2020 VIDEO GAME CATCH-ALL THREAD

[SirSmUgly]

Waiting for my PS5 to get to my house. I cleared a spot for it on the console shelf and everything. 

[Casey]

7 minutes ago, Smelly McUgly said:

Waiting for my PS5 to get to my house. I cleared a spot for it on the console shelf and everything. 

Same. It's almost 1PM and I have to be at work in 6 hours (been off since 5:30AM). Yay night shift hours!

[Eoae]

I went home at lunch and played a bit of Pathless and Miles Morales.  Just enough to get a peek at each.

For some reason, my wife thought I came home to have lunch with her.  She wasn't thrilled when I told her I didn't have time because I wanted to play video games.  I will probably buy flowers on the way home tonight.

 

[supremebve]

2 minutes ago, Eoae said:

I went home at lunch and played a bit of Pathless and Miles Morales.  Just enough to get a peek at each.

For some reason, my wife thought I came home to have lunch with her.  She wasn't thrilled when I told her I didn't have time because I wanted to play video games.  I will probably buy flowers on the way home tonight.

 

Honestly, if stores were smart, they'd give a coupon for 1800-Flowers with the purchase of a new Xbox or PlayStation.  

[odessasteps]

11 minutes ago, Eoae said:

I went home at lunch and played a bit of Pathless and Miles Morales.  Just enough to get a peek at each.

For some reason, my wife thought I came home to have lunch with her.  She wasn't thrilled when I told her I didn't have time because I wanted to play video games.  I will probably buy flowers on the way home tonight.

 

The wrong kind of afternoon delight

[Tabe]

16 minutes ago, Eoae said:

I went home at lunch and played a bit of Pathless and Miles Morales.  Just enough to get a peek at each.

For some reason, my wife thought I came home to have lunch with her.  She wasn't thrilled when I told her I didn't have time because I wanted to play video games.  I will probably buy flowers on the way home tonight.

 

"Baby, get serious. I've got important stuff to do."

[SirSmUgly]

I got it, just setting it up. I have Miles Morales, Sackboy, and Watch Dogs Legion, so it'll be cool to see that stuff in action. 

Boy, this console is a big, ugly bastard, though.

[Chaos]

My PS4 is a launch day PS4. I got a bit nostalgic playing it as my main console for probably the last time last night.  Pretty impressive that it performed so well for 7 years.

[odessasteps]

Finally caved in and bought new joy cons, as drift was getting to be too much. 
will send old one so get fixed.

[SirSmUgly]

The controller is very, very cool. The way the rumble changes to account for the surface you're walking on in that Astro's Playroom game is wild. At one point, you're ice skating and the sound coming out of the controller plus the feel of the controller feedback combine to make this really lovely sensation that approximates the act. 

Miles Morales is an awesome game so far. 

[Eoae]

5 hours ago, Chaos said:

My PS4 is a launch day PS4. I got a bit nostalgic playing it as my main console for probably the last time last night.  Pretty impressive that it performed so well for 7 years.

I'm getting that way about my limited edition Star Wars Xbox 360 (S).  I love it and still play it regularly, but I know it's getting time to put it back in the box for good.  I just got too many consoles hooked up and now that two new ones are going to get priority soon, something's got to give.  And, as much as I dig the 360, there's not a lot of reason to  use the 360 hardware anymore.  The majority of my 360 library can be played on the Xbox One or Xbox Series X via backwards compatibility.  And a good percentage of the rest got remastered or ported to PS4.

I am going to keep my X360 collection intact.  Not going to sell the retail editions and I still have the boxes and packing for all the hardware.   I'll probably sell my Xbox One once they have the kinks worked out of the X Series and I.m playing it regularly.  I bought in late in the life cycle and really only picked up the exclusives, so it's not a huge deal to migrate the library to the Series X.  Especially since I'll pick up the X Series edition of the Master Chief Collection and Cuphead and the Ori games ended up on other consoles.  That... doesn't leave a whole lot.  Guessing I won't go back to the older Forza games once the two series' debut on the new console.

[Andrew POE!]

Soooo....I managed to buy a PS5 this morning. That will be ready for pickup next week.

