I agree, most are mediocre at best.
figmentPez
Staff member
I've been playing Darksiders 2: Deathinative Edition and I'm having a good time. There are a lot of improvements over the first game (looks better, less grimdark, better soundtrack, combat feels smoother) and there's nothing I'd say is worse for all the other changes that were made. I'm not sure it's a better game for having loot drops, but it works, although I can't say what it was like before the rebalancing in this edition.
I'm kinda sad that this series didn't take off more. Darksiders 2 fixed my major complaint with Darksiders (namely, grimdark 90's comics overload), and I'm partially sad that I didn't play it sooner. On the other hand, the ridiculous pre-order exclusives (including a speed boost for your horse!) pissed me off when it came out, and that makes me glad I waited. Not sure how to send a message to game publishers that I like the game, but I don't like the way they're handling pre-orders and DLC.
In any case, I really like the Zelda-eqsue puzzles, and the combat system is enjoyable. I'd love to see a Darksiders 3.
I'm kinda sad that this series didn't take off more. Darksiders 2 fixed my major complaint with Darksiders (namely, grimdark 90's comics overload), and I'm partially sad that I didn't play it sooner. On the other hand, the ridiculous pre-order exclusives (including a speed boost for your horse!) pissed me off when it came out, and that makes me glad I waited. Not sure how to send a message to game publishers that I like the game, but I don't like the way they're handling pre-orders and DLC.
In any case, I really like the Zelda-eqsue puzzles, and the combat system is enjoyable. I'd love to see a Darksiders 3.
The Witcher 3: Blood & Wine
I have tried multiple times to beat the final boss and I can't. I just can't. I can get through his first phase, but then he completely destroys me in the second phase.
-He has an attack that not only breaks through my shield but one-shot kills me and it seems almost impossible to dodge no matter how many times I try.
-Every time the game resets, I have to skip through all the dialogue again and can't skip his transformation, which just raises my frustration levels.
-And I have to redo all my preparations every time, which gets double tiresome after dying half a dozen times.
-Have no way to prepare for the mission ahead of time. And because it's a long mission where you're stuck for a long period, my sword is damaged and I can't fix it.
-Superior Black Blood does not work on him. It acts like regular Black Blood, where it only damages him if he hits you, not if you're near him. And besides, for the amount of damage he hits with, it's not worth it.
-The ONLY time I can hit him in his second phase is when he's briefly on the ground. Except I can't prepare for that because he damages both when he drops down (which destroys my Quen shield) or when he lifts off again. And because he's so fast, I HAVE to be close to the drop point in order to even hit him. Which means I HAVE to sacrifice my Quen shield in order to hit him.
So I give up. I'll have to accept the fact that I won't beat Blood & Wine.
I have tried multiple times to beat the final boss and I can't. I just can't. I can get through his first phase, but then he completely destroys me in the second phase.
-He has an attack that not only breaks through my shield but one-shot kills me and it seems almost impossible to dodge no matter how many times I try.
-Every time the game resets, I have to skip through all the dialogue again and can't skip his transformation, which just raises my frustration levels.
-And I have to redo all my preparations every time, which gets double tiresome after dying half a dozen times.
-Have no way to prepare for the mission ahead of time. And because it's a long mission where you're stuck for a long period, my sword is damaged and I can't fix it.
-Superior Black Blood does not work on him. It acts like regular Black Blood, where it only damages him if he hits you, not if you're near him. And besides, for the amount of damage he hits with, it's not worth it.
-The ONLY time I can hit him in his second phase is when he's briefly on the ground. Except I can't prepare for that because he damages both when he drops down (which destroys my Quen shield) or when he lifts off again. And because he's so fast, I HAVE to be close to the drop point in order to even hit him. Which means I HAVE to sacrifice my Quen shield in order to hit him.
So I give up. I'll have to accept the fact that I won't beat Blood & Wine.
Well now I have to play it.
Welp, FINALLY beat that boss last night. Googled a few tips that did the trick. Still died about half a dozen times, but still beat it.
