@MCHuddle Ehh… Metroidvanias do tend to share a lot of common elements, but few games can match the first for style and fluidity of gameplay. I absolutely respect if the first one was only “good” to you - no game can hit the same way for everyone - but I can guarantee the hype for this has very little to do with the price (though that is a nice bonus.)
After all, people have been anxiously awaiting this game for 7+ years now - while the price was only announced like a week ago.
@Xeacons That’s not a thing that California says, though. It’s like the Rightists who claim that California is “communist” - attempted hyperbole or not, it’s nonsense that bears no relation to reality.
@Crecca “Any smart business has already moved to Texas and Florida”
Except… it turns out that it’s harder to attract top talent to Texas and Florida - for both cultural and political reasons - and that many who move for the “lower” taxes often end up paying more in the long run (and getting less in return for them.)
(Also turns out that some cities in Texas and Florida are just as crime-ridden as those scary, scary California cities - but that’s not the point I guess.)
This isn’t really a defense of some of California’s dumber policies - but those who think of Texas or Florida as some sort of haven for businesses often end up being unpleasantly surprised by the reality.
There’s a lot more to say on the subject. About how repeatedly calling yourself “great for business” and “tough on crime” doesn’t necessarily mean the data backs you up. And about how media can have such a strong influence on shaping our perceptions (it’s pretty much a truism among some that the entirety of California, one of the largest and most diverse - geographically, culturally, and even politically - regions of the country is some sort of hellhole.) But since this is the Nintendo Life comments section I’ll drop the topic.
@Crecca San Francisco does have same major problems right now, but Seattle is fine. Your talking points about the city are several years out of date.
Like all major cities, Seattle has its issues - but it’s nothing like SF.
(I still get a laugh at all the people who think Seattle and Portland, among other cities, were essentially “burned to the ground” by rioters. Even at their worst, a vast majority of the areas of both cities were perfectly fine.
“The entirety of the West Coast is just awful”
Honestly, this statement is so ludicrous it’s hard to take seriously. And no, I don’t live there - but I have family in both California and Washington that I visit several times a year, and my work takes me to some of these uninhabitable cities on a regular basis. Turns out they’re fine. Seattle is still one of my favorite cities in the world - I’d happily move if I could afford to buy a home there.
Twitter has always been a cesspool, but it’s gotten significantly worse under the new ownership. (Which isn’t to say there aren’t still some good posters there.)
It’s also absolutely not uncensored. Anyone who believes otherwise is overly credulous.
Nevertheless, I’m guessing this is due to a behind-the-scenes change, rather than some statement about the state of the site. After all, their accounts there continue to be active.
“Redfall” was bad, but “Prey” was one of the most underrated games of the last generation.
Hopefully Arkane Lyon is safe - but I’m not too hopeful considering they’re currently stuck working on a licensed superhero game. “Spider-Man” aside, those haven’t had a great track record lately - financially or otherwise.
I felt the same way when I first watched "Citizen Kane." I think it's almost inevitable to be disappointed when watching The Greatest Film Ever(TM) for the first time - especially when filmmaking styles have changed so much over the intervening decades since it was made.
But... I watched it again a few years later and was surprised at how emotionally involving and entertaining I found it - perhaps because on my second viewing I was better able to enjoy on its own terms, without all that extra baggage attached. (It also probably helped that I had seen a lot more films from the era at that point, so I didn't find the style as "foreign" as I might have on my first viewing when I'd only seen a tiny handful of films made before the 1970s.)
Also wouldn't say that it's an "art film" - at least not in the way that Michelangelo Antonioni or Andrei Tarkovsky made "art films." While some of the films from that era have come to be regarded as works of art, Hollywood at the time wasn't really in the business of producing "art films" - they wanted the films they released to be as accessible as possible to "general audiences."
"Citizen Kane" - for all its artistic flourishes and inventive storytelling - is a drama (or tragedy) that still fits within the classical, and accessible, Hollywood style of the era.
None of which is to say that you have to like the movie, of course. I just don't think it has to be a choice between "art" or "entertainment" - "Citizen Kane" fits well within both categories, imo.
@MontyCircus “ they all have one thing in common: the games weren't very good.”
Eh - that’s overstating the case a bit.
While some of those “underperforming” games were indeed less than stellar, others were actually very good - and got reviewed accordingly.
I haven’t played “SteamWorld Build” yet, so I don’t know which category it falls under.
In general, though, there have always been some great or very good games that don’t sell as well as they “should.” They fly under the radar or just never really find their target audience.
Lately, it also seems like some companies have unrealistic expectations. I know game development is getting more and more complex/expensive, but a relatively niche game like this was never gonna be a mega-hit - regardless of how good it turned out to be.
Inflation and the glut of quality releases over the last year hasn’t helped. I’m a fan of the series AND of city builders, so I definitely will be picking this up eventually - but I’ve been holding off on new purchases while I work through my backlog.
“Disco Elysium” has some of the best writing of any video game I’ve played in more than 30 years of gaming. It’s also just an incredible experience overall.
Hope all those who are affected by this are able to land on their feet.
@TruestoryYep “after Alan Wake 2 outclassing it everywhere where it matters”
BG3, in my estimation, has more enjoyable (and varied) gameplay. I’d say that kind of matters.
Both games had some of the best writing of the year - but I did find the characters in BG3 more interesting and complex.
In the end, though, AW2 and BG3 are very different games with very different styles of storytelling and gameplay. It just seems kind of silly to act like one is “obviously” so much better than the other, when they both do what they set out to do very well.
