Topic: The everything Xbox thread

It sure looks rather likely MCC will be getting Reach in the future, both the acknowledgment of Reach in the MCC update blog post and various menus like the intelligent delivery screen has enough space for 1 more game. It's the same logic that predicted MK8 (Wii U) would be getting DLC cups.

Seriously? That's it. Done with humanity. Just, done.

I never played Halo Reach. What was the deal with that? Why wasn't it a regular numbered entry?

@DarthNocturnal

Cool. Well I hope they add it then. At some point I'm gonna do a full Halo marathon when I can find the space in my backlog.

@Dezzy it's the prequel to the first halo. it is based on the first halo book

@Dezzy I also want to do a Halo marathon now that The Master Chief Collection and Halo 5 are X-enhanced, but will probably play Reach the last so the developers might have updated it too by then. It's basically a prologue so I can play it last and still would make sense like a flashback or origins story.

Yeah, I'm really really hoping Reach will be added....I'd love to have the total collection in one single, convenient, 1.3TB archive.

I spun up MCC to take a look. WOW, Halo 1 almost looks like a modern, current gen game! The update really did some amazing work on that one! I tried ODST as well...yeah...it still looks kinda funky, but, still, it looks waaay better on the X than when I played it on the 360, even if it pales next to 1 still. Part of ODST's problem is just geometry and dark environments. Boxy buildings and square surfaces look more dated due to the cityscape than the alien terrain of other games.

@Ryu_Niiyama LOL!

@DarthNocturnal What do you mean? Destiny is.....is........ok, yeah, you got me there.... But hey, 2's free on Playstation this month, so there's something!

@NEStalgia Why is everybody always harping on Destiny? I've missed out on the first game, but after I bought the Xbox One, I've played the second game quite extensively, together with a pair of friends, and I quite enjoyed it. Solid gameplay, good story, interesting characters, so really nothing much to complain about. I also haven't needed any loot boxes, something that's also frequently mentioned in relation to games like these, so I didn't feel any obligatory "pay to win" structure in it, and I was able to finish the entire main campaign just with stuff found and/or earned in the game itself, without ever spending an extra penny.

Well cross game campaign playlists aren't broke anymore so you could go for the Master Chief Saga playlist when doing your Halo marathon and it'll actually properly save your progress this time when you want to save and quit.

@ThanosReXXX Probably the greatest problem with Destiny is that it's Halo for Playstation fans. I mean, the gunplay is decent. The story is deeply lacking....it sets up cool but goes nowhere. It's a shared world game with deep MMO hooks, systems, and loops, but without MMO payoffs, and just overall feels like "why am I not just playing Halo instead? It's the same thing but better and without the MMO!"

As for loot boxes and Pay2Win, I'm surprised you didn't get suckered into the pay 2 win considering Activision operates this with their patent that actively makes the game more difficult for non-payers by pairing them up in PvP situations against more skilled opponents, and when you pay pairs you against easier opponents. EG, if you don't pay you get "nightmare difficulty" and if you do pay you get "don't hurt me" difficulty where PvP is concerned.

As a co-op game like Diablo it seems like it might be fun though. Then again....so is Halo....which is better. And i have 5 of those + reach + Infinite (eventually) to work through, let alone 5 Gears games

I played the Demo on PS back in winter....the demo is generously lengthy to give you a feel. My takeaway of it was "it's kind of a fun game, I'm always interested to get back into it, I like it, but no I'm not paying money for it." Then I got an XBox and it became irrelevant

But it's free on PS now. I'll play the base game. Not sure about buying expansions though. There's $20 of expansions just to be up to date on the "free" game Maybe it will be free on XBox soon since they apparently no longer sell the base game, new base game has the expacks. This month's GwG games seem pretty awful while PS has Destiny 2 and GoW3HD....between that DQ11, and Spiderman the XBox may get a much needed rest this month

@NEStalgia Switch has the best September on the games front, Torna beats all of that. Outside of games though, Switch has the worst September because of how Nintendo's handling the paid online service.

@Grumblevolcano LOL, yeah, I just wrapped up XC2 and am staging my next 3 weeks around playing whatever I think will be finished in time for Torna on the 21st (assuming it arrives on time.) Technically I'm into Octopath but I love keeping that game as my "when I have some time" game in Switch #2 rather than my "I'm sitting down to play for hours" game. It just works so beautifully in that role

Of course XBox picks up with Red Dead and Soul Calibur in Oct.... Most of these games I'm probably going to just stack on the backlog except Soul Calibur.

@DarthNocturnal Maybe, I'd read it was specifically tied to skill level, but that could have been wrong. I never played 1 but by all accounts 2 is much better in general. But the same core problem exists. It's a game trying really hard to be "the other, cooler, Halo" while also satisfying Activisions never ending MMO demands. In February when I had no X1X-Enhanced Halo 1, 2, 3, ODST, 4, 5 or Infinity on the way that proposition sounded a lot less bad

@NEStalgia Well, I don't agree with that assessment at ALL. I liked the story, the characters, and there's more than enough to do. There's a lot of unique weapons, and the whole super-power thing most certainly also adds another layer to it. And I really liked the voice acting. Nathan Fillion is one of my all-time favorites in both acting and voice acting.

