Jump to content
DVDVR Message Board

2020 VIDEO GAME CATCH-ALL THREAD


SirSmUgly

Recommended Posts

I don't think I even own twenty PS4 games. I hope this generation of consoles keeps everybody busy for awhile. I hope you sell your old copies of PS4 games to finance your PS5s (if not your P5S's) while Gamestop still has breathing employees.

I'm a chatty local business owner, I go to plenty of shows, and my love life has been blessed for the majority of my days - point is, I get my fill of human interaction whether I want it or not. I feel like the pressure to buy a new system (instead of soaking oneself in retro) is for keeping up with the Joneses and having the same version of the same games that your bros have. But I'm not having that! I play video games for the moments when I don't have to like people! Or the modern world! Or technological advancement! I feel the same way about movies, too. Y'ever see Double Indemnity? My friends/family/customers sure haven't. 

I dug through a mind-numbing amount of pages on one of the larger retro game sites to put together a big ol' order of Fatal Frame II (Xbox), Shadow Hearts (PS2), Legend of Mana (PS1), Bushido Blade 2 (PS1), Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright (3DS), and Operation C (Game Boy, a Contra game!) - all of them complete-in-box  (save Op C) and under current pricecharting.com numbers. Then I dug around Google and found a 15% off promo code for said website. The order is comfortably under two hundo. That's my coronavirus shut-in gamer package. Granted, I'm working 60 hour weeks at my store and am not remotely shut-in. But since I'm probably going to catch this thing while I capitalize on a crisis, I'm glad I've got a bunch of good shit to play in case my lungs get dry-fried.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

PlayStation is having a pretty good sale right now, I’m guessing due to the coronavirus, so I went ahead and picked up Obduction & Batman: Return to Arkham all for like $20ish.

Even though I've been playing my Switch more lately, and I already have the Bioshock Collection and Shadow of the Colossus in my PS download que.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Gamestop and Best Buy announced last night that they're going to keep their stores open but transition to curbside pickup only for the time being (+ online ordering and delivery, of course).  It's a smart move and I don't spend a lot at Best Buy and virtually nothing at Gamestop, but it makes me uneasy nonetheless.  Wouldn't be surprised if I never see the inside of a Best Buy ever again (I won't be sad if I never see Gamestop again).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Tarheel Moneghetti said:

Gamestop and Best Buy announced last night that they're going to keep their stores open but transition to curbside pickup only for the time being (+ online ordering and delivery, of course).  It's a smart move and I don't spend a lot at Best Buy and virtually nothing at Gamestop, but it makes me uneasy nonetheless.  Wouldn't be surprised if I never see the inside of a Best Buy ever again (I won't be sad if I never see Gamestop again).

I went to a Best Buy yesterday to get surround sound for my 4K TV. I think it'll be OK but it will be awhile before we'll be back to normal. I'd really rather Gamestop and Best Buy just close during this pandemic. With as many video games as I have and buy, stores that carry that don't need to be open. Buy the latest PS4 game is not important when we have over 20,000 people infected.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

And the stories coming out about Gamestop not supplying any cleaning materials and employees having buy them themselves makes me want them to go out of business in the worst way.

 

But I feel bad for the good brothers at the one I go out of my way to shop at because they know what they're doing and don't suck.  I don't want them to not have jobs.  I drive an extra 30 miles just to go to the good Gamestop (Westfield Topanga.  Dope mall.  Dope Gamestop.  I miss the mall-it is kind of where I go to gather my thoughts and have a peaceful walk).

Edited by Tromatagon
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I finished and platinumed CONTROL this week.  Really enjoyed the game.  Didn’t really have any of the notorious performance issues on my PS4 Pro, mainly just some stutter coming out of the pause menu.  Hope they get to make a sequel, because I think they set up a really solid foundation, both in terms of gameplay and the narrative.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

made it my mission to beat the original Metroid this weekend. had played it minimally until now. once i hit my stride, i freaking loved this game. hand made my own maps for maximum enjoyment. had to reference my old ass strategy guide for 2-3 things but otherwise this was a blind run. 

tons of fun. i want to play this all over again but may jump right into the gameboy sequel

Link to comment
Share on other sites

With the Gamestop staying open thing, a lot of people are taking it as a corporate greed deal, but I think it's more corporate desperation. The business was in severe financial trouble before Covid-19 came out. If there's a big government bailout for retail stores coming, they want to still be trading when it happens.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, AxB said:

With the Gamestop staying open thing, a lot of people are taking it as a corporate greed deal, but I think it's more corporate desperation. The business was in severe financial trouble before Covid-19 came out. If there's a big government bailout for retail stores coming, they want to still be trading when it happens.