@SlySnake0407 Alternatively, maybe it won because the voters - many of whom are likely to be just as experienced and knowledgeable as you - thought it was the best game of the year.
I know it’s fun to imagine reasons why people who give out these sorts of awards are less objective or more “superficial” than you, but it’s often more reasonable to chalk these things up to a difference of opinion.
For the record, I loved “AW2” and “BG3” - though I’m far more likely to revisit “BG3” in the future, since I personally enjoyed the moment-to-moment gameplay more and found it a lot more “flexible” than “AW2.” For me, “AW2” is a (fantastic) “one-and-done” experience.
"Would you say the same about drug cartels or armed robbery"
"You want to defend the exploitation of children, that's on you"
LOL. While your central premise isn't wrong - the FtP model often is exploitative and designed to be as addictive as possible - this kind of hyperbolic and self-righteous moralizing only undermines the rest of your argument.
You're also barking up the wrong tree here. There are no gacha mechanics in the game, and it's not pay to win. (Which is, sadly, probably one of the reasons it failed to make money for the studio.)
In fact, the developers of the game seem to agree with you about the more predatory elements of many FtP games:
"There's a truth about competitive games right now in that they can be difficult and they're not necessarily fun. It's toxic. There are dark patterns in the design just trying to trick your brain with gacha mechanics or loot boxes. But we don't have any of that stuff."
@Iconoclysm Sony undeniably has many crappy business practices - but bribing companies for exclusives is not, in fact, “a lot worse” than spending more than $75 billion to buy up two of the largest video game companies in the world responsible for five or six of the most iconic franchises in gaming.
I have an Xbox Series X that I play and enjoy. I’m not a Sony or Nintendo fanboy - but you can’t really plausibly spin acquisitions this massive as anything but a bad thing for gaming and gamers.
I own all three consoles (plus a Steam Deck) - the Xbox Series X is my least played of this generation by a significant margin, but it's still a great system. I admittedly mainly bought it for Obsidian and Bethesda (+ subsidiary studios*), since most other Xbox "exclusives" aren't really to my taste.
I'm planning to jump into Starfield as soon as I finish Baldur's Gate. I'm not expecting anything groundbreaking based on what I've read and heard from friends, but... I'm a sucker for the Bethesda formula, so I'm pretty sure I'm going to enjoy the experience anyways.
*I'm still bummed by how Redfall turned out, since Arkane is one of my favorite developers. Here's hoping their next venture is a return to form.
@Tryffel To be fair, it’s also received a fair number of other reviews in the 80-90 range - so this site isn’t that much of an outlier. Nothing to indicate they’re being “very generous.”
@SonOfDracula Your opinion is your opinion, but… as someone who has also played and beaten every game in the series (with the exception of X), I’m definitely not seeing what you’re seeing. The series hit its stride with III, and almost every mainline game since has been excellent.
DQ XI is up there with V and VIII as the best games in the series. All three are charming and full of personality.
(And yes, I realize I’m responding to a nearly 3-month old comment…)
Not to be pedantic, but that’s been going on for a lot more than a decade. Highly fictionalized versions of “true” events have been a thing since the earliest days of cinema - and before that, in things like Shakespeare’s history plays.
I don’t think it’s inherently bad for storytellers to embellish a narrative - as long as they’re upfront about the fact that it’s not a 100% accurate retelling of history. Sometimes I understand why they make the changes - it can take a lot of bending and twisting to fit a real-life story that took place over months or years into a 2-hour film that audiences will find engaging and satisfying. But other times the added drama just feels forced or unnecessary.
Regardless, I just always assume that any piece of entertainment “based on a true story” is highly exaggerated or outright fabricated.
@SadBuscuit lol what? The only Sony release from last year that remotely resembles a “The Last of Us” clone is their (unnecessary) remake of “The Last of Us.”
Regardless of whether you like them or not, “God of War,” “Horizon,” and “Gran Turismo” are, uh… not much like the Naughty Dog game, thematically or gameplay wise.
Dig was one of my favorite discoveries on 3DS, and the city-building+dungeon crawling of this one seems right up my alley. Really looking forward to it.
Uh… Elden Ring looks amazing on PS5. And I had no major performance issues or bugs after 150 hours of playing - it didn’t even crash once, which is sadly rare for newly released games of this scale.
I’m sure some people have had issues - but for me this felt more polished on release day than 90% of AAA games I’ve played in the past decade.
My main criticism of the game is that after a practically perfect first half, the gameplay starts to feel a lot less well balanced once you get past Leyndell - but that’s a design issue, not a performance one.
(I know I’m straying pretty far from the point of the article - sorry.)
@JasmineDragon I know the movie isn’t for everyone, but “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” is a masterpiece, and he does a great job in it - even if it’s very different from the performances he usually gives.
On a related note... I'm always happy to see more SNES and PS1 RPGs getting ports. Hopefully someday we'll get all the Quintet RPGs for the SNES - so I can finally play "Terranigma."
"Chrono Trigger" really is that good - and my first playthrough was 15 years after it came out, so that's not just nostalgia talking. I also think it has aged a lot better than "Chrono Cross."
With that said... I don't disagree with the premise of this article. Though I like CT significantly more, I think both games are worth playing - and it's much harder to (legally) play CC nowadays if you don't have a PS1.
@BlackenedHalo You’re right. Having played it for the first time about a year ago, it easily deserves a 10/10. One of the handful of N64 games that has aged gracefully.
