2020 VIDEO GAME CATCH-ALL THREAD

[Andrew POE!]

Got my 192nd Platinum trophy with Star Wars Battlefront II. In comparison to the first Battlefront, this is a lot easier and actually more fun to do. The problem is there is no easy way to grind XP -- you end up doing co op missions for hundreds of hours to get XP relatively quickly. Also, the multiplayer trophies are a lot easier to get than the first game.

Also, I'm playing Assassin's Creed III for PS3 and....it's pretty much Star Wars in Colonial America. Connor even shows up at Ahch-To to ask to be trained by Luke Skywalker as a Jedi....oops, I mean Achilles Davenport's homestead to be trained as an assassin.

Edited November 15, 2020 by Andrew POE!

[Casey]

I won't be able to play it when it gets here, since my PS5 is digital only so that means I'll have to buy it in the PS Store (and that's okay) - but my collector's edition of CrossCode gets shipped this month and I'm pretty excited. It'll go on the shelf with my collector's edition of Cosmic Star Heroine.

I wish Limited Run/Strictly Limited had more JPRG type games that had collector's editions, specifically sci-fi types.

[Lamp, broken circa 1988]

DESTINY 2: BEYOND LIGHT [3]
I know there's a destiny thread that would benefit from this review more than this thread would, but all my reviews go here, so. I have some misgivings about how Bungie does things these days, and I will not let those go unmentioned. In brief: I hate their dedication to undermining everything I placed value in, mostly tossed away because they give up. I liked Future War Cult, so factions are gone. I liked collecting the guns and armor I acquired over time and storing them in the vault so I could pull out anything I needed for any reason, so now all gear has expiration dates. I liked doing crucible and gambit, so now the matchmaking doesn't sort by skill and there's rampant hacking. It's not going great!

All that being said, Destiny 2: Beyond Light: The New Authored Levels And Story is I would say the #3 Destiny expansion so far (behind Taken King and Rise of Iron). A big part of that is personal: Variks is my favorite character and he's been blamed for the death of my least favorite, so being able to save Variks life in the first fifteen minutes and then being able to hang out with my clicky buddy has been great. While Europa is a very eye-strain kind of locale, the actual encounter design in all the new areas is actually pretty fun. The Strike on Europa is my favorite Destiny 2 strike by far. Speaking of Strikes, they remade the last encounter of the cosmodrome strike so it doesn't feel like being bled dry anymore. Bungie the Live Service Developer is pretty bad, but Bungie the Game Developer still has it where it counts.

tl;dr: it's good but if you're put out by how they've been doing things, they didn't fix those things

YAKUZA: LIKE A DRAGON [4]
Ten hours in and I adore this game. It'd be hard to talk about without spoiling things but the short version is this: Ichiban is a fantastic protagonist. I hate using D&D terms to describe this stuff but I'm tired and it's the best analogy I've got right now: where Kiryu was Lawful Neutral veering on Good, Ichiban is Chaotic Good to a degree that makes the game feel like a departure. It would be easy to write another Hyper-competent Good-Hearted Gangster. They tilt the opposite way and put the player in control of this Kismet Bull In a Kismet China Shop, who's thickskulled eagerness pushes him through any god damned thing. The justification for the way he acts is almost pure: "I just do what I think a hero would do." They also go a long way to make societal punching bags the entire core of the story, showing dimensions to sex workers and the homeless that most open world games would trample en route to cheap jokes. and then outside all of that it's a Yakuza game, so it has all the sharp writing and all the absurdity and everything else you've come to expect, just wholly freshened up in a way that major game franchises just aren't anymore. A pure delight. I intend to 100% it, and that includes learning Shogi.

[EVA]

What I love about HADES right now is how much the game can surprise you.  You can start a run playing one way, but, by the end, you’re playing a completely different way based on what boons you get.  Yesterday, I put together my best run yet (made it to the bosses in Elysium) using a wild load out on my sword.  Specifically, I had: 

Cursed Slash (attacking restores health)

Swift Strike (attack 30% faster)

Wave of Despair (Damage foes and inflict Weak when taking damage)

Thunder Dash (dash causes lightning to strike nearby foes)

I was basically an immortal hack-and-slash killing machine.  I was able to literally stand right in front of the Hydra in Asphodel and beat it to death.  Then, of course, being the great game that it is, Hades started throwing guys with shields at me to deflect my strikes, so now I have to come up with an answer for that.

[Ramo2653]

Knocked out Zone of the Enders: 2nd Runner after a few week hiatus. Did they change the difficulty of the last Anibus fight? I don't remember it being that hard before (I was playing on hard difficulty but breezed through most of the game aside from needed a couple tries with some of the bosses).

