My Resident Evil 2 boycott is stupid but I'm sticking to my guns.

@Inkarnatewhy you boycotting it?

@Inkarnatewhy you boycotting it?

Basically, because the localization team decided to cut costs by going non-union. This I feel is a unacceptable act (as I did with Revelations 2) as it diminishes not only the quality of the product’s voice acting but also unfairly discriminates against union actors. The only way Capcom gets my money is with a voice patch DLC that is extremely unlikely to happen, but hey they've done those kind of things before so the ball's in their court.

#noalysoncourtnobuy

engadget.com/2019/01/29/ea-stops-sell…

lol

Attractions in Kingdom Hearts 3 are nifty a grand total of the first time you use a new one and they are far and away the worst new feature in a combat system that is already dangerously close to being visual overload.

@Fabricant451

The difference between X's linearity and that of XIII is:

1) X still has towns, NPCs, and various areas that let you slow down, relax, take in the sights, and learn more about the culture, world, and backstory in an organic way. XIII has you on the run for most of the game and does the bulk of its worldbuilding through datalog entries.

2) Many areas in X have multiple or branching paths, whether or not they all lead to the same exit (ex: Kilika Island), as well as more open areas (ex: Thunder Plains) so even if you only have one direction to ultimately go, it's not just one constant tunnel. Most of XIII suffers from hallway syndrome, and almost all deviations from the narrow main path are dead ends.

3) X gives you control over your whole party within the first few hours of the game, as well as a fairly open-ended leveling system that becomes totally open by the end of the game. Every play through can be different if you want. XIII locks you into who you play as, what they can do, and how much you can level up till like 30 hours into the game. Every play through is essentially the exact same.

4) X spreads its optional content across the game. Finding Al Bhed primers, playing Blitzball, fighting Belgemine, nabbing extra aeons, finding spheres left by Braska's party, unlocking legendary weapons, etc. XIII throws all its optional content into one area near the end of the game.

I hear this "X is linear so why do people complain about XIII" argument all the time, but it frankly feels rather disingenuous to me if you've played both games.

I don't know why you brought this up all of a sudden but okay.

@Fabricant451

1) X still has towns, NPCs, and various areas that let you slow down, relax, take in the sights, and learn more about the culture, world, and backstory in an organic way. XIII has you on the run for most of the game and does the bulk of its worldbuilding through datalog entries.

This is untrue. Also, FFX has a total of two towns that aren't fucked to shit and you're hardly there to relax. FFX moves at a constant forward pace, pausing only so you can do bad pushy block puzzles.

2) Many areas in X have multiple or branching paths, whether or not they all lead to the same exit (ex: Kilika Island), as well as more open areas (ex: Thunder Plains) so even if you only have one direction to ultimately go, it's not just one constant tunnel. Most of XIII suffers from hallway syndrome, and almost all deviations from the narrow main path are dead ends.

Just because a tunnel has the circumference of a pipe doesn't make it any less a tunnel.

3) X gives you control over your whole party within the first few hours of the game, as well as a fairly open-ended leveling system that becomes totally open by the end of the game. Every play through can be different if you want. XIII locks you into who you play as, what they can do, and how much you can level up till like 30 hours into the game. Every play through is essentially the exact same.

Except without the benefit of the open grid added later every character except for Kimahri was locked into set roles until damn near the end of the game. The game was literally designed around this which is why even in the end game you're still fighting dogs, birds, and flans all coordinated to the individual character that is meant to kill them most effectively. FF13 has much more customization in terms of party and ability because every character takes to the roles differently as opposed to FFX having everyone on a long enough timeline being exactly the same.

4) X spreads its optional content across the game. Finding Al Bhed primers, playing Blitzball, fighting Belgemine, nabbing extra aeons, finding spheres left by Braska's party, unlocking legendary weapons, etc. XIII throws all its optional content into one area near the end of the game.

Literally all of those except for the Blitzball and some of the primers are either done on the straight path to the end or else after all you do is select where to go from a drop down list. Because you reach the end of the line and then decide to just go back over and skip it all. Which is to say the optional content of FFX is relegated largely to the endgame, discounting Blitzball because once you get the two useful things out of that who wants to bother.

I hear this "X is linear so why do people complain about XIII" argument all the time, but it frankly feels rather disingenuous to me if you've played both games.

Both games are linear. FFX is a worse game in almost every way; the excuse it can have is it being the first outing for the series on new hardware.

resident evil 2 is fucking NUTS

granted i'm not a big horror person but it's like... i was both scared and not scared? i'm about two hours into leon's campaign so i don't know what's in store, but so far i've had some pretty good scares.

gameplay is the most polished it's been in the entire series. the guns feel amazing, yet peashooty. the zombies are very menacing, don't even get me started on the dogs and lickers. you actually have to make a decision as to whether or not you wanna fight the zombies. the fact that zombies are NOT a one shot, two shot, three shot, four shot, or even five shot kill every time has you spending more time thinking about your fight or flight response. it doesn't really make sense that a shotgun blast to the face or three bullets to the brain won't take out a zombie but i guess that just makes things more tense?

graphics? gorgeous. fantastic. the gore is fan-fucking-tastic. i love watching the flesh be chipped away from the zombies as i try to kill them. optimization is great, too! i maxed the game out and i still got about 60-80 FPS and my rig isn't exactly the best rig out there.

i'll follow this up once i completely finish both leon and claire's campaigns.