@liveswired I love how people who make a habit of accusing others of being “sheep” are almost invariably the most credulous and gullible people around.
That LoU2 and GOW are RE4 rip offs? Yes, yes you are. I like RE4 the best of those games, but they aren’t really all that similar besides some superficial story elements - elements shared by many other pieces of media, some of which predate RE4.
@SmittytheLad Fun fact: A story can depict something unpleasant - like incest or cannibalism - without it being a promotion of those things. Some stories are only appropriate for adults, and that’s alright.
“People need Jesus.”
Now that you mention it, the Bible also features both incest (ex. Lot’s daughters in Genesis 19:31-38) and cannibalism (ex. Jeremiah 19:9.) Definitely not appropriate for children, I agree.
@PoliticallyIncorrect I don’t know enough about Musk to have much of an opinion about him, but people criticizing a well-known public figure in an article about said figure is hardly evidence he’s “living in people’s heads.” That’s just an empty phrase people use to dismiss criticism. In reality, people expressing opinions about someone in the public sphere is normal.
@AtlanteanMan “Freedom of the press was never intended to cover propaganda for any political party, group, or sociopolitical agendas”
That is not accurate. I realize many people have this image of a golden past where journalism was “objective” and “without personal, corporate, or political spin or bias” - but that vision is only a myth. Such a time never existed.
The broadsheets and pamphlets and tabloids and other “news media” of the Founding Fathers’ time were faaaar more egregious in their partisanship than mainstream media sources today. There was constant editorializing - and many of them published invective against their political opponents that would never fly in the NY Times today.
And yep - that kind of speech and press was absolutely what the Founders intended to protect. Some of them were open about how much they hated what certain newspapers said about them, but they also realized that a press that’s free to speak out is essential. The only real limits are things like slander and calls for insurrection.
@NGNYS The Last of Us wasn’t a particularly political game, though. Its “violence begets violence” story doesn’t have a political party, and the characters aren’t exactly spewing talking points.
The only reason anyone would call it “political” is because it includes a few (well-developed) LGBT characters - but that’s only “political” to extremely regressive individuals who think the mere existence of LGBT people is political.
There are perfectly legitimate reasons not to like the game, but “it’s too political” isn’t one of them.
I already have a pre-order. Not sure if I’ll ever play it all the way through, but I like to support new (official) translations of games from that era.
@Varkster "but you have to understand that from a critical perspective it is absolutely flawed."
You have to understand that from a critical perspective what you just said is in no way objective - it's an opinion. Your opinion is perfectly valid - but so are the opinions of those who had a very different response to the game.
The moment-to-moment writing in TLoU2 is fantastic - some of the best of the generation. I grew to care about quite a few of the characters, and even when they made choices I strongly disagreed with I found their motivations pretty clearly developed and understandable.
I know the overall narrative is more divisive. While it follows a fairly unique trajectory for a video game, if you've read more than a handful of books or watched more than just movies that follow the Marvel formula it's unlikely that anything in TLoU2 will strike you as particularly outrageous or as some sort of egregious violation of the "rules" of storytelling.
(To be clear, I think there are perfectly legitimate criticisms to be made of the game's narrative - but a LOT of the complaints I've read online about the ostensibly "terrible writing" come off as childish whining because the story didn't go where they wanted it to go.)
As for the "awkwardly placed LGBT characters" - I'm afraid you're projecting some of your own weird hangups here. There are indeed a small handful of LGBT characters in the game - but their orientation isn't given undue focus, and they're no more or less "awkwardly placed" than any of the other characters. The individual character moments feel organic and natural - beyond that, there doesn't actually need to be any justification for them being written the way they are.
With all that said, I didn't love the game. Naughty Dog are great storytellers, but I'm kind of burned out on the "interactive movie" genre. I found the "clear out an area, watch a clip, sneak through a different area, watch another clip" gameplay loop kind of exhausting - especially when stretched out over 25+ hours. It's not that the gameplay itself is bad, it's that it wears thin after too long. I wanted to keep playing to see where the story went, but I really didn't want yet another level of trying to stealthily kill every person in the area. I'm glad I played it, but it's something I'm unlikely to ever re-visit.
Also: You're right about something - Naughty Dog doesn't care about me. Or you. They don't care that you think it's a "turd," or that I had mixed feelings about it but mostly liked it. They care that it's one of the best-selling games of the year, that a lot of gamers loved it, and that it's guaranteed to win a bunch of awards. No amount of kvetching from either of us is going to change their future plans.
Or, hear me out... People who love the Nintendo 64 aren’t “pretending” at all, but they legitimately think it’s still a great console. Different strokes and all that.
Personally, it’s not one of my favorite consoles - I kind of feel that generation as a whole has aged poorly, as developers were still finding their feet with the transition to 3D. A lot of the games on N64 and PS1 are just kind of ugly and clunky nowadays, IMO. The generation before and the generation after feel considerably more “timeless” to me.
With that said... I still think there are about a dozen bonafide N64 classics that hold up well today.
So many largely forgotten gems in the Square catalog from the 80s and 90s. While I can't say I was begging for these particular games, I'll probably get them anyways as long as they're decent ports.
Now I'm going to go and daydream about a "Square in the SNES Era" collection that includes some of their oddball one-offs like "Secret of Evermore" and "Bahamut Lagoon."
@FX29 Oh goodness, I didn't realize how much I wanted that until you mentioned it. The battery in my cartridge of Final Fantasy II (IV) died, and I still haven't beaten it to this day. I'd happily pay for a (legal) chance to play it in something close to its original form (ie, not the DS remake.)
