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2022 VIDEO GAME CATCH ALL THREAD


RIPPA

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For those who have played it, how much is AssCreed: Odyssey really like Witcher 3 or Skyrim (the two closest comparisons my Steam account draws)? I've never played a single entry in the series and I'm not exactly sure I'm missing anything to begin with. But I could go for a Witcher-y game that isn't Geralt.

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I know it's received a lot of love elsewhere, but I tend to trust you all more than others - is Disco Elysium worth purchasing, what style of game is it, and would it be appropriate for an 11 year old? From what I've seen or read, it's a RPG, but it also looks like it's something of a throwback to Fallout 1 and 2? I didn't dive into what the story is to not spoil myself if I did buy it.

On another note, my daughter and I finally finished The Outer Wilds. Sadly, we needed to use a walkthrough to beat it. We got most of the way to the end on our own though, it's just that the game tells you practically nothing and you have to explore everything with very little in the way of clues that clearly point to what you're supposed to do or where you're supposed to go. There was plenty of stuff and discoveries we stumbled into and those made for some very fun moments for the two of us. We just wound up hitting a wall. Some of the stuff in the walkthrough I don't even know how we would discover or figure out on our own. Not going to spoil any of it here, but there are multiple parts of your run where time and triggers without any instruction plays a huge role. I give the highest praise to anyone who figured that game out on their own.

From there, we purchased the Echoes of the Eye DLC. Holy shit, that one is even more of a mindfuck maze. We thought the core game was difficult enough to figure out. Echoes of the Eye is just on another level. So far, we have only resorted to a walkthrough once and it was very brief. The rest of the time we spent exploring as much as humanly possible and there are still some sections we can't figure out how to get to.

I know it would be cheating, but I would just love it if they included a mode without the 22 minute time limit so you could just freely explore as much as possible.

If the main game came out in 2021, it would probably be our game of the year, but it didn't and so our favorite game of 2021 is still It Takes Two.

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3 hours ago, Craig H said:

I know it's received a lot of love elsewhere, but I tend to trust you all more than others - is Disco Elysium worth purchasing, what style of game is it, and would it be appropriate for an 11 year old? From what I've seen or read, it's a RPG, but it also looks like it's something of a throwback to Fallout 1 and 2? I didn't dive into what the story is to not spoil myself if I did buy it.

For an 11 year old, probably not. But what do I know, my 10 year old cousin is only allowed to play stuff like Farming Simulator and on Christmas Day I let him play Far Cry 6 on my PS5. So I'm a bad influence. But FWIW - my current character build in Disco Elysium is an alcoholic communist that is probably a budding racist due to gaining a race theory idea from a literal white nationalist that's in the game.

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15 hours ago, Contentious C said:

For those who have played it, how much is AssCreed: Odyssey really like Witcher 3 or Skyrim (the two closest comparisons my Steam account draws)? I've never played a single entry in the series and I'm not exactly sure I'm missing anything to begin with. But I could go for a Witcher-y game that isn't Geralt.

That's a tough question. Its certainly closer in structure to Witcher 3/Skyrim than it is the "classic" Assassin's Creed game, so playing any previous ones is definitely not required. Its an open world ARPG with lots of side missions and things to do across a giant ass map, so in that way its like Witcher 3/Skyrim. But I dunno if I'd feel comfortable saying that if someone likes Witcher 3/Skyrim they'd automatically like Odyssey as that is where the major similarities mostly end. The combat isn't very similar as its more timing-based sword fighting than the others with less magic-type options, there are other differences as well of course but right from the jump I wouldn't say the gameplay is overly similar. Also there is more stealth, being an Ubisoft game in a lot of ways its closer to Far Cry than Witcher 3 (although with uh swords instead of guns).

If you are like me and just like open world games with lots of missions and things to do, then it'll scratch that itch anyway.

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Witcher related question

Do I REALLY need to play Witcher 2 to play Witcher 3?

I believe decisions you make in 2 carry over into 3 so I was always all I HAVE TO PLAY 2 FIRST!!! But I tried a few times and for whatever reason it isn't sticking so I was thinking of just saying fuck it and go to 3

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No, so long as you do a story catchup (to figure out why Yen is pissed at Geralt *this* time) you'll be fine.  

EDIT: Watch this, you're caught up:

 

 

Edited by Raziel
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25 minutes ago, RIPPA said:

Witcher related question

Do I REALLY need to play Witcher 2 to play Witcher 3?

I believe decisions you make in 2 carry over into 3 so I was always all I HAVE TO PLAY 2 FIRST!!! But I tried a few times and for whatever reason it isn't sticking so I was thinking of just saying fuck it and go to 3

I never played 1 or 2, but thought 3 was the best thing ever. Some things do carry over but not enough to really necessitate playing them, and some things that feel unexplained are actually from the books and aren't explained in 1 or 2 either.