I just installed The Outer Worlds so that's next between games of NBA2k and Madden.

[cwoy2j]

I'm looking to get one of those retro arcade boards that has like 2,000 old games on it. There are lots of options and they all look like they come from shady Chinese companies. Have any of you guys had any experience with those and if so, what's the best one to get? Ones to stay away from?

This is the one I've been looking at

https://www.amazon.com/888Warehouse-.../dp/B07DBNZ3BF

[Zimbra]

Aside from all of its other virtues Hades has the best gaming moment of the year (end boss spoilers)

Spoiler

The universal "Oh shit!" the first time you see Hades' second health bar

 

[Tabe]

4 hours ago, cwoy2j said:

I'm looking to get one of those retro arcade boards that has like 2,000 old games on it. There are lots of options and they all look like they come from shady Chinese companies. Have any of you guys had any experience with those and if so, what's the best one to get? Ones to stay away from?

This is the one I've been looking at

https://www.amazon.com/888Warehouse-.../dp/B07DBNZ3BF

There's a million different Pandora's Box systems. In general, they are very good with good parts but sometimes duplicate games, etc. There's also a new one from Arcade Legends that's not sketchy. 

My recommendation is to check out ETA Prime on YouTube. He's reviewed a bunch of these systems. 

Edited November 15, 2020 by Tabe

[cwoy2j]

3 hours ago, Tabe said:

There's a million different Pandora's Box systems. In general, they are very good with good parts but sometimes duplicate games, etc. There's also a new one from Arcade Legends that's not sketchy. 

My recommendation is to check out ETA Prime on YouTube. He's reviewed a bunch of these systems. 

Thanks! I checked him out and he has a review where he says he actually doesn't know a lot about those Pandora box ones. I'm really just looking for something that will allow me to save my progress in a game and it won't brick on me and make me have to jump through a million sketchy hoops to get fixed.

[Eoae]

Finished The Pathless.  IMO, it's simultaneously wonderful and a little disappointing.  I highly enjoyed it and, from a design perspective, it's an outstanding piece of environmental storytelling.  That's not a surprise.  Director/lead designer Matt Nava used to work for thatgamecompany and was art director of Journey and Flower.  

The Pathless also looks stunning.  But, it's exploration-based so it's a little bit more of a walking simulator than I wanted.  KInda wanted more to do at times, or to have the plot driven forward with more urgency.  Again, not a surprise.  Journey, Flower, and Abzu were all in the same vein.

Not a lot of combat.  There are some epic encounters with enormous bosses, but those aren't as big a part of the game as I expected.  The best part of boss battles is the first part of the encounter, where the creature runs from you and chase it through a flaming forest or whatever.  On the hole, boss fights were fine but they felt a little samey by the end of the game.

On the whole, i highly recommend The Pathless but I kind of expected it to be in my personal top 10 for the year and it's probably just shy of that.  I have a feeling it's not even the best of my November games.  I've played a little Miles Morales and am planning to dive into it seriously tonight, but loved what I saw and the reviews have been outstanding.  Also played some Astro Bot at a neighbor's (no PS5 yet) and it seems wonderful.  

[AxB]

So it's like a relaxed version of Shadow of the Colossus?

[Eoae]

3 hours ago, AxB said:

So it's like a relaxed version of Shadow of the Colossus?

Yeah, kinda.  It's sort of a mix of Breath of the Wild, Shadow of the Colossus, and Journey, with Journey being the strongest influence.  Your character is dropped into a huge open-world and your main task is to find obelisks scattered throughout the map.  When you light every obelisk, you can take on the giant cursed guardian that roams that region.  Once you defeat the boss, you move on to a different part of the island and basically repeat the process.

The boss battles were very well done, but the best part for me was the opening chase sequence.  Lighting the obelisks weakens the bosses so they run from you at first and it's very cool to chase them down and force them to stand and fight. 

I wanted more out of the boss battles.  Instead. it's a lot of Journey-style exploration. 

I'm not really down on it.  The other other thing I didn't really like was this speed mechanic where you power up spirit energy so you can zoom along at a fast pace.  Your movement speed never felt right to me.  Normal running seemed too slow, the dashing was too fast for my liking.  At times, you can zoom along at a Vanquish-like pace,

Like I said, I enjoyed it a lot, but I think I set my expectations too high.  It's in my top 15-20 for 2020, but probably not my top 10.  But it's been a good year for gaming, so that's not exactly a bad thing,  Even with the pandemic, Sony's had a great year.

Off-topic, i really wish they'd developed a PS4 port of Astro's Playroom.  

[Craig H]

So Alanah Pearce's next job after Funhaus and other stuff is writing a game for Sony Santa Monica Studios. That's pretty cool. Good on her!