Yeah, it felt like they either had to stay open or close for good.  They've been struggling over the last few years, and this is going to be a death blow for them and a lot of other struggling businesses.  I read somewhere that 75% of independent restaurants don't have the kind of cash on hand to stay closed for more than a week or two.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 3/23/2020 at 10:01 AM, supremebve said:

Yeah, it felt like they either had to stay open or close for good.  They've been struggling over the last few years, and this is going to be a death blow for them and a lot of other struggling businesses.  I read somewhere that 75% of independent restaurants don't have the kind of cash on hand to stay closed for more than a week or two.  

I'm not going to go as far as saying I'll never go to Gamestop again considering times change and whatever.  But if I can help it I'll be leery about going there again.  The only reason I would consider them is if I wanted to get used stuff but that's more due to not having a good retro store near me.  They've been shooting themselves in the foot but if they made a good effort to rehab their image then it wouldn't be so bad.  But the way they've been going their decision to stay open is maddening and I feel bad for the workers who might not be fully prepared with the essentials they would need.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, NikoBaltimore said:

I'm not going to go as far as saying I'll never go to Gamestop again considering times change and whatever.  But if I can help it I'll be leery about going there again.  The only reason I would consider them is if I wanted to get used stuff but that's more due to not having a good retro store near me.  They've been shooting themselves in the foot but if they made a good effort to rehab their image then it wouldn't be so bad.  But the way they've been going their decision to stay open is maddening and I feel bad for the workers who might not be fully prepared with the essentials they would need.

Here's the thing.  I haven't been to Gamestop in years, not because of any moral stand, but because I can get almost everything they sell somewhere else for cheaper or more convieniently.  

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hmm,  Maybe with this extra time I'll work on getting my RetroPie working again... 

Nope, still no output, let's just buy a new board..

Estimated Delievery Date, April 27th.

 

Well fuck...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 3/22/2020 at 12:56 PM, Tromatagon said:

And the stories coming out about Gamestop not supplying any cleaning materials and employees having buy them themselves makes me want them to go out of business in the worst way.

I worked at GameStop part-time about ten years ago so the stories about corporate douche-ness do not surprise me.  The company grinds the good managers into dust and makes amazingly stupid demands of the sales staff.  It got to the point where I hated going into work and I finally quit after about six years.

It was almost as if corporate did not understand the product it was selling.  Games and accessories sell themselves so there is no need to be pushy, but we were always being mandated to sell anything to anybody and in as many quantities as we could.... which was stupid.

Gamers already have a pretty good idea about what they want to buy before they come into the store and they damn sure know when to buy it.  A good gamer knows the AAA release schedule almost by heart.

Our stupid corporate overlords also did not seem to get that nerds come in different shapes. 

If you try to sell a sports game to a hardcore JRPG nerd, he's going to tell you to go fuck yourself so don't insult him by asking if he wants to pre-order Madden.  That is what we professionals call being familiar with your customer base.

Our GS sales staff was the fucking bomb.  We loved games and our customers and they loved us back.  We were national finalists in the Conker's Bad Fur Day launch contest where top prize was Miss March 2001 Miriam Gonzalez come to your store on launch day.    We had a shit ton of pre-orders, but couldn't compete with the stores in the big market regions like NY and LA.

Edited by J.T.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I bought a Switch three weeks ago because there wasn't much else in the ps4 exclusive library that I wanted. I haven't owned a Nintendo console since my N64 but have been digging it so far. Time-wise it worked out really well because a week later I found out I was off work for 6 weeks. Been blasting through a ton of games.

Cuphead

Not much to say that hasn't been said. I was probably a bit over-hyped as I'd been looking forward to playing it since it came out. One of the reasons I bought a Switch and enjoyed it from start to finish.

Ori and the Blind Forest

Someone brought this up a page or two back and I'll second how good this game is. Just a blast to play through and relatively short. Some really intense moments as well that get pretty difficult.

Hollow Knight

Another game I've put off for ages. Gameplay is extremely tight and the bosses can offer a real challenge. I considered going after all of the dream bosses but opted to end the game after beating the Hollow Knight.

Super Mario Bros WiU

Loved some of the throwbacks in this game as Super Mario 3 and World were my go-to games when I was younger. A bit jarring to bounce back and forth between this and Hollow Knight because the gameplay is so floaty but I'd still recommend this game.

Valfaris

Old-school Contra kind of shooter. Breezed through the game but have hit a roadblock at the end boss. I hate multi-phase boss battles because I'm just not that good/patient to actually get through them. Had him down to a sliver of health on his last phase, died and have shelved it for now. Not sure if I'll be getting back to it.

80 Days

Text adventure based on the book. Tons of different options and I probably should keep notes on best routes but it's fun to jump into for a couple hours before inevitably hitting some type of roadblock. I always give up when I hit the 80 days and the furthest I've made it in my 3 playthroughs was East Coast of the US.