Finally got Mighty No. 9 installed and played it for a bit... am I playing the same game as the critics? I'm having a pretty damn good time with it. Playing as Ray basically turns the game into Mega Man Z.
Game criticism always runs into the problem of "Is this game fun" versus "Is this game objectively good, and is it good compared to similar games / current games that you might play instead, and is it a good use of your entertainment budget?"
For example, Saints Row IV - is it fun? Yes, at points it's incredibly fun. A sandbox game with superpowers can be a blast to play through. Is it an objectively good game? Well, for the most part, yes, but it can get rather repetitive compared to Saints Row the Third, and it lacks polish compared to other games released at the same time. Since the plotline is a parody of other games and movies, it's fairly predictable, and it acknowledges that.
But yeah, there have been times I've really enjoyed something the critics hated and been like, "Were we experiencing the same thing?"
For example, Saints Row IV - is it fun? Yes, at points it's incredibly fun. A sandbox game with superpowers can be a blast to play through. Is it an objectively good game? Well, for the most part, yes, but it can get rather repetitive compared to Saints Row the Third, and it lacks polish compared to other games released at the same time. Since the plotline is a parody of other games and movies, it's fairly predictable, and it acknowledges that.
But yeah, there have been times I've really enjoyed something the critics hated and been like, "Were we experiencing the same thing?"
Still more Mighty No. 9. I'm starting to see more chinks in the armor of this...
- Sometimes the weapon you are SUPPOSED to use against a boss is actually not that good. Dynatron's darts should be good against one boss, but it's just more effect to use Brandish's swords to ignore his cover and minimize his phases. In fact, Brandish is generally the solution to MOST problems because it does more damage than Beck's shots and attacks faster. It's not quite Metal Blade broken because of the range issue but it's still quite good.
- This game is blisteringly difficult in a way Mega Man X or classic never was. If you're going to lose lives, it's going to happen because of a platform section, because all platform sections devolve into Quickman deathbeams or spiked pits.
- It's not always clear what weapon you should be using for a fight.
I'm up to the final level and boss and this boss is a pain... not only is WAY harder to get E-Tanks in this game (you have to earn them in a level), if you die against the boss and you don't get an E-tank from Patch as part of your mercy power ups, you might as well give up. There are also issues with the final boss...
There are moments when this game really shines... the dash mechanic is a lot of fun and changes how the game feels in regards to Mega Man. Countershade's stage is a running sniper battle against the man himself in a circle stage that forces you to rush him down and that's BEFORE you start his boss fight. All of the Mighty No.'s are well designed and have fun personalities. But then you hit a brick wall and it just... sours your mood. I like this game but man, it has problems sometimes.
- Sometimes the weapon you are SUPPOSED to use against a boss is actually not that good. Dynatron's darts should be good against one boss, but it's just more effect to use Brandish's swords to ignore his cover and minimize his phases. In fact, Brandish is generally the solution to MOST problems because it does more damage than Beck's shots and attacks faster. It's not quite Metal Blade broken because of the range issue but it's still quite good.
- This game is blisteringly difficult in a way Mega Man X or classic never was. If you're going to lose lives, it's going to happen because of a platform section, because all platform sections devolve into Quickman deathbeams or spiked pits.
- It's not always clear what weapon you should be using for a fight.
I'm up to the final level and boss and this boss is a pain... not only is WAY harder to get E-Tanks in this game (you have to earn them in a level), if you die against the boss and you don't get an E-tank from Patch as part of your mercy power ups, you might as well give up. There are also issues with the final boss...
The first phase is simple: use Brandish to cut through the Xel shots and Buster shoots otherwise... except this shouldn't work because Xel shots don't look like the kind of projectiles you could block previously and you don't get any visual feedback that this is correct, you simply don't take damage. That's just bad design.
The second phase has similair issues: Cyrosphere slows down the worm form and makes it easier to do damage, but you have no way of knowing this without trying it. The flower rains Xel shots down that you SHOULD be able to block using Aviator's gyro like it would for other attacks but it doesn't work at all. This means there is a phase you just kind of have to soak hits for, unless I'm missing something.