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7 hours ago, Craig H said:

I know it's received a lot of love elsewhere, but I tend to trust you all more than others - is Disco Elysium worth purchasing, what style of game is it, and would it be appropriate for an 11 year old? From what I've seen or read, it's a RPG, but it also looks like it's something of a throwback to Fallout 1 and 2? I didn't dive into what the story is to not spoil myself if I did buy it.

Disco Elysium works like Fallout in that it's a point and click RPG, but there is absolutely no combat. As simply as possible, it's a large variety of different skill checks and dialog. However, it's exceptionally well thought out (dialog decisions can play into other dialog down the line, and your character build makes completely different avenues of the story available) and it's all exceptionally written dialog. I think it is the best work of fiction available in games, and there is no close contender. Strongest possible recommendation.

That being said, DO NOT SHOW DISCO ELYSIUM TO A CHILD. It is, subject matter wise, EXTREMELY intense.

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2 hours ago, RIPPA said:

Witcher related question

Do I REALLY need to play Witcher 2 to play Witcher 3?

I believe decisions you make in 2 carry over into 3 so I was always all I HAVE TO PLAY 2 FIRST!!! But I tried a few times and for whatever reason it isn't sticking so I was thinking of just saying fuck it and go to 3

To agree with the others, you don't. There's a segment in 3 where you're asked questions if you didn't load a save from Witcher 2. The cool aspect was in going from Witcher 1 to Witcher 2 with a save file. That allowed you to keep your items from 1 until you get arrested.

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54 minutes ago, Lamp, broken circa 1988 said:

Disco Elysium works like Fallout in that it's a point and click RPG, but there is absolutely no combat. As simply as possible, it's a large variety of different skill checks and dialog. However, it's exceptionally well thought out (dialog decisions can play into other dialog down the line, and your character build makes completely different avenues of the story available) and it's all exceptionally written dialog. I think it is the best work of fiction available in games, and there is no close contender. Strongest possible recommendation.

That being said, DO NOT SHOW DISCO ELYSIUM TO A CHILD. It is, subject matter wise, EXTREMELY intense.

Aaaaaand noted. It still sounds cool as hell so I'll still buy it. I just need to figure out which system to get it on.

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I should really go back and play Disco Elysium. I bought it a few months ago but only played an hour or two. I'm starting to get a new pile of shame with all the games I've purchased the last few months. Dark Souls 3, Blasphemous, Scott Pilgrim, Cyberpunk, Terminator Resistance and No Man's Sky. I keep on going back for more punishment in Returnal as well.

 

Also in regards to Witcher 3 discussion I knew nothing of the other two games and I'd put it in my top 5 games ever, easily. 

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Funnily enough, after having to reinstall my PS5 system software, I wound up redownloading Witcher 3 to continue my playthrough. I mostly remembered what I did before, the big things anyway. So it's not like the countless times I've started/stopped/started a Fallout game or Skyrim where I have no memory of what I did before. I'll chalk that up to the Witcher 3 having one of the best stories I've ever played and I'm only level 40ish.

Actually, the main thing I need to remember is how to quickly make a lot of money. I was pretty good at doing that before, but now I don't remember it at all.

Edited by Craig H
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AC Valhalla is fucking gorgeous, even on a “weaker” console like the Series S. Wow and damn. Between this, Mafia 3 and Disco Elysium, there’s all four of my days off sunk into various games.

Sidenote: Mafia 3 looks… weird(?) on my Series S. Blurs when a character moves and whatnot.

Oh and I also bought a fun little retro throwback hack ‘n slash side scroller game called Infinite: Beyond the Mind. I really like it, it’s simple but also challenging for the “boss fights”. It wouldn’t be out of place on the SNES or Genesis. And it’s only like $2 after taxes right now (normally $10).

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6 hours ago, Craig H said:

Funnily enough, after having to reinstall my PS5 system software, I wound up redownloading Witcher 3 to continue my playthrough. I mostly remembered what I did before, the big things anyway. So it's not like the countless times I've started/stopped/started a Fallout game or Skyrim where I have no memory of what I did before. I'll chalk that up to the Witcher 3 having one of the best stories I've ever played and I'm only level 40ish.

Actually, the main thing I need to remember is how to quickly make a lot of money. I was pretty good at doing that before, but now I don't remember it at all.

Most of the money exploits got patched out of Witcher 3 as time went on (killing the cows in White Orchard and selling the milk, or buying the seashells for cheap from the guy by the water in Oxenfurt, breaking those down and selling the pearls were the 2 big ones) to the point where they throw in a mini quest once you reach a certain amount of money. I'm pretty sure I just looted everyone and sold off at vendors so I don't really remember a finances pinch even with working towards all of the master armors once I got to Beauclair.

Yes I did put 200+ hours in the game in 2020 and I don't regret a thing.

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14 hours ago, Raziel said:

No, so long as you do a story catchup (to figure out why Yen is pissed at Geralt *this* time) you'll be fine.  

EDIT: Watch this, you're caught up:

 

 

I bought Witcher 3 during the end of year sale for ten bucks.  The first thing I did was hit up all of The Story So Far vids on YouTube.