Count me in the camp that considers this one of the all-time best RPGs.
It's not perfect - most of the side quests are of the monotonous "fetch quest" variety, and some of those repetitive battle cries began to drive me bonkers after the 500th time hearing them. I didn't find the game particularly hard, but there were also two or three bosses that I found to be major difficulty spikes.
But... I loved the characters (in spite of the occasional corniness), the battle system really grew on me the longer I played, and it's one of the most legitimately gorgeous fantasy worlds I've ever encountered in a game. It was a joy to explore each area and discover its secrets. Unlike most games of this length, there was never a point where I grew exhausted and just wanted to rush through to the end.
The story does deal in a lot of the anime tropes you'd expect, but it has enough of a unique twist that I still found it compelling - the narrative even managed to surprise me at a few points.
I played the Wii version for the first time in 2017, and I thought it still looked and sounded great considering its age. Even though it's a loooong game, I'm looking forward to replaying it and seeing what they've improved.
Johnson is a very good director, though he has yet to surpass his debut feature, "Brick."
In terms of filmmaking—cinematography, directing, etc.—“The Last Jedi” is one of the top three Star Wars films, imo (behind only "A New Hope" and "The Empire Strikes Back.")
As someone who enjoys the franchise but doesn’t have any strong attachment to the universe or its characters, I thought TLJ was a lot of fun, in spite of some missteps. It was the first film since the original trilogy that actually managed to surprise me (in a good way.)
Which is all to say… I can understand why a lot of people who are bigger SW fans than I am dislike it, though I still don’t get some of the extreme vitriol that has been spewed at Johnson.
@BlackTalon2 “ like the jihadis and rainbow jihadis , and gun grabbers and wefare state socialist parasites”
Rainbow jihadi? My god, you’ve got to be a parody.
“this is an sjw thing, their total lack of morals have twisted them so much, they protect and promote grave sins and perversions ”
Oh honey. You’ve been brainwashed. Some SJWs do get outraged over silly things - but most have far stronger moral codes than your amoral ilk. You cause demonstrable harm to society with your bigotry and ignorance in ways far more serious than a game developer deciding to edit its own content.
As for “grave sins and perversions” - you’re going to be unpleasantly surprised when you find out that God cares far more about how you treated your fellow humans (“perverts” and “parasites“ in your twisted parlance) than He does about those “grave sins” you’re so obsessed with.
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Re: The Switch eShop And Steam Are Buckling Under The Weight Of Silksong
@MCHuddle
Ehh… Metroidvanias do tend to share a lot of common elements, but few games can match the first for style and fluidity of gameplay. I absolutely respect if the first one was only “good” to you - no game can hit the same way for everyone - but I can guarantee the hype for this has very little to do with the price (though that is a nice bonus.)
After all, people have been anxiously awaiting this game for 7+ years now - while the price was only announced like a week ago.
Re: Nintendo Expands Switch Online's SNES Library With Four More Titles
@Picola-Wicola Dated maybe, niche definitely - but absolutely not trash. “Uncharted Water,” in particular, is a great game.
These are the kinds of deep cuts I’d love to get more of.
Re: Nintendo Expands Switch Online's SNES Library With Four More Titles
Those are some unexpected but solid additions.
Uncharted Water is one of my favorite hidden gems on the console, so I’m especially stoked about that one.
Re: Californian Law Dictates Storefronts Be Honest About Digital Game Ownership
@Xeacons That’s not a thing that California says, though. It’s like the Rightists who claim that California is “communist” - attempted hyperbole or not, it’s nonsense that bears no relation to reality.
Re: Soapbox: Nintendo Needs More Characters Like Paper Mario's Vivian
@UNCLDNS If the existence of a queer character in a game prevents you from “playing in peace,” then the problem is definitely with you - not the game.
Re: Nintendo Announces Second US Store, Opening 2025
@Crecca “Any smart business has already moved to Texas and Florida”
Except… it turns out that it’s harder to attract top talent to Texas and Florida - for both cultural and political reasons - and that many who move for the “lower” taxes often end up paying more in the long run (and getting less in return for them.)
(Also turns out that some cities in Texas and Florida are just as crime-ridden as those scary, scary California cities - but that’s not the point I guess.)
This isn’t really a defense of some of California’s dumber policies - but those who think of Texas or Florida as some sort of haven for businesses often end up being unpleasantly surprised by the reality.
There’s a lot more to say on the subject. About how repeatedly calling yourself “great for business” and “tough on crime” doesn’t necessarily mean the data backs you up. And about how media can have such a strong influence on shaping our perceptions (it’s pretty much a truism among some that the entirety of California, one of the largest and most diverse - geographically, culturally, and even politically - regions of the country is some sort of hellhole.) But since this is the Nintendo Life comments section I’ll drop the topic.
Re: Nintendo Announces Second US Store, Opening 2025
@Crecca San Francisco does have same major problems right now, but Seattle is fine. Your talking points about the city are several years out of date.
Like all major cities, Seattle has its issues - but it’s nothing like SF.
(I still get a laugh at all the people who think Seattle and Portland, among other cities, were essentially “burned to the ground” by rioters. Even at their worst, a vast majority of the areas of both cities were perfectly fine.
“The entirety of the West Coast is just awful”
Honestly, this statement is so ludicrous it’s hard to take seriously. And no, I don’t live there - but I have family in both California and Washington that I visit several times a year, and my work takes me to some of these uninhabitable cities on a regular basis. Turns out they’re fine. Seattle is still one of my favorite cities in the world - I’d happily move if I could afford to buy a home there.