The second phase has similair issues: Cyrosphere slows down the worm form and makes it easier to do damage, but you have no way of knowing this without trying it. The flower rains Xel shots down that you SHOULD be able to block using Aviator's gyro like it would for other attacks but it doesn't work at all. This means there is a phase you just kind of have to soak hits for, unless I'm missing something.
There are moments when this game really shines... the dash mechanic is a lot of fun and changes how the game feels in regards to Mega Man. Countershade's stage is a running sniper battle against the man himself in a circle stage that forces you to rush him down and that's BEFORE you start his boss fight. All of the Mighty No.'s are well designed and have fun personalities. But then you hit a brick wall and it just... sours your mood. I like this game but man, it has problems sometimes.
2 missions left in the Bounty Hunter class storyline for SWTOR for Strayervoight, Grand Champion of the Great Hunt and Republic's Most Wanted. Then I can start the expansions.
Also finally have some decent looking gear for my female Sith Warrior, Tarth Vayder (since I tried to make her look like Gwendoline Christie from Game of Thrones) as well as my female Chiss Bounty Hunter, Azura T'Loak (because she's a bitchy blue psycho-for-hire).
Also finally have some decent looking gear for my female Sith Warrior, Tarth Vayder (since I tried to make her look like Gwendoline Christie from Game of Thrones) as well as my female Chiss Bounty Hunter, Azura T'Loak (because she's a bitchy blue psycho-for-hire).
Why are they even using lives in this day and age of gaming? I know Mario still has them, but you gain them so frequently that they're meaningless there.
I sorta feel like this game would have been much better if Inafune hadn't started development of RED ASH before the game was done. Also, that he had hired some fucking Westerners to get his netcode issues resolved in a timely manner. I -like- Mighty No. 9, I really do, but I can't ignore that it would have been a much better game if it had been the sole focus of his attention for it's development cycle, instead of doing things like Azure Strike Gunvolt and Red Ash.
It certainly doesn't help that Deep Silver fucked up so much stuff on their side.
It certainly doesn't help that Deep Silver fucked up so much stuff on their side.
GasBandit
Staff member
Road Redemption got a major update earlier this week. I've spent an hour or two with it, and am of mixed opinion.
There was a major texture overhaul which has greatly improved the look of the courses, and there are more courses and greater variety within them... however this has also come with new graphics post processing (such as depth of field) that don't have an option to be turned off, and a noticeable impact on performance that I don't care for.
The UI got a redesign, which doesn't seem better or worse to me, just different.
They also changed the dynamics of weapons, how you get them, when to use them, and how you upgrade them that I'm not sure I'm a fan of. Enemies with helmets now are immune to bladed weapons until you use a blunt weapon to knock said helmets off... at which point the bladed weapons become more damaging than blunt weapons. But nobody has the time and presence of mind to juggle weapons like that, so all it really does is make you use blunt weapons exclusively and ignore bladed weapons.
They've stopped giving you free weapons before campaign levels, but instead now have powerup drops a-la mario kart on the track itself in levels which call for certain weapon types (like free C4 drops on levels involving destroying truck convoys, etc). The game has shifted heavily in favor of blunt melee weapons, as previously mentioned blade weapons are now too much trouble to use, but also because now firearms are a lot rarer and run out of ammo much sooner. Perhaps that's for the best, as I had gotten to a point where I was almost exclusively using guns before the patch, and that made things kinda easy sometimes. Having to get down and dirty in the scrum with a nailbat or pipe wrench is a lot harder, but also more viscerally pleasing.
There's also a new (or maybe I just didn't notice it before) grappling attack, where hitting Q will let you grab another driver by the neck, so that you can steer him into oncoming traffic or a wall or something - at the cost of not being able to defend yourself from other attackers while you do it. It's nice to have the option, I suppose, but I can't conceive of why I would use it instead of using the kick attack - which doesn't leave me vulnerable and usually has the same result as the more time-consuming grab.