[Eoae]

Stayed up way too late last night playing Miles Morales.  Seems extremely well-done on all levels.  Runs and looks great on PS4 Pro.  Told it runs and looks great on PS4 slim.  I'll pick up the deluxe edition with the remaster of the original game when I get a PS5, but, for now, the PS4 edition is enough for me.  Both Spider-Man games have done a nice job with the writing.  I didn't expect to be this interested in the character, and I said the same thing about Peter Parker in 2018.

Just heard that Super Mario 3D All-Stars got an update that supports the GameCube controller.  Guess I'll be ordering a GameCube adapter tonight.  I think I'm more excited about playing Super Mario Sunshine Remastered with the proper controller than I am about most of the PS5/Xbox Series news.

Speaking of Switch, has anyone seen or heard anything lately about a Switch Pro?  I heard a rumor a while back that an updated Switch console was coming in 2021, but nothing concrete since.  And, honestly, I see a lot of wild Switch rumors online and most of them are fake.  My wife doesn't game but has fallen in love with the Animal Crossing and seems interested in some other cutesy Switch games.  Thinking of getting her her own Switch, but not sure I want to buy a new console if an upgraded model is coming out in, say, March.  Then again, she'd probably prefer the limited Animal Crossing console to standard color job, so....

[odessasteps]

Most insiders say Switch Pro next year, but it’s been rumored for 2 years or more.

there are videos of folks playing Sunshine with the GC controller. (Watching one now with Andre from GX)

.

[Eoae]

Anyone got any suggestions for good review sites?  Mostly looking for sites that put that put their reviews up on Youtube, so I can listen to reviews while I multitask.  I listen to a hodgepodge of news sites and a few people (mostly IGN, Gamespot, Easy Allies, Kotaku, Eurogamer. plus a few youtubers like Get Indie Gaming and ACG).  I don't take scores too seriously.  Just mostly want to get a feel for the game and pick up some interesting context.

Honestly, my favorite review site right now might be Nintendo Life, but that's at least partly because the guy that narrates most of their video reviews has a great voice (if I sounded like him, "Hello, lovely people" would be my standard greeting when I entered a room).

[Andrew POE!]

Picked up my PS5 yesterday from Best Buy and set it up. The DualSense is an experience and one of the most amazing controllers I've ever seen. It takes Nintendo's HD Rumble and steps it up above and beyond that. I can't wait to see what other games do with the controllers. I've been playing Astro's Playroom and Demon's Souls and I love them a lot. Also, Astro's Playroom makes me want to go back to my collection and play the Easter eggs that have been scattered throughout the game (like God of War 2018 or Concrete Genie or Metal Gear Solid 2 for example).

The only issue I saw was it took over three hours to install game data from Demon's Souls. It's running fine now but I think it's the game disc. I checked Spider-Man Miles Morales and it took me less than 15 minutes to install data from the disc. I'm going to return Demon's Souls and should be getting another copy soon from Amazon.

Also, I'm not ready to give up the ghost on PS3 yet -- so I have to unplug the HDMI and Ethernet cables from it if I want to use my PS5.

Other than that, I decided to work on Severed, which is a Vita game, for the next Platinum. I'm about 50% of the way done and the game is decent but a lot of the battles are near impossible at times. Drinkbox seems to not really test Severed out and realize that it may be too hard for a touch based game. I'm at the third dungeon, The Citadel, but doing a bit of backtracking to collect upgrades and explore the maps.

Edited November 18, 2020 by Andrew POE!

[Eoae]

Saw figures for Japanese week one sales of Xbox Series X/S and PS5.  In Japan, the Series X/S sold 21,000 units and the PS5 sold around 118,000 units.  The PS5 sold out, so that's all the consoles they could have sold without a bigger allocation.  By comparison, the PS4 sold 320,000+ consoles during it's first week in Japan.  Maybe the talk about Sony de-prioritizing the Japanese market is true.

Miles Morales and Demon's Souls were the biggest software sellers last week in Japan.  18,000 units each.  That just seems to be retail sales and doesn't include digital downloads from the PSN store.  

The person who tweeted out the figures seemed to be hinting that the week one figures weren't impressive, but I don't follow sales figures enough to know how accurate that is. 

[Shane]

I started playing House Flipper. I need something extremely low key right now. And this is another variation on “Checking Off Lists: The Game.” You want me to knock down a wall? Sure thing! Paint your walls! You betcha! You’re allowing *me* to purchase and rearrange your furniture? Sounds like a bad idea, but I’m in! All black everything it is!