Argh....how will I Platinum GTA V now?????

[Zimbra]

ETA: Deleting this for now, sourcing seems suspect.

Video games, amirite?

Edited November 13, 2020 by Zimbra

[S.K.o.S.]

Don't know if this is what Zimbra had posted, but:

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/11/ubisoft-montreal-staffers-barricade-on-roof-amid-possible-hostage-situation/
 

Quote

A potential hostage situation is reportedly taking place at the building in which game developer Ubisoft's Montreal office is housed.

A group of suspects are reportedly holding tens of people hostage at Ubisoft M ontreal, according to local (French-language) media outlet LCN. The situation reportedly began around 1:30pm Eastern Time. Montreal police confirmed that there is an "ongoing police operation" at the intersection where Ubisoft Montreal sits, adding, "We ask people to avoid the area. The SVPM is currently validating information and more details will follow."

Live-streamed footage from an LCN helicopter showed a group of people together on the roof deck of the building behind a makeshift barricade seemingly constructed of folding tables leaning against the access door. Developer Eric Pope confirmed in a Tweet that the individuals on the roof were indeed Ubisoft employees, saying, "This is insane. This is my team on the roof."

 

[John E. Dynamite]

I am what you might call "good at music games" - that guy at the arcade beating the hardest songs in DDR in high school, the guy who could beat Dragonforce on Guitar Hero in college, the guy who wishes there was a super-hard mode for Haruka's story in Yakuza 5. So when I started up the first Donkey Konga, I noticed that I had to unlock all the hard mode charts for the song before I could play them. I hate it when they do that, but it happens a lot. So I picked Challenge Mode on Medium difficulty, which seemed like the hardest thing I could have picked. 30-something songs in a row, some of which were actually good (Rock Lobster! Louie Louie! Dancing in the Street!), some of which were torture (I had to literally clap during the clapping parts of Bingo. As in, "was his name-o"). A whole hour later and I've cleared the thing, only to realize that Challenge Mode doesn't give you any of the magic fuckin' Donkey Bux you need to unlock anything. This game is now in my permanent "fuck you forever" pile.

Other than that I've been bouncing between hard games and games with barely any gameplay. I finally beat Sin and Punishment (N64) in one go, practicing my trouble spots over and over so I could build up enough credits before losing my first life. It's such a brilliant game, better than a lot of other Treasure joints that get more love. I love every "gallery shooter" I've ever played, but it's only really ever been both S&P games, Wild Guns (which I will own one day, price be damned), and Cabal, which I didn't even discover until maybe five years ago. And I love non-light gun rail shooters even more - I thought the Panzer Dragoon remake was going to save the genre, but these days I've got more hope for the Pokemon Snap reboot.

I went out on a limb when I bought Steins;Gate Elite on Switch. I've never enjoyed a true visual novel, I tend to prefer the DS-era adventure games that crossed over with the VN genre a lot more (Zero Escape, Professor Layton, Ghost Trick, Hotel Dusk, Phoenix Wright. In that order). But man, Steins;Gate Elite is choice. It's a really, really professional package. They took all the footage from the anime and used it for every scene, it's just one big click-able anime, there's no instances of two character portraits talking to each other at any point. Very good voice acting, Japanese only but with tons of entertaining loanwords that feel right at home to a NJPW mark. But the draw, as it should be, is the plot. Without going into too much detail, the plot's key conceit is that famed Internet forum time traveler John Titor was (maybe) legit. I didn't know that coming in, so I was laughing my ass off that a game that's been called The Greatest Visual Novel of All-Time was built on the back of an old, obscure, doofy-as-fuck internet conspiracy theory. And they take the Titor myth and run A+ plot twist after plot twist with it. Check this out if you're on the fence, I'm not even an anime guy (no, really, I swear) but this one has huge crossover appeal.

Shin Megami Tensei IV is the hard version of Pokemon that I've wanted since I was a kid, and I feel silly for not getting into mainline SMT earlier. I started some more western games but haven't committed. DOOM 3 (OG Xbox) seems awful. Does it really get good in the last half? Pillars of Eternity seems meticulously crafted and potentially really fun, but I'm worried it might be stiff and/or a timesink.