resident evil 2 is fucking NUTS

granted i'm not a big horror person but it's like... i was both scared and not scared? i'm about two hours into leon's campaign so i don't know what's in store, but so far i've had some pretty good scares.

gameplay is the most polished it's been in the entire series. the guns feel amazing, yet peashooty. the zombies are very menacing, don't even get me started on the dogs and lickers. you actually have to make a decision as to whether or not you wanna fight the zombies. the fact that zombies are NOT a one shot, two shot, three shot, four shot, or even five shot kill every time has you spending more time thinking about your fight or flight response. it doesn't really make sense that a shotgun blast to the face or three bullets to the brain won't take out a zombie but i guess that just makes things more tense?

graphics? gorgeous. fantastic. the gore is fan-fucking-tastic. i love watching the flesh be chipped away from the zombies as i try to kill them. optimization is great, too! i maxed the game out and i still got about 60-80 FPS and my rig isn't exactly the best rig out there.

i'll follow this up once i completely finish both leon and claire's campaigns.

Good to hear it's delivered (so far), I need something after KH3's disappointment.

If KH3 is a disappointment I'd hate to know what isn't. KH3 is pretty on par for the series and slots in at second over all.

If KH3 is a disappointment I'd hate to know what isn't. KH3 is pretty on par for the series and slots in at second over all.

Tbh, my gripe is mainly plot-related, and I guess that's sorta unfair especially since it's technically minor, but I really find it glaring and hard to forgive. Purely personal, it disappointed me but I'm another schmuck throwing money at it and whatever sequels come out anyway so it is what it is.

<Snipped quote by Fabricant451>

Tbh, my gripe is mainly plot-related, and I guess that's sorta unfair especially since it's technically minor, but I really find it glaring and hard to forgive. Purely personal, it disappointed me but I'm another schmuck throwing money at it and whatever sequels come out anyway so it is what it is.

Spoilers just in case [+]

My main gripe is how I really, really didn't like how the female characters were received. Kairi's probably the biggest offender, training all this time just to get kidnapped WAY too easily (seriously, they couldn't have tried to give her a fight or something?) and her 'death' felt contrived. I don't know, I could think of a bunch of ways to have put a lot more effort in her role. Yeah, she was probably doomed to get kidnapped, but it was just rubbed me the wrong way. Would've been cool to see her in more fights, maybe give her something more to do.

Then there's Namine getting ONE scene at the VERY END OF THE GAME which irked me 'cause her whole thing with connections and the like could have been in the game SOMEWHERE but...that's my inner fangirl talking and I have no actual argument there, just annoyance.

That's totally fair. I guess I'm just sort of used to Square games underwriting half their cast.

resident evil 2 is fucking NUTS

granted i'm not a big horror person but it's like... i was both scared and not scared? i'm about two hours into leon's campaign so i don't know what's in store, but so far i've had some pretty good scares.

gameplay is the most polished it's been in the entire series. the guns feel amazing, yet peashooty. the zombies are very menacing, don't even get me started on the dogs and lickers. you actually have to make a decision as to whether or not you wanna fight the zombies. the fact that zombies are NOT a one shot, two shot, three shot, four shot, or even five shot kill every time has you spending more time thinking about your fight or flight response. it doesn't really make sense that a shotgun blast to the face or three bullets to the brain won't take out a zombie but i guess that just makes things more tense?

graphics? gorgeous. fantastic. the gore is fan-fucking-tastic. i love watching the flesh be chipped away from the zombies as i try to kill them. optimization is great, too! i maxed the game out and i still got about 60-80 FPS and my rig isn't exactly the best rig out there.

i'll follow this up once i completely finish both leon and claire's campaigns.

update after finishing leon's campaign:

mr. x is about one of THE most menacing things i have ever encountered the game. the man does not stop no matter what. he will follow you around and chase you down. he does not give a fuck about anything you throw at him. he will stop at nothing to crush your skill into pieces. and just when you think you're safe? he comes in through the door, stomping menacingly as your death nears.

MAJOR kudos to capcom for designing and programming him in that way. he was more horrifying to me than any of the zombies and jumpscares -- until i figured out how to deal with him.



full review and thoughts after i make my way through the claire campaign uwu

Y'all talking 'bout RE2 up in here?

Ended up breaking my boycott of RE2 because I'm just a glutton for good Resident Evil games. Trying to get my unbreakable knife when I'm not writing or adulting.

freeze hax sux

Kingdom Hearts 3? More like Kingdom Hearts 3 out of 5

Boom roasted

It would be a three-way tie between Romance of the Three Kingdoms II, MechWarrior 2, and MechCommander.

Romance was one of my first strategy games, and it also led to my interest in the Three Kingdoms Era of Ancient China.

The other two I got into because I used to really like the BattleTech: Firestorm simulation that used to be in Dave & Buster until they removed around 1998. However, it was those two PC games that really got me interested in the BattleTech lore, and I still think that they have some of the best intro and ending videos I've seen in video gaming.

ign.com/articles/2019/03/12/halo-the-…

Figured some of y'all might want to read this.

ign.com/articles/2019/03/12/halo-the-…

Figured some of y'all might want to read this.

as someone who bought the MCC on xbox one i REALLY hope they put it in the play anywhere program. i'm not particularly interested in re-buying a game i've already bought.

i'll be more keen to buy if there were more to it though. if it was a substantial and thorough port and remaster and not just taking what is on the xbox one and moving it over