As for that nightmare difficulty: I kinda take to my avatar...
But seriously: I don't like to pat myself on the back or profess my greatness to others, but what I can say, is that I'm pretty persistent in my attempts to try and win or succeed, not just games, and I've done quite alright in Destiny 2. Nothing flawless, mind you, but no quitter ever won anything, so I just keep going at it, albeit on the condition that I'll only do that, for as long as it remains entertaining enough to do so, and in this case, it did.

And having friends who are already leveled up FAR beyond me, sometimes guiding me and helping me out in the REALLY tough bits, also came in handy....

Mind you, it wasn't all THAT easy, as that sounded, because my friends sometimes took an almost satanic pleasure in just being spectators, so while they were actually with me in the game, they'd at the most only handle the foot soldiers, and let me take on the bosses and so on. Something I also prefer, because otherwise, it would feel like somebody else was playing the game for me, instead of me succeeding in completing it myself, which would feel like quite the hollow victory, to say the least...

But I never noticed anything broken or messy or whatever, so again: I neither get that criticism, nor do I see any of it to be of any relevance and/or truth to my own experience with the game. I also don't see Destiny as some poor man's Halo. Maybe the first game might have been the lesser experience, but I can't comment on that, since I never played that, but for the second game, that is most definitely not true. There's far more to the story than that, and Destiny's world is more expansive than Halo's, so that's another thing I don't recognize.

I have only done one expansion yet, though, and I doubt I ever will get much further, since right now, I'm still in the "life takes precedence over gaming (or any other hobby)" mode, and by the time I'm finally out of the woods, my friends will have long moved on to other digital playgrounds.

They've already done me the courtesy of revisiting the game on my behalf, so to them, it was probably already old hat, and I wonder if they would be inclined do that again next year. They might, but I'm not completely counting on it. We'll see what happens...

Either way, I've enjoyed my time with it, and I think that people who are into this kind of game, should at the very least give it a fair chance, and go into it with an open mind, not with Halo glasses on, or with the predisposed opinion that it's Bungie attempting to recreate something that they already have, because that's not what Destiny is.

As for this month's (you probably mean the coming month) Games with Gold offerings: yeah, they're not nearly as good as the one's we got in August (pretty hard to top Forza Horizon 2 anyway, unless you don't like that type of game), but they're still decent games, nonetheless.

And I never liked God of War anyway, so that's no great loss to me. The only game in that series that even remotely piques my interest, is the last game, because it comes across as considerably more down to Earth and less presumptuous and disrespectful to ancient cultures and beliefs.

@NEStalgia I would put 1 (after various patches and expansions) WAY ahead of 2 as an overall package. Spent over 700 hours playing 1,not even up to 100 in the sequel L. And outside of using the MT currency I was given for preorder and such, I haven't spent a dime on MT and hasn't effected my play in the slightest. I do agree with you on the story though. So much wasted potential there mainly because of cut content and bad design choices. Really is a shame because the lore itself is enthralling.

@ThanosReXXX I forgot Fillion was in it. I always liked that he was in ODST! (Then again, Destiny is Sony Halo confirmed!!1 )

Well, yeah if you like MMO shooters, then Destiny will be a thing more than Halo I suppose.

I'm not sure "decent" is the word I'd use to describe Sept GwG. Insulting is a little closer to my choice. Two indies, a decent but ancient 360 lego game, and a collection of Master System + Genesis games. Maybe the hidden gold box at the end is something special. The thrill of free games is, retail games. Sure Horizon and For Honor were big steps up but it's natural to compare two services that are otherwise identical when one is offering a lot better value. "Free"....well it's a $5/mo subscription. For my $5 mo I get Destiny2 + a system exclusive (that you don't like versus....well...the above

MS is the one that started the whole "pay to play online, but we'll give you free games" thing. Right now, Sony is the one to beat for value in that space, while MS is following the Nintendo model. Maybe they'll give us 10 free DOS games.

@ThanosReXXX the new GOW is definitely a departure from the rest of the series, in the best ways possible. I played the 1st 2 games in the series and enjoyed them but then everything just went over the top and passed on the rest. Honestly they could call it something else entirely and no one would notice, that's how dissimilar it is imo. Not sure if your a dad or not, but the story was amazingly impactful for me being a father of boys. I know you hate sony but hopefully you can experience it one day

@NEStalgia I don't agree on Destiny = Sony's Halo, and that statement also makes zero sense, seeing as it's on Xbox and PC as well, so there goes that theory. And even though it IS an MMO, you don't HAVE to play it as such, strange as that may sound. I only ever played with those two friends I mentioned earlier, which hardly constitutes "Massive Multiplayer Online". More like "just" normal online play with friends.
We simply ignored all the online idiots and strangers, and just did our campaigns and battles, and that plays and feels just like any other game that you'd play with friends or family, so that should not be anything to deter someone from trying it.