Enemies are smarter now, and will take shortcuts same as you. Also, later in the campaign, enemies start getting a lot tougher.. they get "shields" for some reason that you have to chew your way through before they start taking "real" damage (not sure why they couldn't just raise their HP, having personal force fields seems a bit harsh on the ol' suspension of disbelief - this ain't star trek). Also a lot more enemies are now equipped with tasers, which, while not lethal in and of themselves, can make you crash into stuff while you lose control of your body for the few seconds after getting tazed.
They've also added a "classic" mode which is different from the campaign in that it lets you pick the level you want to play on, but still no multiplayer support yet.
Edit: Oh, and they nerfed jump jets. They now fire only as a momentary impulse with a ~5 second cooldown, instead of being able to be used constantly like a jet engine. Which I guess is ok. It was pretty ridiculous before, how you could basically fly around the track... but it was cool and fun. Oh well.
There was a major texture overhaul which has greatly improved the look of the courses, and there are more courses and greater variety within them... however this has also come with new graphics post processing (such as depth of field) that don't have an option to be turned off, and a noticeable impact on performance that I don't care for.
The UI got a redesign, which doesn't seem better or worse to me, just different.
They also changed the dynamics of weapons, how you get them, when to use them, and how you upgrade them that I'm not sure I'm a fan of. Enemies with helmets now are immune to bladed weapons until you use a blunt weapon to knock said helmets off... at which point the bladed weapons become more damaging than blunt weapons. But nobody has the time and presence of mind to juggle weapons like that, so all it really does is make you use blunt weapons exclusively and ignore bladed weapons.
They've stopped giving you free weapons before campaign levels, but instead now have powerup drops a-la mario kart on the track itself in levels which call for certain weapon types (like free C4 drops on levels involving destroying truck convoys, etc). The game has shifted heavily in favor of blunt melee weapons, as previously mentioned blade weapons are now too much trouble to use, but also because now firearms are a lot rarer and run out of ammo much sooner. Perhaps that's for the best, as I had gotten to a point where I was almost exclusively using guns before the patch, and that made things kinda easy sometimes. Having to get down and dirty in the scrum with a nailbat or pipe wrench is a lot harder, but also more viscerally pleasing.
There's also a new (or maybe I just didn't notice it before) grappling attack, where hitting Q will let you grab another driver by the neck, so that you can steer him into oncoming traffic or a wall or something - at the cost of not being able to defend yourself from other attackers while you do it. It's nice to have the option, I suppose, but I can't conceive of why I would use it instead of using the kick attack - which doesn't leave me vulnerable and usually has the same result as the more time-consuming grab.
Enemies are smarter now, and will take shortcuts same as you. Also, later in the campaign, enemies start getting a lot tougher.. they get "shields" for some reason that you have to chew your way through before they start taking "real" damage (not sure why they couldn't just raise their HP, having personal force fields seems a bit harsh on the ol' suspension of disbelief - this ain't star trek). Also a lot more enemies are now equipped with tasers, which, while not lethal in and of themselves, can make you crash into stuff while you lose control of your body for the few seconds after getting tazed.
They've also added a "classic" mode which is different from the campaign in that it lets you pick the level you want to play on, but still no multiplayer support yet.
Edit: Oh, and they nerfed jump jets. They now fire only as a momentary impulse with a ~5 second cooldown, instead of being able to be used constantly like a jet engine. Which I guess is ok. It was pretty ridiculous before, how you could basically fly around the track... but it was cool and fun. Oh well.
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Finished a Light Side Bounty Hunter storyline for the main class quests. Now on to Rise of the Hutt Cartel, Shadow of Revan, and Knights of the Fallen Empire. Decided to marry Mako (I mean, she is voiced by Lacey Chabert, after all...) at the conclusion of that character arc. Which led to a funny moment. Mako will occasionally send emails, and in one she mentioned that Czerka Corporation (who mostly make industrial equipment, starship components, and combat equipment) has a registry, which she signed the two of you up for. Quoth the slicer: " I saw the best set of shape-conforming blast armor on sale. I think it'll look good on you, so really it's a present for both of us. " I had a chuckle at that, because my Bounty Hunter, Strayervoight, uses Body Type 4, which might kindly be called "stout" or "Hulk-like" - http://tor-fashion.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Male-Body-Type-4.png
The Sith Warrior, if you marry Jaesa, gets letters that basically amount to the crazy ramblings of a stalker if you make her into a Sith. It's hilarious.
