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2022 VIDEO GAME CATCH ALL THREAD


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11 hours ago, Death From Above said:

Just finished up Blasphemous* and overall if you enjoy your Castlevania-style games there's really no excuse not to pick this up at some point. Overall a really good game. I think it falls apart a little in the last 10% of the game but that's such a common problem that I can't even really diminish the overall game that much for it. I found it fairly challenging, and my total playtime was about 13 hours. But I also know I missed a lot of things, and I am pretty sure I got BAD END? There's definitely a lot to unpack here if you're a completionist. 

Overall a very strong entry in the Metroidvania catalogue. 

 

*You can check the vods on twitch.tv/stevenx ^finger guns^

I believe you can go back and complete the conditions for the good ending without having to start a new file.

EDIT: Yep. https://www.destructoid.com/blasphemous-lets-you-see-multiple-endings-in-one-playthrough-and-thats-swell/

Edited by John E. Dynamite
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So, I finished Uncharted 4 and despite the shitty combat, this was a really dope game.  No series of games feels more like a big budget action movie than Uncharted.  The big chase scene in this game is incredible, there is nothing like it in any other game that I've ever played.  I still don't like the combat, but I'll give it some credit, it feels like you are a regular guy fighting against overwhelming odds.  The issue is that by the 4th game you've literally taken on multiple armies by yourself and won.  At some point you think he'd actually get good at gun fighting, but nope you just roll around trying to get behind cover and shoot like you've never shot a gun before.  It's not bad enough that I wanted to quit, but it is the part of the game I enjoy the least.  I really enjoyed the storyline, the characters, and most of all how it was presented.  Every time I see the previews for the movie, it makes me think they missed the entire point.  Yes, the game is full of over the top action sequences, but the thing that makes the game work is that you like Drake, Elena, and Sully and you care about how the story is going to play out.  The biggest action set pieces in this game aren't about the action set pieces, they are a frantic dash for Nathan to save someone he loves and cares about.  They work, not only because they are incredibly fun, but they build up the relationships well enough that you feel the urgency of the situation.  Another thing that really works is that the enemies don't fuck around.  These people are trying to kill you, no questions asked.  They are going to send a fucking army after one person and if you don't do all this crazy action movie shit, someone you love is going to die.  It's really effective, and it is where I can see why they decided to design the combat the way they did.  If you were just able to duck behind solid cover, pop your head out and line up a headshot, it would take away from how frantic these scenes feel.  I'd argue that shooting while hanging from a rope being dragged by a truck is enough to make a scene seem frantic, but missing two out of every three shots did really up the tension.  Here's the thing, I got through all the fights without ever getting frustrated.  I died here and there, but there was never a point where I thought the challenge was unfair.  I hate how floaty the aiming feels, I hate the cover system, and up until the very end of the game I felt like I just survived every combat encounter by the skin of my teeth.  I didn't like the combat very much, but part of me believes that is the key to my overall enjoyment of the game.  

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The person who created the Uncharted games said that the reason why it starts to go black and white when you're in a gunfight and exposed to enemy fire, it's not that you're losing blood and close to passing out. None of the bullets are actually hitting you. It's a symbolic representation of Drake's luck running out. And when you have no luck left, a bullet actually hits you and you die.

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3 hours ago, AxB said:

The person who created the Uncharted games said that the reason why it starts to go black and white when you're in a gunfight and exposed to enemy fire, it's not that you're losing blood and close to passing out. None of the bullets are actually hitting you. It's a symbolic representation of Drake's luck running out. And when you have no luck left, a bullet actually hits you and you die.

If only every other enemy in the series wasn't a bullet sponge...

 

 

And good shout from DFA on Blasphemous.  That and banging my head against the wall playing The Persistence will hold me over this week until Horizon unlocks.

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Anyone else here played Nobody Saves the World? That's a fun little action adventure. The 9 on GameSpot seems a bit high, sooner or later the gameplay becomes a bit repetitive and I did not really care much about the story. Also a negative is, that the easiest way to upgrade forms (besides a small number of ward-breaking challenges) is to run the first dungeon over and over again. But the gameplay itself seems quite innovative with the form changing and unlocking and the art style is really nice. If you want a 15-20 hours game of that style, this is for you.

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Yeah, I played it pretty compulsively for the fifteen hours it took me to beat, loved it for most of that time but felt it lacked enemy variety and the combat was very basic for how many options it gives you. Also, disappointed how the upper half of the map is actually quite a bit smaller than the bottom half. Still, it's an easy recommendation for anyone who likes action RPGs, and if you have Gamepass it'd be crazy not to give it a go.

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1 hour ago, Raziel said:

Holy shit, knowing Nintendo, I'm fucking amazed they haven't at least tried to C&D that.

I mean, it would be like the creators of Castelvania trying to sue every person that has put out a Metroidvania. It's hard to copyright "a game that has platforms and power ups and bosses", which is a great thing for us gamers.

I am legit excited about the long term potential of a Dungeon Maker, even if I might not touch the software myself for a few updates.

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I picked Borderlands 3 back up after not playing it since 2019. I had been stuck on the Agonizer 9000 boss (frustratingly so) and then life shit happened and I just dropped off of it. Figured I should finish it before the new one comes out. 

At any rate, I beat the boss first try, not even quite remembering the controls. So that was nice. This franchise has always felt real good to play. The writing is more miss than hit for me, but the actual loop of playing it is top notch. 

EDIT: The biggest pain in the ass was going through my inventory and trying to clean out the junk. It’s been so long that I’ve no idea what some of the stats and modifiers mean, so it was a struggle to remember why Id kept/favorited things that, to 2021 Shane, look like trash. So many useless sniper rifles!