Also don't agree on the thrill of free games being free retail games: I had my Xbox 360 long before there ever was any mention of Games with Gold, and when that service became a thing, I've only ever seen it as a nice bonus that I got as an Xbox Live Gold customer, and that is also exactly what it is. And it is indeed free, since I already paid for that subscription before the service was there, so either I paid too much for Live back then, or we now have a nice bonus on top of Xbox Live. I'd say it's the latter...

Call it consumer rewards, consumer retention, whatever. Either way, to me it's only a positive thing, and as previously mentioned, I value the monthly offerings on their own merits, instead of looking to other platforms, so I can nag about how bad the selection is, compared to what I'd get on that other console.

I wouldn't even do that if I actually would have owned a PlayStation. I'd just see both offerings as supplemental to each other, instead of wanting either of them to be better or worse than the other.

And those Sega games are nothing to scoff at, especially as the last in the series was never released in Western regions, so I'd dare to wager a bet that classic RPG fans will love to get their hands on that one.

And let's not bring Nintendo in the mix here. Their offerings, far as we know now, will be considerably worse/more simplistic, because for the umpteenth time, they're once again going to pander their NES titles again, and maybe some SNES games and other 8 and 16 bit offerings, but no mention yet of them finally getting with the times and releasing some GameCube, Wii and Wii U titles for free, let alone current gen titles, much like the other two are doing with their free game offerings.

That gold box at the end with the question mark is simply a placeholder for the first game of October, but I'll assume you already know that. And what it's going to be, will be known within the space of a couple of weeks, so here's to hoping that people will let the comparison thing go, and will just enjoy what's on offer and/or simply ignore what doesn't interest them, instead of paying more attention to it than necessary.

Probably an idle hope on my part, but I like to have something positive to look forward to, and retain some hope for the betterment of humanity, otherwise, I might just as well step off a cliff right now. Would have to replace that with a skyscraper over here, though, seeing as we don't have cliffs in the Netherlands...

@redd214 No, not a dad, unfortunately. Life apparently had/has other plans for me. But I can imagine what you're describing. And in all honesty, the whole I hate Sony thing is something I over-exaggerate sometimes, either to annoy Sony fanboys, or just to be able to kick at something, when I feel the need to, but the simple truth is that there's little to no emotion tied to it.

It's just that I firmly believe in and adhere to the three strike rule, and Sony did me wrong three times, and as such, they're out forever. They already had their second chance, AND a third, so that's that, far as I'm concerned...

I might play the game through an emulator, somewhere down the line, though. Much like I did with certain PS1 and PS2 titles, but I'll literally never buy Sony hardware ever again, and not just console hardware.

I agree with your assessment on the series, though. That was just it. To me, it was just a WAY to Americanized, over the top, angry man game, that has little to no respect for Greek history and mythology, something which happens to be one of the most interesting topics to me personally, for several reasons.

Not owning a PlayStation obviously made it pretty easy to ignore the series, but even if I would have owned one, or if the series would have been released on the Xbox, then I more than likely STILL wouldn't have played it. I always found the main character far too abrasive and the story far too unlikely to be able to get into it, if you know what I'm trying to say.

And even as an American, I still don't necessarily like the (over-)Americanization of myths and legends of other regions. In comics, it works for certain characters, but in games like these, when it's blown up to ridiculous proportions, I just can't get myself to like it. (the Percy Jackson movies also come to mind as examples of such atrocities)

The only Greek mythology-themed game I ever really liked, was Rise of the Argonauts, which was released on both last gen consoles and PC, and is a game that I'd still very easily recommend to anyone that's into Greek mythology or into action RPG's, so if that's you, I'd say give it a go.

@ThanosReXXX That was a really good comment, Thanos, well written and sensible. I totally agree with you 100%. I started subscribing to Gold casually to get Games with Gold and I consider I got them for free because I paid little money when I was interested in them and I got them for almost nothing, the 360 games for me to keep forever and the Xbox One whenever I am subscribed.

Later, I realised that it was totally worth being subscribed all the time because I found more online games that appealed to me like Sea of Thieves, Fortnite, Rocket League... and also because of the free games, some of them I wanted to buy anyway, so I still consider those as a bonus that save me money.

Game Pass is even more optional but its value is really awesome since it includes first-party games and many third-party games. On top of that, you get backwards and forwards compatibility with Xbox, something that both Nintendo and Sony ditched. Now that Xbox One is getting more releases, including games that we thought we'll never see on Xbox One, I found that the Xbox is a much more compelling platform than PS. Yes, PS4 has some exclusives but so do Xbox and Nintendo and I think that Xbox and Nintendo's are better and I can live without Sony's Uncharted, The Last of Us, etc.

@BlueOcean Thanks, much appreciated.
And yes, that backward compatibility is king on Xbox, no other platform comes close, and it is such an added value, especially as it's not just bare emulation, but also improved visuals and improved frame rate for many of these games.