@NEStalgia I think it's more the setting than anything. Ancient Greece is just more interesting than the Old west right now. You're definitely right about too many games though. I'm not as bad as some of you guys and I still feel swamped at times lol!
@ThanosReXXX haha, that's a new one, hopes it not contagious!
It's funny with Assassins Creed (and we were talking about it a few pages back so apologies if I repeat any points), I'm in the 'AC peaked around AC2' kinda camp in that the early games with Altair, Ezio and (to a lesser extent) Desmond were far tighter and interesting with the whole modern day mystery/conspiracy tying it all together. Fast forward to AC: Origins and gameplay wise it's the best AC I've every played, I had so much fun sneaking around clearing forts with my predator bow/poison arrows and greatly appreciated the subtle reboot of the modern day stuff. The audience to response the modern day stuff is pretty fascinating too as I feel often in the minority in wishing they'd include it more, although I totally understand why people want it gone after the annoying & token inclusions in Black Flag -> Syndicate. It's even more interesting when read alongside the do you prefer narrative or gameplay thread, as it goes a long way to explaining why suddenly the AC games are so popular again, yet for me, as much as I enjoyed Origins I fatigued off it after a while and hit the 'why am I bothering?' wall. I did finish it but it started to become a chore well before the end and I just wanted to see what happened with Bayek (favourite protagonist since Ezio).
Fast forward to AC:Odyssey - I was (like so many) an absolute greek mythology nut back in my younger days so did a little pant accident when I saw where this years stab-a-thon was being set. I normally wait for Ubi games in a sale due to their ridiculous edition-a-thon but splashed for this as I was really excited but it's just fallen flat with me and essentially feels like a reskin with the same rinse-repeat missions that were in Origins - i'm still looking for a reason to care? I have been told that later in the game some of the modern stuff makes a good reappearance which means I'll definitely come back to it but the whole game feels like unnecessary busywork for the most part, even the ship combat has been turned up to 11 so you can't turn the boat around without someone aggro-ing and I was bored of them after 15 hours, goodness knows how I'll feel after the 100-ish it must take to complete everything. I know it's not made with the intention you complete everything - that's more my problem for feeling I have to complete it all but reckon a lot of gamers like to 'clear their plate' so to speak? I do like Kassandra, I really love the setting, but I feel the combat has taken a step backwards and I actually preferred the skills/weapons in the last game more so overall for me it's 2 steps forward and three back. If you haven't played any of the AC games for a while, or even if you just love the murder-death-kill loop though I totally understand why you'd enjoy it, in absolutely no way can I say it's a bad game; For me, I just need more of a reason to go and rescue the 5000th person from an enemy camp. If they kept the gameplay loop, kept rpg-stuff, had missions or side missions that weren't just 'go here, kill this' (think how witcher 3 got creative), cut 25% of the game out and tied it back to the central narrative again in a way that means something then I reckon the game could be the defining title. As it is, largely for me the fun ends as soon as you turn the game off - nothing sticks in your mind like it does say with a Mass Effect/Last of Us/Metroid/Dark Souls/God of War etc.
Totally get why people are bouncing off RDR2 and going to AC though, AC is 100 times more approachable and instantly gratifying. RDR can often feel like you have to do an 8 hour work-shift before you get to the good stuff. Be very interesting to see how R* react. I'm not certain they'll do anything, they're pretty confident in themselves and steadfast so it'll be interesting to see, but they're in the same boat as Bethesda for me with the ES/Fallout games in that their design has aged a lot over the last few years and the cracks are certainly showing in comparison to other titles - hopefully they take the challenge on.
Forgot to add, has anyone else playing Odyssey had the 'black screen' issue (I'm playing on an X as were the other people I saw reporting it online, don't know if the problem happens across platforms) - when you're in the menu/map, when you exit the screen stays black and never recovers (sound stays on)? That's the main reason I stopped playing, has happened to me upwards of ten times with a full quit/relaunch required. Left it in the hope it becomes fixed, curious how widespread a thing it was? Example.
I did put some time into Assassin's Creed last night. I'm engaged in the world, and while the climbing can feel a bit clunky at times, it's a fun experience.
As for Horizon 4... The one downside of this being a game as a service, or at least a more online focused game, is no in-game completion monitor. Still, at least it gives me the freedom to do whatever I want with no constraints.
Like spending an hour and a half creating a race called Peel Around the Lake. Am I devious or am I evil?
@BrainOfGrimlock Holy crap, seems like we have yet another text wall giant on our hands...
But all kidding aside, welcome to the forum. Compliments on the name and the avatar, certainly brings back memories, and I still have all the original cartoons and the animated movie on disc.
Can't comment on your AC Odyssey essay, since I haven't got that game yet, but if there's still any lingering remnants of the younger you's Greek mythology nut in you, and if you still have an Xbox 360 or PS3 lying around, then I simply must recommend Rise of the Argonauts to you.
It's the one game that follows Greek mythology almost to the letter, and just touches stuff up and adds little things here and there, to drag the story into the 21st century, but other than that, it's a wonderful story that stays largely true to the original myth.
