buy Just Cause 3. The game is slightly broken and was obviously rushed. I spent the better part of the week working on ONE wingsuit challenge that could be cheesed by using the season pass DLC costume then switching to the Bavarian Wingsuit (from Sky Fortress pack) at the start. You shouldn't have to use DLC to get the Platinum, but it's physically impossible to complete the challenge with 5 gears without it.

[Neil Koch]

I got JC3 with all the DLC for like $5 on sale on PSN.  I couldn't see myself actually finishing it without the DLC goodies, especially the jetpack.  I didn't bother with most of the challenges, they just seemed too frustrating to me.

Edited July 16, 2020 by Neil Koch

[Tabe]

I tend to buy certain types of games in digital and certain types in physical.  AAA games that I might want to sell or trade later?  Physical.  Casual stuff that I want to play for 10 minutes on a whim?  Digital.  Rocksmith because I don't want to dig for the disc as well as hooking up my guitar?  Digital.  

That said, I have only about 7 or 8 physical PS4 games - though I did just get Streets of Rage 4 this week - and probably 75 digital games (or more), thanks to PS+.

On PC, I have only a couple physical games.  My new PC didn't even come with an optical drive - and doesn't have a spot for one - so physical media is annoying as heck on it.  I do have an external but prefer to keep it tucked away. 

Edited July 16, 2020 by Tabe

[J.T.]

Netflix has ordered an anime series based on Capcom's Dragon's Dogma aka the game I have devoted the last month or so into playing.

It should be released around September.

I feel I am being trolled by both Capcom and Netflix.