[Craig H]

15 hours ago, Eoae said:

Anyone got any suggestions for good review sites?  Mostly looking for sites that put that put their reviews up on Youtube, so I can listen to reviews while I multitask.  I listen to a hodgepodge of news sites and a few people (mostly IGN, Gamespot, Easy Allies, Kotaku, Eurogamer. plus a few youtubers like Get Indie Gaming and ACG).  I don't take scores too seriously.  Just mostly want to get a feel for the game and pick up some interesting context.

Honestly, my favorite review site right now might be Nintendo Life, but that's at least partly because the guy that narrates most of their video reviews has a great voice (if I sounded like him, "Hello, lovely people" would be my standard greeting when I entered a room).

Giant Bomb. Most of their reviews are in the form of their Quick Looks. They're of the belief that reviews themselves are busted and don't give their viewers or readers the best impression of a game. Their Quick Look videos are typically around an hour or more and they're very deep dives into playing games. And they play just about everything. Plus, I think the Giant Bombcast is one of the better gaming podcasts out there and those go up on YouTube too. Just be warned that they're not always the biggest fans of AAA games, but I think that's because they just scrutinize them more because of how much hype, production time, and attention goes into those games when there's a lot of indy or smaller games that play extremely well and don't make nearly as much money because all the attention goes towards bullshit like Avengers. For example, I can pretty much guarantee that Hades will (rightfully) be in their top 3 games of the year, if not the game of the year.

[odessasteps]

Game Award nominees announced.

Most of the games you expected probably. 

 

[Shane]

53 minutes ago, Craig H said:

Giant Bomb.

Will absolutely second this. To me, it’s hands down the best gaming site out there. Not only have the “core” 4 (Jeff Gerstmann, Brad Shoemaker, Vinny Caravella & Alex Navarro) been in the games press forever, but they’ve surrounded themselves with a younger, more diverse group that come at gaming from an entirely different perspective. Even when I disagree (as a group, they’re pretty much over Ubi-style open world stuff, for instance), I can’t say that the criticism they have is unwarranted. 

The added plus is that they’re a bunch of great personalities to “hang out” with as well. I’ll often stick their 24/7 Twitch channel up and just have it as background noise. 

[odessasteps]

I'd tout GX, but given that most of their folks left to start their own channel, I'd be slightly hesitant. But I guess I'd recommend their old stuff. 

[Craig H]

19 minutes ago, Shane said:

Will absolutely second this. To me, it’s hands down the best gaming site out there. Not only have the “core” 4 (Jeff Gerstmann, Brad Shoemaker, Vinny Caravella & Alex Navarro) been in the games press forever, but they’ve surrounded themselves with a younger, more diverse group that come at gaming from an entirely different perspective. Even when I disagree (as a group, they’re pretty much over Ubi-style open world stuff, for instance), I can’t say that the criticism they have is unwarranted. 

The added plus is that they’re a bunch of great personalities to “hang out” with as well. I’ll often stick their 24/7 Twitch channel up and just have it as background noise. 

This is going to sound shitty, but I think the crew got better with Dan and Abby leaving. I think my problem with Dan is that it's hard to believe that someone who has lived around the country as much as he has and went away to school is that sheltered and dumb. Like, incomprehensibly dumb and obtuse. I think I wanted to scream when he didn't think the Metal Gear Solid games were political. I also think to all of the other dumb questions he asked, like, is it safe to eat egg shells.

Both Abby and Dan were also very insufferable during the Game of the Year process, but that whole process is a little bit of a shit show anyway. I will say though, while I don't fully agree with Dan about Red Dead 2, I no longer think that game is "good." 

As for Abby, the only thing it felt like she brought to the table was playing the Sims and playing a lot of relationship games on Steam. Some of that I appreciated because every now and then she'd bring up a game that sounded interesting, but a lot of the time I just didn't care.

I also don't care that much for Ben, but I suppose he's fine.

The core 4 can't be touched though. They made me wind up re-subscribing to premium content just to get their Hot Spot podcast. My fear though is that they'll wind up axing the rest of the folks in NY except for Vinny and Alex, and they'll axe some of the folks in San Francisco to condense things down into one podcast. I hope that doesn't happen.

And now talking about Giant Bomb has me missing Ryan Davis. I still don't think the site or the Bombcast has been the same without him and he passed away years ago now. It still feels like that was yesterday.

[Eoae]

I'll check out Giant Bomb.  Thanks.  I think i listened to the Giant Bombcast once and enjoyed it.  I'll probably have to find some new gaming podcasts when we get through the pandemic.  I kind of gave up on my my regular rotation of podcasts when the pandemic started and will probably search out some news ones when things settle down. 

If nothing else, lol, the pandemic was useful for finally getting Retronauts out of my regular rotation.  I know Bob and Jeremy seem to be beloved by the community, but... not my thing.

Edited November 18, 2020 by Eoae