Edited November 13, 2020 by John E. Dynamite

[SirFozzie]

1 hour ago, S.K.o.S. said:

Don't know if this is what Zimbra had posted, but:

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/11/ubisoft-montreal-staffers-barricade-on-roof-amid-possible-hostage-situation/
 

 

It appears that this could be a SWATting situation, as it began with a 911 call.

Revenge on UbiSoft for their recent actions removing a podcaster from WatchDogs Legion?

[RIPPA]

On 11/10/2020 at 6:54 PM, Cliff Hanger said:

Fuser is very cool. I suck at it.

Fuck - I forgot it came out

[Tabe]

Apparently there are issues with some games getting stuck in download queues on the PS5.  IGN has had 3 staff members have issues download Call of Duty and several other games are affected as well.  Right now the only resolution is to do a factory reset on your PS5.  That's not good.

[Eoae]

This has to be a joke.  dbrand is refunding orders for PS5 skins because the “assholes” and “idiots” the company sells its products to won’t be able to apply them correctly.   That’s supposedly the company’s language, not mine.

https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2020/11/dbrand_refunds_ps5_skin_pre-orders_because_you_assholes_wont_be_able_to_apply_them

[SirSmUgly]

Astro's Playroom is one of the best games of the year. I can't believe that I'm saying this.

It's actually sort of must-play. It's the most next-gen game that Sony could have put up at launch. 

EDIT: That dbrand post on Reddit is speaking to its audience; it's not a PR gaffe. The comments thank the dbrand rep for their frankness and honesty. The tone is joshing with the customers while also admitting to being unable to develop an easy-use skin that doesn't leave any white spaces.

I don't see any issues with it at all. 

Edited November 14, 2020 by Smelly McUgly

[Eoae]

14 minutes ago, Smelly McUgly said:

EDIT: That dbrand post on Reddit is speaking to its audience; it's not a PR gaffe. The comments thank the dbrand rep for their frankness and honesty. The tone is joshing with the customers while also admitting to being unable to develop an easy-use skin that doesn't leave any white spaces.

I don't see any issues with it at all. 

I don't really have an issue with it.  I've just never seen a company rep - any company - refer to their customer base and assholes and idiots.

I've never applied a skin.  No idea how difficult it is.

[Cliff Hanger]

Stuff I'm Juggling Now:

 

Fuser (still rules. I am still very bad at it but I'm learning. And I need to figure out how to upload "(Don't Fear the) Regulators" to Youtube because I have to say that was a kickass little mashup.

 

Yakuza 6: The Song Of Life (story-only run because the gameplay is drastically inferior to K2 or Judgment and I really just want to get to)

 

Yakuza: Like A Dragon (Did the 1999 prologue and it is a very weird feeling.  Looking forward to getting to Yokohama so the game will feel more like its own thing)

 

Beat Saber (now that it's starting to cool down enough that I don't have to worry about soiling my glasses and headset with sweat, 'tis the season for VR)

[Jiji]

Hades would be my game of the year in almost any other year. I can totally understand why people who reject or aren't enamored with the cinematic, overly long AAA games like Ghost of Tsushima (though I didn't think it was bad in terms of length!) would prefer an old school, more skill-based game like Hades. That two games of Hades' and Ghost of Tsushima's calibre dropped in the same year is amazing (BUT WHAT DID IT COST US?!). Two all time greats and GoT is my favourite ever.

That is not to say I'm good at Hades. After about 25 or so shitty runs of struggling to get out of the second level, I started reading on optimal boon builds and it's paying off in a huge way. I love how versatile the game is, even more so than GoT. Even after beating it, I can see myself continuing to play in order to unlock everything. Favourite boon combinations? I'm just coming to enjoy the Artemis/Zeus combination. At first I was trying to build up Phalanx Shot too much. It's great but not that great. Jolt for everybody.

[SirSmUgly]

I've beaten Hades 38 times in a row, which is not at all to dunk on Jiji, but to note that I'm surprised that my old ass is apparently pretty good at one of these games.

[Jiji]

I got to Hades riding the Zeus/Artemis boons and he took me out a few minutes in. Progress!