Re: Nintendo Discontinuing 'X' Integration On Switch Next Month
Twitter has always been a cesspool, but it’s gotten significantly worse under the new ownership. (Which isn’t to say there aren’t still some good posters there.)
It’s also absolutely not uncensored. Anyone who believes otherwise is overly credulous.
Nevertheless, I’m guessing this is due to a behind-the-scenes change, rather than some statement about the state of the site. After all, their accounts there continue to be active.
Re: Rumoured 'Hi-Fi Rush' Switch Port In Doubt As Microsoft Culls Tango Gameworks And Other Studios
“Redfall” was bad, but “Prey” was one of the most underrated games of the last generation.
Hopefully Arkane Lyon is safe - but I’m not too hopeful considering they’re currently stuck working on a licensed superhero game. “Spider-Man” aside, those haven’t had a great track record lately - financially or otherwise.
Re: Zelda Live-Action Movie Director Confident "Fans Are Gonna Be Happy"
@AstroTheGamosian
I felt the same way when I first watched "Citizen Kane." I think it's almost inevitable to be disappointed when watching The Greatest Film Ever(TM) for the first time - especially when filmmaking styles have changed so much over the intervening decades since it was made.
But... I watched it again a few years later and was surprised at how emotionally involving and entertaining I found it - perhaps because on my second viewing I was better able to enjoy on its own terms, without all that extra baggage attached. (It also probably helped that I had seen a lot more films from the era at that point, so I didn't find the style as "foreign" as I might have on my first viewing when I'd only seen a tiny handful of films made before the 1970s.)
Also wouldn't say that it's an "art film" - at least not in the way that Michelangelo Antonioni or Andrei Tarkovsky made "art films." While some of the films from that era have come to be regarded as works of art, Hollywood at the time wasn't really in the business of producing "art films" - they wanted the films they released to be as accessible as possible to "general audiences."
"Citizen Kane" - for all its artistic flourishes and inventive storytelling - is a drama (or tragedy) that still fits within the classical, and accessible, Hollywood style of the era.
None of which is to say that you have to like the movie, of course. I just don't think it has to be a choice between "art" or "entertainment" - "Citizen Kane" fits well within both categories, imo.
Re: New SteamWorld Game Sales Fell "Slightly Short" Of Thunderful's Expectations
@MontyCircus “ they all have one thing in common: the games weren't very good.”
Eh - that’s overstating the case a bit.
While some of those “underperforming” games were indeed less than stellar, others were actually very good - and got reviewed accordingly.
I haven’t played “SteamWorld Build” yet, so I don’t know which category it falls under.
In general, though, there have always been some great or very good games that don’t sell as well as they “should.” They fly under the radar or just never really find their target audience.
Lately, it also seems like some companies have unrealistic expectations. I know game development is getting more and more complex/expensive, but a relatively niche game like this was never gonna be a mega-hit - regardless of how good it turned out to be.
Inflation and the glut of quality releases over the last year hasn’t helped. I’m a fan of the series AND of city builders, so I definitely will be picking this up eventually - but I’ve been holding off on new purchases while I work through my backlog.
Re: Disco Elysium Dev ZA/UM Reportedly Cancels Project And Is Planning Layoffs
“Disco Elysium” has some of the best writing of any video game I’ve played in more than 30 years of gaming. It’s also just an incredible experience overall.
Hope all those who are affected by this are able to land on their feet.
Re: The Game Awards GOTY For 2023 Is Baldur's Gate 3
@TruestoryYep “after Alan Wake 2 outclassing it everywhere where it matters”
BG3, in my estimation, has more enjoyable (and varied) gameplay. I’d say that kind of matters.
Both games had some of the best writing of the year - but I did find the characters in BG3 more interesting and complex.
In the end, though, AW2 and BG3 are very different games with very different styles of storytelling and gameplay. It just seems kind of silly to act like one is “obviously” so much better than the other, when they both do what they set out to do very well.
Re: The Game Awards GOTY For 2023 Is Baldur's Gate 3
@SlySnake0407 Alternatively, maybe it won because the voters - many of whom are likely to be just as experienced and knowledgeable as you - thought it was the best game of the year.
I know it’s fun to imagine reasons why people who give out these sorts of awards are less objective or more “superficial” than you, but it’s often more reasonable to chalk these things up to a difference of opinion.
For the record, I loved “AW2” and “BG3” - though I’m far more likely to revisit “BG3” in the future, since I personally enjoyed the moment-to-moment gameplay more and found it a lot more “flexible” than “AW2.” For me, “AW2” is a (fantastic) “one-and-done” experience.
Re: F2P eShop Title 'Omega Strikers' Ends Development Just Months After Launch
"Would you say the same about drug cartels or armed robbery"
"You want to defend the exploitation of children, that's on you"
LOL. While your central premise isn't wrong - the FtP model often is exploitative and designed to be as addictive as possible - this kind of hyperbolic and self-righteous moralizing only undermines the rest of your argument.
You're also barking up the wrong tree here. There are no gacha mechanics in the game, and it's not pay to win. (Which is, sadly, probably one of the reasons it failed to make money for the studio.)
In fact, the developers of the game seem to agree with you about the more predatory elements of many FtP games:
"There's a truth about competitive games right now in that they can be difficult and they're not necessarily fun. It's toxic. There are dark patterns in the design just trying to trick your brain with gacha mechanics or loot boxes. But we don't have any of that stuff."