And obviously, this is coming from a fellow Greek mythology nut. I'm 48 now, and that still hasn't changed...
P.S.
Pro tip from one text-waller to another: space out the text a bit more. It makes for a more comfortable/pleasant read. I'd say segments of around four or five lines of text on average, bar the odd exception here or there, depending on the content and structure of the story.
@DarthNocturnal I definitely did my best with it, and considering I made it using a D-class Peel, it's definitely able to be completed by that class. I feel a hypercar cross-country race would still be easy unless there was no way to really put the power down or it went over a lot of hills. And it was winter. And even then it'd only be hard.
Besides, I've done way more evil things with route creators. Like making a supercar race on GTA V that went aroud Mount Chiliad by making the racers stay on the mountain itself.
"Join us for X018, a global celebration of all things Xbox. X018 is for Xbox fans, where people can watch online for news, first looks and surprises on the largest live Inside Xbox episode ever. Stay tuned on Mixer throughout the weekend for additional news. Coverage streams on Mixer from 10-11 November 2018; Inside Xbox runs 9:00pm–11:00pm GMT on Saturday."
So we barely know anything, there's things you may consider likely to appear such as Forza Horizon 4 DLC but nothing is actually confirmed.
@Grumblevolcano@Dezzy I imagine Microsoft will be announcing new studio acquisitions such as Obsidian Entertainment though it is way too early to talk details on what they are all working on, nor will they talk new hardware. I also expect a big Crackdown 3 blowout. That must be the next big first party game from Microsoft? Maybe Battletoads will be teased further?
NEW WEBSITE LAUNCHED! Regular opinion articles, retro game reviews and impression pieces on new games! ENGAGE VG: EngageVG.com
I guess it depends on what Microsoft means with largest Inside Xbox presentation ever. Large as in size/duration, or large as in big announcement(s)? And for the record: I don't consider a long overdue reveal of an actually finished and/or playable version of Crackdown 3 to qualify for that, nor a confirmed rumor of a new Fable or Halo game, much less news about them having taken over some more studios. That would be rather underwhelming to me, if I'm honest.
I would expect something MUCH bigger, and at least hints to the new hardware, although the latter probably won't happen, because it's too early for that.
@FragRed Battletoads would be nice, though, although that's also nothing really Earth-shattering to me.
But regardless, it would be nice to see more of it than just that title screen that we got last time...
@ThanosReXXX Feels less stable than on a 360 and yes I do think X018 is going to be big. You've also got to consider that this is an event like E3 where the people there actually get to play announced stuff.
@Grumblevolcano Hm, that's odd. I was under the impression that most backward compatible titles actually improve performance and/or graphics, when played on the Xbox One.
As for X018: of course I understand what type of event it could be/is, but I do hope they also have some surprises. I'm not going to be amazed and/or pleasantly surprised at all, if they only show Crackdown 3, something Halo, perhaps a bit of Fable and the rest of the stuff that was either already rumored or previously revealed. If that happens, I will be rather underwhelmed. Much like how Nintendo has been over-saturating our brains with Smash Bros news and footage. I've already seen more than enough at this year's E3, in three days of Smash Bros dedicated Treehouse sessions, and STILL we get two more Directs on it. Killed any kind of buzz
I could have felt for that game...
Similarly, if Microsoft would make a Crackdown 3 special of this event, I would also feel that it isn't really anything to write home about, and there's of course also the risk that we'd get to see a lot of stuff that we've already seen in the previous betas, and/or only minor updates in any final build they may now have. The only upside could be for the people actually present at the event, assuming that they've got a playable demo for Crackdown 3...
Anyway, guess we'll find out soon enough what they have in store for us. I'm still cautiously optimistic about something truly new, that we've never heard of before, including rumors, so something that will be a complete surprise. That alone would already go a long way towards me considering this event as "big"...
I'm guessing Gears 5 is the most likely showing. Although I don't really need to see any more of that. I'll just automatically buy those games no matter what. Unless it reviews really badly.
Crackdown hype is almost guaranteed, that's the big thing. Maybe more for SoT as well, more DLC for FH4. I hope @Grumblevolcano is right and Reach is announced.
@thanosrexxx I'm not sure what else could be that big big big other than studios, Fable, Crackdown, XCloud, etc, other than hardware which seems unlikely (if not reckless.) All that stuff would be pretty big. Fable would be ginormous, even if the rumors already leaked. Also, for Microsoft "big" likely doesn't mean all 1st party stuff. I imagine "big" is a lot of exclusive looks at multiplats you "see here first" etc. MS always dedicates a lot of focus and money on the 3rd party multiplats. DMC5, Just Cause 4, Anthem, that sort of thing, like at E3. After all they spend more advertising money on Tomb Raider than Horizon this year.
That would still be WAY better than Nintendo's E3 that featured half an hour of Smash, and 5 minutes of Reggie squeezing his Pokeball....
Forums
Topic: The everything Xbox thread
Posts 5,021 to 5,040 of 11,953
Please login or sign up to reply to this topic