Speaking of SWTOR... Dark Vs Light Event!
Yeah, I heard about that. Apparently she also demands to help breed a new Sith bloodline? Wouldn't know; my Sith Juggernaut is female (based of Brienne off Tarth, so she's Tarth Vayder) and mostly Light Side so she's basically Vette's "cool big sis" type character. Haven't gotten the other companions yet.
And yeah, I'm really looking forward to the Dark vs Light event!
Hell, I'll let you guys pick: Should I make a Light Side or Dark Side character?
So, this is kind of weird. My Jedi Consular looks... oddly familiar. I just took Body Type 1 (kind of on the small side), with short brown hair and, because it amused me, a pornstache (or copstache). From the start, it's been like, "He looks like someone... but who?"
Turns out he looks uncannily like Michael Biehn's character from The Abyss, Lt. Hiram Coffey. http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net..._Coffey.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130310130655
Turns out he looks uncannily like Michael Biehn's character from The Abyss, Lt. Hiram Coffey. http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net..._Coffey.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130310130655
fade
Staff member
GTA V on the PS4
Okay, I know you PC-only snobs won't believe it, but this is actually more fun on the console. At least on a PS4. Mostly because the controller on the PS4 has bright game-controllable LEDs and little speakers in it. As soon as you get a star, you hear the police radio through the controller, and as the cops close in, the controller starts flashing blue and red. They get brighter the closer the cops get to you, too.
Okay, I know you PC-only snobs won't believe it, but this is actually more fun on the console. At least on a PS4. Mostly because the controller on the PS4 has bright game-controllable LEDs and little speakers in it. As soon as you get a star, you hear the police radio through the controller, and as the cops close in, the controller starts flashing blue and red. They get brighter the closer the cops get to you, too.
GasBandit
Staff member
That just means the PC port was improperly handled. No reason those visual/audio cues couldn't be handled in a PC environment, even if not through the controller itself.
GasBandit
Staff member
I wonder if it would work if you used the controller with the PC version. That's a thing that's possible, I hear.
If you have an LED keyboard, it flashes the keyboard lights red and blue. Same if you have those functions on your mouse. And I'm sure there are usb controllers with the same functionality.
OverWatch, for example, can interact with some Razer products. My brother's mouse wheel turns one color when his Ult is up and another when he's low on health. Useless, really, but still kinda cool.
Day of the Tentacle
Even though I easily played through most of the game because I've played it dozens of times, it was still hilarious. There were MANY jokes I'd forgotten all about. And admittedly, I got stuck a handful of times. I didn't feel bad about looking it up on GameFaqs, though, since I've played it so much before.
Also: holy hell, this game has an insane amount of achievements. I'm still missing around 20 in total. When I looked up the list, half of them I said to myself, "You can do that?!"
Spoilers, of course, even if it's just an achievement list:
http://guides.gamepressure.com/dayofthetentacleremastered/guide.asp?ID=34736
Even though I easily played through most of the game because I've played it dozens of times, it was still hilarious. There were MANY jokes I'd forgotten all about. And admittedly, I got stuck a handful of times. I didn't feel bad about looking it up on GameFaqs, though, since I've played it so much before.
Also: holy hell, this game has an insane amount of achievements. I'm still missing around 20 in total. When I looked up the list, half of them I said to myself, "You can do that?!"
Spoilers, of course, even if it's just an achievement list:
http://guides.gamepressure.com/dayofthetentacleremastered/guide.asp?ID=34736
I'm just skipping straight to 3.
Should be here in the mail before the weekend
.
Should be here in the mail before the weekend
.Yeah I played a good chunk of 2, but Witcher 1 is hard to get into.
I found a pretty good summary of the main characters and events leading into W3 and figured that was good enough to get started.
I found a pretty good summary of the main characters and events leading into W3 and figured that was good enough to get started.