Re: It's Over, Microsoft Has Officially Acquired Activision Blizzard
@Iconoclysm Sony undeniably has many crappy business practices - but bribing companies for exclusives is not, in fact, “a lot worse” than spending more than $75 billion to buy up two of the largest video game companies in the world responsible for five or six of the most iconic franchises in gaming.
I have an Xbox Series X that I play and enjoy. I’m not a Sony or Nintendo fanboy - but you can’t really plausibly spin acquisitions this massive as anything but a bad thing for gaming and gamers.
Re: UK Charts: Mario Kart And Zelda Hang Tight As Starfield Drops Back Down To Earth
I own all three consoles (plus a Steam Deck) - the Xbox Series X is my least played of this generation by a significant margin, but it's still a great system. I admittedly mainly bought it for Obsidian and Bethesda (+ subsidiary studios*), since most other Xbox "exclusives" aren't really to my taste.
I'm planning to jump into Starfield as soon as I finish Baldur's Gate. I'm not expecting anything groundbreaking based on what I've read and heard from friends, but... I'm a sucker for the Bethesda formula, so I'm pretty sure I'm going to enjoy the experience anyways.
*I'm still bummed by how Redfall turned out, since Arkane is one of my favorite developers. Here's hoping their next venture is a return to form.
Re: Review: Disney Illusion Island - Mickey Mouse's Metroidvania Is Magical
@Tryffel To be fair, it’s also received a fair number of other reviews in the 80-90 range - so this site isn’t that much of an outlier. Nothing to indicate they’re being “very generous.”
Re: Review: Dragon Quest Treasures - A Trove Of JRPG Goodness, Perfect For Beginners
@SonOfDracula Your opinion is your opinion, but… as someone who has also played and beaten every game in the series (with the exception of X), I’m definitely not seeing what you’re seeing. The series hit its stride with III, and almost every mainline game since has been excellent.
DQ XI is up there with V and VIII as the best games in the series. All three are charming and full of personality.
(And yes, I realize I’m responding to a nearly 3-month old comment…)
Re: Movie Review: Tetris - The Blocks Don't Quite Line Up In This Mostly Fun Thriller
@Chocobo_Shepherd
Not to be pedantic, but that’s been going on for a lot more than a decade. Highly fictionalized versions of “true” events have been a thing since the earliest days of cinema - and before that, in things like Shakespeare’s history plays.
I don’t think it’s inherently bad for storytellers to embellish a narrative - as long as they’re upfront about the fact that it’s not a 100% accurate retelling of history. Sometimes I understand why they make the changes - it can take a lot of bending and twisting to fit a real-life story that took place over months or years into a 2-hour film that audiences will find engaging and satisfying. But other times the added drama just feels forced or unnecessary.
Regardless, I just always assume that any piece of entertainment “based on a true story” is highly exaggerated or outright fabricated.
Re: Nintendo Places Outside Top Ten In Metacritic's 13th Annual Game Publisher Rankings
@SadBuscuit lol what? The only Sony release from last year that remotely resembles a “The Last of Us” clone is their (unnecessary) remake of “The Last of Us.”
Regardless of whether you like them or not, “God of War,” “Horizon,” and “Gran Turismo” are, uh… not much like the Naughty Dog game, thematically or gameplay wise.
Re: Best Deals And Cheapest Games In The 3DS & Wii U eShop Sales
I’ve picked up most of what I want, but I’m still hoping we get sales from Atlus and Level-5 before the closure.
Re: Round Up: Everything Announced At The Level-5 Vision 2023 Showcase
Never in my life, before or since, has a game taken over my life like “Fantasy Life” on the 3DS.
So that’s my choice - though I’m also already kind of regretting the many, many, MANY hours I’m likely to put into it.
Re: Video: We've Played SteamWorld Build - Is It Any Good?
Dig was one of my favorite discoveries on 3DS, and the city-building+dungeon crawling of this one seems right up my alley. Really looking forward to it.
Re: Review: Live A Live - A Brilliantly Faithful Remake Of A Unique And Influential JRPG
@LittleGhost …alternatively, it could just be that a lot of people legitimately like Square games more than you do - no “freebie points” needed.
Re: Video: This Elden Ring Game Boy Demake Will Be Playable On Real Hardware
Uh… Elden Ring looks amazing on PS5. And I had no major performance issues or bugs after 150 hours of playing - it didn’t even crash once, which is sadly rare for newly released games of this scale.
I’m sure some people have had issues - but for me this felt more polished on release day than 90% of AAA games I’ve played in the past decade.
My main criticism of the game is that after a practically perfect first half, the gameplay starts to feel a lot less well balanced once you get past Leyndell - but that’s a design issue, not a performance one.
(I know I’m straying pretty far from the point of the article - sorry.)
Re: Sonic The Hedgehog 2 Star Jim Carrey Says He's "Fairly Serious" About Retiring
@JasmineDragon I know the movie isn’t for everyone, but “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” is a masterpiece, and he does a great job in it - even if it’s very different from the performances he usually gives.
Re: Soapbox: Chrono Cross Really Deserves To Come To Switch Before Chrono Trigger
On a related note... I'm always happy to see more SNES and PS1 RPGs getting ports. Hopefully someday we'll get all the Quintet RPGs for the SNES - so I can finally play "Terranigma."
Re: Soapbox: Chrono Cross Really Deserves To Come To Switch Before Chrono Trigger
"Chrono Trigger" really is that good - and my first playthrough was 15 years after it came out, so that's not just nostalgia talking. I also think it has aged a lot better than "Chrono Cross."