Mad Max is not a half bad game.  I am slowly getting a hang of melee and vehicle combat.

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I didn't enjoy Witcher 3 because I had no knowledge of the World and characters, and everyone I met greeted me like an old friend and started reminiscing about all the old times we had together. The story didn't grab me at all. Felt generic.

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15 hours ago, AxB said:

I didn't enjoy Witcher 3 because I had no knowledge of the World and characters, and everyone I met greeted me like an old friend and started reminiscing about all the old times we had together. The story didn't grab me at all. Felt generic.

Sounds like when I picked up Dragon Age: Inquisition and it gives you the thing like Mass Effect does if you jump into one of the later games without playing the earlier ones.

I just made a bunch of random choices. . .no idea whether or not any of the things I picked made any sense in relation to one another, but I enjoyed the heck out of the game anyway once I started playing it.

Don't know if the Witcher games do anything like that or not.

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Here is my 2022 Gaming Resolution. I have a list of games I wanted to beat last year that I didn't get around to, and honestly there's not a lot of games coming out this year I'm expecting to hold my attention. So! Here is the list of games I am aspiring to finish in the year 2022.

  • Cruelty Squad (at a point I stopped playing it and started watching it, so now I'm going back to it to actually complete it)
  • Dark Souls II Scholar of the First Sin
  • Demons of Asteborg
  • Disco Elysium (second full playthrough, physical build)
  • Dragon Quest XI S
  • Final Fantasy 7 (started a playthrough because there's been a lot of AI Upres procedures done on the prerendered maps and I want to see that)
  • The rest of the Gears of War franchise (currently playing Judgment. short: best game in the series)
  • Hollow Knight (started over on PC with a less latent display)
  • Hitman 3
  • L.A. Noire (timed with the Action Button review)
  • One full game of Old World
  • Tres-Bashers
  • ULTRAKILL (this one is the one that worries me)
  • Yakuza Like A Dragon

Now, I'm allowing myself leeway because there are some new games I am 100% getting (Elden Ring, Kirby, probably Splatoon?) and some indie games that are in various states of "when it's done" that if they say When I'm running full speed to (Radio The Universe, UFO 50, Skin Deep, Bomb Rush Cyberfunk, and Dread Delusion most notably). So for most of the year when I post a review of something, if I reviewed it once before, I'm going to specify that I just beat it and these are my final thoughts with it.

WIsh me luck lol

Edited by Lamp, broken circa 1988
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Ok, wait...Is Days Gone actually good? This is the third or fourth thing I've seen about Days Gone this week. On two different podcasts people used Days Gone as an example of a game that released rough, but improved over time and is better than it originally was. And then that article comes out about how much it sold. The only thing is, I don't know a single person that I communicate with that has actually played it. To me, it just looked like a big ol' bummer of a game that was a lame combination of Sons of Anarchy and zombies.

At the time of it's release I thought that if I'm going to play a bummer game then I'll just finally play the Last of Us.

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Some of the Days Gone stories were out there awhile back too (I think around the time of the PC release). The developer wanted to make a sequel, and Sony thought it wasn't a big enough seller even though it was reported that it had sold a ton of copies. It didn't seem like a game I'd overly care to play, but it was a top streaming game on Twitch for longer than a game like that normally is. 

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1 hour ago, Craig H said:

Ok, wait...Is Days Gone actually good?

I consider it good, but not great.  I played it last winter after it had been out awhile and liked it quite a bit.  I thought the mechanics were fine and the narrative benefited quite a bit from the gorgeous locale (Pacific Northwest) and some offbeat characters.   Not sure I liked the characters or the biker aesthetic but I liked that they tried to do something different beyond "generic adventurer that hunts zombies".  It doesn't always succeed, but it tried to be memorable and not rely on cookie-cutter tropes.  

The main character's wife is.... something.  The flashback to their wedding with the very unsubtle sexual innuendo is unintentionally hilarious, but made an impression.  John Deacon and his wife seem really mismatched and the idea that  the wife is some sort of super scientist made me feel like I was watching Pam Anderson in a direct-to-dvd sci-fi thriller.

I would have been up for Days Gone 2.  I felt like the sequel would probably have been very good.  But, yeah, if you haven't played it, I'd recommend it.

While I was typing this, I learned that director Jeff Ross is walking back some of the stuff he said earlier.  He claimed that Days Gone sold eight million copies (as many as Ghost of Tsushima). but is now saying that figure likely includes rentals and PS Now players and such.  Also now says that the sequel was killed by management at Bend Studio as much as Sony execs.  So...

Link to the story on him clarifying his earlier remarks.

 https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2022/01/days-gones-reported-8-million-sales-not-necessarily-accurate

 

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I played a ton of Hades over my time off the last few weeks and then cut it off cold turkey (after my second time out, first time with heat) as it just wasn't sustainable when I'm not off work and with kids having less time now that they're back in school. I liked it but once runs started to be 30-40 mins long it became less sustainable. Plus I hit a point where the mirror was mostly maxed where I felt like my progression was going to hit walls. 

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