Edited by Shane
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1 hour ago, Death From Above said:

I mean, it would be like the creators of Castelvania trying to sue every person that has put out a Metroidvania. It's hard to copyright "a game that has platforms and power ups and bosses", which is a great thing for us gamers.

I am legit excited about the long term potential of a Dungeon Maker, even if I might not touch the software myself for a few updates.

I know, I've just seen Nintendo nuke shit for even being tangently close and that looks like they lifted the GB Zelda engines wholesale enough that Big N would shut it down.

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DRAGON QUEST XI S [4]
I think one of my favorite parts of Dragon Quest is when you finally have your Setup and are just walking around demolishing everyone, because it both feels like you've broken the game and that it's the only actual way to get anything done. In old games, what I used to do was basically have two characters with Muster Strength (which takes a turn to charge a double damage hit) and then I have them alternate attacks and charges, and then my other two party members work to keep them alive. In this game, I have one person who swings for like 700 damage a turn at a high mana cost, two characters that keep feeding them mana, and then one character does cheap group heals the whole time. I would say that DQXI is probably the best one to start with because it's both accessible and high quality (I have it fourth on my all time list), and while it doesn't break into all time greats category of DQ games, that's not a fair metric. Strong recommend. Ready to move on to Yakuza Like a Dragon after an RPG break!

HOLLOW KNIGHT - DID A WHOLE BUNCH OF STUFF
So idk if I stated this but I got pretty far in this game on Xbox, hit a boss that stomped the shit out of me, and decided "I need to play this without latency" and got it on PC. I am now further than where I was when I stopped, having done plenty of things I felt were impossible to do on console. This is still the best metroidvania, and maybe the best 2D game. In fact, impromptu, here's an off the top of my head list of the best games ever made that I've played from 1 to until I get to Hollow Knight.

  1. Tetris 99
  2. Hyper Light Drifter
  3. Mother 3
  4. Quadrilateral Cowboy
  5. Kentucky Route Zero
  6. Hollow Knight

It's That Good.

RETRO BOWL ON SWITCH [4]
So I bought this wondering if it'd be harder to play this on pad than on phone, and actually it turns out that I'm just great at retro bowl lol. In my original save it took me like 9 seasons to make the Retro Bowl. On the switch it took 2. Then I went back to phone, started a new save, and got it in my first year. So, yeah. I think I'm just good at Retro Bowl.

GEARS 5 - ACT 3
It's worth noting that, as I've played all these games co-op and we started playing them to get away from the idea of doing anything with an open world theme because I am officially sick of open world games (and yes, that does make me concerned about Elden Ring, but I'm hoping the mystery I'll have from not learning anything about it will make up the distance here), my friend has been driving in all the open world segments because I refuse to. So, with that in mind, I'm having a good time! It's also got this thing where all the side missions are HARD AS HELL and that makes them worth doing because the encounters are so fun, even if they're really really stressful a lot of the time.

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Because I'm exactly that kind of nerd, I did a 7 day trial on Amazon Luna. My take is that Stadia has better tech (less lag) but Amazon gives you way more for a subscription. Also interesting that Stadia games with controller diagrams had new diagrams but the Luna versions of Katamari Reroll and Under Night In Birth Something:Somethingsomething use Xbox pads in their tutorials. I can't imagine the service surviving if they continue on a model where you can subscribe to channels but you can't just buy a game, but they have risked millions of dollars on the idea that I'm wrong. But a Blue Sphere stage on Sonic Mania was basically unplayable for me because of the input lag and that's untenable

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10 hours ago, Casey said:

Blasphemous is better than Hollow Knight, yeah I said it.

Hollow Knight is an absolutely beautiful game with the most boring possible combat given the available tools, there is nothing interesting about the actual combat in Hollow Knight. Like, at all. I don't even have it in my top 10 modern Metroidvanias.

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7 hours ago, Death From Above said:

Hollow Knight is an absolutely beautiful game with the most boring possible combat given the available tools, there is nothing interesting about the actual combat in Hollow Knight. Like, at all. I don't even have it in my top 10 modern Metroidvanias.

I was going to shitpost about metal album covers and mental illness or something, but I have an actual thing to say here: maybe the problem is that you're looking at Hollow Knight like it's a game about fighting when it's a game about platforming.

Think about the average Sonic The Hedgehog boss fight. Present a singular gimmick, it has three moves, learn when you can hit them, do it three-to-seven times. Not a lot happening there. In contrast, Hollow Knight- which is a platformer first- makes Platforming boss fights where the boss is treated as a platform that aggresses upon the player in ways that allows strategic thought and playstyle nuances in the platforming. If you look at it in terms of games where you have to stay rooted on the ground, then maybe Hollow Knight falls short. On the other hand, Hollow Knight solves the problem of Platformer Boss Fights in just spectacular fashion.

That's what's interesting about the combat. Not that it's a game with a deep Monster Hunter moveset, but rather a game with Highly Tuned Sports Car finesse in its movement options, and boss fights that rise to meet that movement style and challenge how well you've learned to move in this precision machine.

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6 hours ago, Raziel said:

Not completly destroyed.  I mean, people flying around fast and loose with code and hardware was pretty much the entire early days of gaming.

That Nintendo didn't develop Donkey Kong and then stole the source code for Donkey Kong Jr is definitely big news.  People playing fast and loose with code is nothing new - Nintendo not developing the game that put them on the map?  That's news.

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There are now threads for Horizon Forbidden West

And Elden Ring

In both cases please remember to use the spoiler button for story specific stuff and anything you think might need to be hidden.

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