With that said... I don't disagree with the premise of this article. Though I like CT significantly more, I think both games are worth playing - and it's much harder to (legally) play CC nowadays if you don't have a PS1.
Re: Review: Sin and Punishment - A Genuine Treasure And No Mistake
@BlackenedHalo You’re right. Having played it for the first time about a year ago, it easily deserves a 10/10. One of the handful of N64 games that has aged gracefully.
Re: Poll: N64 And Sega Genesis Nintendo Switch Online Games Launch Today - Which Will You Play First?
I'll probably upgrade once I'm able to get a N64 controller and "Paper Mario" is available. That's the biggest N64 game I never had a chance to play.
Re: Toshiba Sounds Alarm About Ongoing Chip Supply Issues
@liveswired I love how people who make a habit of accusing others of being “sheep” are almost invariably the most credulous and gullible people around.
Re: Feature: A Perfect Metascore? We Play The Switch Game "Better Than Zelda: Breath Of The Wild"
@tntswitchfan68 “Am I wrong?”
That LoU2 and GOW are RE4 rip offs? Yes, yes you are. I like RE4 the best of those games, but they aren’t really all that similar besides some superficial story elements - elements shared by many other pieces of media, some of which predate RE4.
Re: Feature: A Perfect Metascore? We Play The Switch Game "Better Than Zelda: Breath Of The Wild"
@SmittytheLad Fun fact: A story can depict something unpleasant - like incest or cannibalism - without it being a promotion of those things. Some stories are only appropriate for adults, and that’s alright.
“People need Jesus.”
Now that you mention it, the Bible also features both incest (ex. Lot’s daughters in Genesis 19:31-38) and cannibalism (ex. Jeremiah 19:9.) Definitely not appropriate for children, I agree.
Re: Random: Elon Musk Appears On Saturday Night Live As Wario
@PoliticallyIncorrect I don’t know enough about Musk to have much of an opinion about him, but people criticizing a well-known public figure in an article about said figure is hardly evidence he’s “living in people’s heads.” That’s just an empty phrase people use to dismiss criticism. In reality, people expressing opinions about someone in the public sphere is normal.
Re: Kingdom Come: Deliverance Listed For A Switch Release On Nintendo's Website
@Mgene15 It was divisive, but there are definitely quite a few fans of the game.
The console version was also pretty broken on release, which didn’t help reviews - but it runs a lot better now.
Re: Top Hat Studios Issues Statement Regarding Demands To Censor Sense - A Cyberpunk Ghost Story
@AtlanteanMan “Freedom of the press was never intended to cover propaganda for any political party, group, or sociopolitical agendas”
That is not accurate. I realize many people have this image of a golden past where journalism was “objective” and “without personal, corporate, or political spin or bias” - but that vision is only a myth. Such a time never existed.
The broadsheets and pamphlets and tabloids and other “news media” of the Founding Fathers’ time were faaaar more egregious in their partisanship than mainstream media sources today. There was constant editorializing - and many of them published invective against their political opponents that would never fly in the NY Times today.
And yep - that kind of speech and press was absolutely what the Founders intended to protect. Some of them were open about how much they hated what certain newspapers said about them, but they also realized that a press that’s free to speak out is essential. The only real limits are things like slander and calls for insurrection.
Re: The Game Awards GOTY Is The Last Of Us Part 2
@NGNYS The Last of Us wasn’t a particularly political game, though. Its “violence begets violence” story doesn’t have a political party, and the characters aren’t exactly spewing talking points.
The only reason anyone would call it “political” is because it includes a few (well-developed) LGBT characters - but that’s only “political” to extremely regressive individuals who think the mere existence of LGBT people is political.
There are perfectly legitimate reasons not to like the game, but “it’s too political” isn’t one of them.
Re: Poll: Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon & The Blade Of Light Is Out Today, Are You Getting It?
I already have a pre-order. Not sure if I’ll ever play it all the way through, but I like to support new (official) translations of games from that era.
Re: Animal Crossing Wins Nintendo Game Of The Year At The Golden Joysticks, Here Are All The Winners
@Varkster Also:
"everyone universally agrees that it should have won more awards than The Last of Us 2"
You need to expand your social circle a bit more if you think that's in any way a true statement.
Re: Animal Crossing Wins Nintendo Game Of The Year At The Golden Joysticks, Here Are All The Winners
@Varkster "but you have to understand that from a critical perspective it is absolutely flawed."
You have to understand that from a critical perspective what you just said is in no way objective - it's an opinion. Your opinion is perfectly valid - but so are the opinions of those who had a very different response to the game.
The moment-to-moment writing in TLoU2 is fantastic - some of the best of the generation. I grew to care about quite a few of the characters, and even when they made choices I strongly disagreed with I found their motivations pretty clearly developed and understandable.
I know the overall narrative is more divisive. While it follows a fairly unique trajectory for a video game, if you've read more than a handful of books or watched more than just movies that follow the Marvel formula it's unlikely that anything in TLoU2 will strike you as particularly outrageous or as some sort of egregious violation of the "rules" of storytelling.
(To be clear, I think there are perfectly legitimate criticisms to be made of the game's narrative - but a LOT of the complaints I've read online about the ostensibly "terrible writing" come off as childish whining because the story didn't go where they wanted it to go.)
As for the "awkwardly placed LGBT characters" - I'm afraid you're projecting some of your own weird hangups here. There are indeed a small handful of LGBT characters in the game - but their orientation isn't given undue focus, and they're no more or less "awkwardly placed" than any of the other characters. The individual character moments feel organic and natural - beyond that, there doesn't actually need to be any justification for them being written the way they are.