AI : Somnia Files

I just can't get into this one. I thought I'd enjoy it but I'm kind of stuck at around 6 hours in. Every time I think about picking it up I just can;t be bothered. Not sure if I'll ever force my way through this one.

Golf Story

Pretty good. Some moments that had me laughing but it can also be a bit of a grind. It crashed on me a few times which would be fine if it auto-saved after all of the little challenges but it doesn't. I finished all of the challenges on the pro course before crashing so ended up just skipping them all and jumping into the tournament. Aside from one of the courses (the haunted 20-shot course), I found it a bit too easy.

Deponia

Old school point and click. Enjoyed this one a lot and was using it as a bit of a break when I was going through Hollow Knight. I've just started part 2 today and will be going back and forth between that a couple more games I haven't decided on yet.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Saw a couple good reviews on it, and it's on sale for 10 bucks, so thought I'd give Everybody's Golf a try on the PS4.  Early impressions:

- fun gameplay

- I like the setup of being on an island with people to talk to and challenges to do, etc

- The voice acting is a mess.  Most people say one word or two out of multiple sentences and it doesn't always fit what they're saying.  Comes across awkward and poorly done.

- Didn't exactly finish the localization.  Here in the States, it's spelled "prioritize" not "prioritise".  

- Every 5 seconds, it's yelling at me that there's an international tournament and I better hurry up and enter.  Go to enter - can't.  Missed the qualifiers, which ended last week.  OK, fine, QUIT YELLING AT ME TO ENTER THEN!

- My first one-on-one AI challenger was a teenage girl wearing a super-short plaid skirt.  The description of her character, her mannerisms, and so on just came across really creepy.  After I won, she told me she'd wear a cuter outfit for me next time.  Yuck.  And now I have her outfit for cosplay.  Yuck.  

 

So far enjoying it a lot but, man, hard to shake the yuck factor from the first opponent.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 3/24/2020 at 1:15 PM, Raziel said:

Grind side missions for perk points and weapon mods.  You'll thank me first boss fight.

I have both perks that are pretty essential for the fight, but goddamnit I suck at flying stuff. I read that there's an alternative method - just crashing straight into his plane. Which I haven't tried yet, but I hope it works because as it is right now I don't have enough money to re-fuel when I'm in the air so I'm kind of fucked.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 hours ago, Setsuna said:

AI : Somnia Files

I just can't get into this one. I thought I'd enjoy it but I'm kind of stuck at around 6 hours in. Every time I think about picking it up I just can;t be bothered. Not sure if I'll ever force my way through this one.

I started this game, stopped, and then picked it up again. Kotaro Uchikoshi games are only as good as their narrative twists and they do come eventually. Not sure if you played Zero Time Dilemma but the plot of AI has way fewer plot holes while still maintaining plenty of nutso sci-fi surprises. I went from being pretty lukewarm about to more-or-less mainlining the last third of the game. Not a classic or anything, but it tells a worthwhile story.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Casey said:

I have both perks that are pretty essential for the fight, but goddamnit I suck at flying stuff. I read that there's an alternative method - just crashing straight into his plane. Which I haven't tried yet, but I hope it works because as it is right now I don't have enough money to re-fuel when I'm in the air so I'm kind of fucked.

Money is pretty easy to get.  Just hunt and fish, preferably near one of the vendors.  There's one on the island you start on near a good spot for both fish and deer.  

You can also switch to a different family member to tackle first.  The fight you're on now is the last one I did.  Shot him down on foot with heat seekers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well it’s a little too late get money, since it loads the game up when I’m in the plane already. I don’t have a problem getting money, I had around $8k at one point before this boss fight, but I spent it on weapons upgrades and whatnot.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

51 minutes ago, odessasteps said:

"Money is pretty easy to get.  Just hunt and fish, preferably near one of the vendors."

this could be so many games right now: from red dead to animal crossing. ?

I so need the ladder from Tom already.

Yeah I was gonna use the analogy that Far Cry 5 is like role playing an  MLB player in the offseason till I remembered I’d used that one for Red Dead online like 2 years ago. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, John E. Dynamite said:

I started this game, stopped, and then picked it up again. Kotaro Uchikoshi games are only as good as their narrative twists and they do come eventually. Not sure if you played Zero Time Dilemma but the plot of AI has way fewer plot holes while still maintaining plenty of nutso sci-fi surprises. I went from being pretty lukewarm about to more-or-less mainlining the last third of the game. Not a classic or anything, but it tells a worthwhile story.

Cool, that's good to hear. I haven't thought it was actively bad, and the story even up to this point has been engaging, but it's good to know that it is worth sticking through.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
×
×
  • Create New...