With all that said, I didn't love the game. Naughty Dog are great storytellers, but I'm kind of burned out on the "interactive movie" genre. I found the "clear out an area, watch a clip, sneak through a different area, watch another clip" gameplay loop kind of exhausting - especially when stretched out over 25+ hours. It's not that the gameplay itself is bad, it's that it wears thin after too long. I wanted to keep playing to see where the story went, but I really didn't want yet another level of trying to stealthily kill every person in the area. I'm glad I played it, but it's something I'm unlikely to ever re-visit.
Also: You're right about something - Naughty Dog doesn't care about me. Or you. They don't care that you think it's a "turd," or that I had mixed feelings about it but mostly liked it. They care that it's one of the best-selling games of the year, that a lot of gamers loved it, and that it's guaranteed to win a bunch of awards. No amount of kvetching from either of us is going to change their future plans.
Re: Video: 21 Nintendo 64 Games Everyone Should Play
@Kabloop “pretending it’s still great”
Or, hear me out... People who love the Nintendo 64 aren’t “pretending” at all, but they legitimately think it’s still a great console. Different strokes and all that.
Personally, it’s not one of my favorite consoles - I kind of feel that generation as a whole has aged poorly, as developers were still finding their feet with the transition to 3D. A lot of the games on N64 and PS1 are just kind of ugly and clunky nowadays, IMO. The generation before and the generation after feel considerably more “timeless” to me.
With that said... I still think there are about a dozen bonafide N64 classics that hold up well today.
Re: Collection Of SaGa Brings The Final Fantasy Legend Trilogy To Switch This December
So many largely forgotten gems in the Square catalog from the 80s and 90s. While I can't say I was begging for these particular games, I'll probably get them anyways as long as they're decent ports.
Now I'm going to go and daydream about a "Square in the SNES Era" collection that includes some of their oddball one-offs like "Secret of Evermore" and "Bahamut Lagoon."
Re: Collection Of SaGa Brings The Final Fantasy Legend Trilogy To Switch This December
@FX29 Oh goodness, I didn't realize how much I wanted that until you mentioned it. The battery in my cartridge of Final Fantasy II (IV) died, and I still haven't beaten it to this day. I'd happily pay for a (legal) chance to play it in something close to its original form (ie, not the DS remake.)
Re: Video: Catherine: Full Body Gets New Switch Trailer Ahead Of Next Month's Launch
@SquallLeonhart86 That'll show those "alphabet people"!!!1!
Re: Review: Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition - A Timely Update Of One Of The Greatest RPGs Ever
Count me in the camp that considers this one of the all-time best RPGs.
It's not perfect - most of the side quests are of the monotonous "fetch quest" variety, and some of those repetitive battle cries began to drive me bonkers after the 500th time hearing them. I didn't find the game particularly hard, but there were also two or three bosses that I found to be major difficulty spikes.
But... I loved the characters (in spite of the occasional corniness), the battle system really grew on me the longer I played, and it's one of the most legitimately gorgeous fantasy worlds I've ever encountered in a game. It was a joy to explore each area and discover its secrets. Unlike most games of this length, there was never a point where I grew exhausted and just wanted to rush through to the end.
The story does deal in a lot of the anime tropes you'd expect, but it has enough of a unique twist that I still found it compelling - the narrative even managed to surprise me at a few points.
Re: Review: Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition - A Timely Update Of One Of The Greatest RPGs Ever
I played the Wii version for the first time in 2017, and I thought it still looked and sounded great considering its age. Even though it's a loooong game, I'm looking forward to replaying it and seeing what they've improved.
Re: Nintendo Expands The Switch Online SNES And NES Library With Four More Games
I never got "Earthbound Beginnings" on the Wii U, so I'm hoping that shows up eventually.
Re: Random: Star Wars Director Appears To Use Pokémon GO To Comment On Angry Fans
Johnson is a very good director, though he has yet to surpass his debut feature, "Brick."
In terms of filmmaking—cinematography, directing, etc.—“The Last Jedi” is one of the top three Star Wars films, imo (behind only "A New Hope" and "The Empire Strikes Back.")
As someone who enjoys the franchise but doesn’t have any strong attachment to the universe or its characters, I thought TLJ was a lot of fun, in spite of some missteps. It was the first film since the original trilogy that actually managed to surprise me (in a good way.)
Which is all to say… I can understand why a lot of people who are bigger SW fans than I am dislike it, though I still don’t get some of the extreme vitriol that has been spewed at Johnson.
Re: Nintendo Apologises For Tokyo Mirage Sessions Censorship Misinformation, Offers Refunds
@BlackTalon2 “ like the jihadis and rainbow jihadis , and gun grabbers and wefare state socialist parasites”
Rainbow jihadi? My god, you’ve got to be a parody.
“this is an sjw thing, their total lack of morals have twisted them so much, they protect and promote grave sins and perversions ”
Oh honey. You’ve been brainwashed. Some SJWs do get outraged over silly things - but most have far stronger moral codes than your amoral ilk. You cause demonstrable harm to society with your bigotry and ignorance in ways far more serious than a game developer deciding to edit its own content.
As for “grave sins and perversions” - you’re going to be unpleasantly surprised when you find out that God cares far more about how you treated your fellow humans (“perverts” and “parasites“ in your twisted parlance) than He does about those “grave sins” you’re so obsessed with.