SleepingSilence

Video Games: The General Discussion & Community Thread Number Two

"HEY I WONDER IF YOU CAN FREEZE THE WATER AND MAKE IT GO SOMEWHERE ELSE".

@Fabricant451

It's great that you use this as the example. Because that phrase being said over and over again, is the part that I was watching someone else play.

I also find "games that put you in small wave-style combat arenas ad-nauseum" is my least favorite combat scenario to deal with. Because it's probably only done that way, to make up for the enemy AI's shortcomings.

I'm Team Bloodborne all the way still. Elden Ring has the most boss fatigue out of any of the games in its ilk, because of how many bosses are not unique or well designed.

@Fabricant451

I certainly do have my critiques of Elden Ring. (Like how the platforming is pretty terrible. And how jumping somewhere I shouldn't, is usually the reason I die. Or how finicky the camera/lock-on system can be at times. Or how the balancing is unsurprisingly all over the place. Or how much this game could use an NPC quest journal.)

But I'm 90 hours in Elden Ring (some of that being afk), and I keep finding new locations, enemies, NPCs with bits of lore, set pieces/cutscenes, equipment, and new boss variations. That it honestly puts most open world games that I've played to shame.

And yeah, it sort of does feel like this game will literally never end. But I guess I haven't gotten to a point where it's soured my overall experience. Because it's genuinely engrossing. (At least, for me.)

Though I plan to revisit both Bloodborne and Dark Souls at some point.

Jedi Survivor was good.

@Fabricant451

Insert "You actually got this game to work?" joke here.

Did you play Fallen Order? And is the sequel better? (I've heard that it's basically Fallen Order 2.0, in that the Pros and Cons are basically identical.)

And my experience with Fallen Order was a brief one. But it made me question the "PS5 load times are fast now", when I was waiting minutes on end for every loading screen to go away.

Anyway, I'm only a couple hours into Tears of the Kingdom, but I think the starting tutorial island is less good than the BOTW one because of how more blatantly linear it is.

@Fabricant451

I wonder sometimes if I didn't give Breath Of The Wild a fair chance. But this game really feels quite empty in its early areas. And I miss the original dungeons that make the Zelda games special.

And honestly, BOTW's start could've probably used a bit more linearity/direction. (Though I say this, knowing full well, that 'Nintendo direction' probably means "handholding, JRPG-level tutorializing".

Also, 'weapons breaking every few seconds' is a cancerous game mechanic.

Play or Manage?

@Dark Cloud Pft. Like I said, 20 to 1. You simply put yours on a long, long hiatus. :P

Play or Manage?

Well I've had far longer (and actual completed) RP's when I've GM'd them. So there's that.

The times the GM was the primary reason it stopped altogether (versus other players/outside drama) especially on this site is probably a 20 to 1 ratio.

Usually the first time after one of the other players fail to follow a rule, or show that they failed to read information in a prior post. And the GM will become hyper-fixated on it, and end up spiraling down after. Versus punishing the culprit in-game/IC and moving right along.(Mistakes happen. Don't let it spoil the whole RP.)

That, or the GM is ironically the very first to drop their own creation. (Effectively wasting the other players time.)

But both can be equally entertaining (or miserable) depending on the group/individuals you've decided to roleplay with.

What shows/movies are you watching?

The D&D movie was fine. Had a decent atmosphere. It wasn't boring. (Had plenty of action set pieces.) And it wasn't the insufferable modern Marvel-esque comedy that I expected it to be. (Hell, some of the banter was actually amusing, and felt like it belonged in a D&D campaign.)

But it was very predictable, and it had a few too many Hollywood tropes in its script. (Including a few plot gaps, that a 2nd draft could've probably fixed.) With cartoon villains that aren't intimidating in the least. Though it's the kind of accessible (in that it lacks any clever/memorable writing) that general audiences will still give glowing praise to.

6/10? (Will forget almost everything in a week or so.)

And if you happen to be a big D&D nerd (or have played it at least once in your life). You'll probably notice that it broke the rules several times. (Like how 'Sending Stones' don't work that way. Etc. etc. This was not written by nerds.)

Anime & Manga! Oh my! (Anime/Manga Thread)

There's a surprising amount of "watchable/passable" shows this season.

And every show isn't going on hiatus, like Winter.

But there's not exactly anything that's "go out of your way to watch this" worthy. So it's still probably best to clear out your "to-watch list" first.

Video Games: The General Discussion & Community Thread Number Two

For someone with limited Dark Souls experience, Elden Ring is great thus far.

Combat's far more fluid and manageable than it is in Dark Souls. And it's far more open-ended and visually stunning than Bloodborne. Both games that I still had positive (albeit brief) experiences with. Yet this is the one that I'll probably stick with...

But I haven't gotten far enough to experience its "boss and length" fatigue, that most Triple A games seem to be guilty of nowadays.

Then again, after watching someone playing Ragnorok and listening to the obnoxious son blab on and tell you every puzzle solution in ten seconds flat, I've found no such annoyance in Elden Ring.

The horse/mounted combat kind of sucking aside.

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I played Greedfall first. But its lack of direction wasn't doing it any favors. Regardless of if it was setting up an interesting narrative (or not).

The map is so needlessly confusing, that it's difficult to navigate through the floors of most buildings. And the open world areas are usually small, and don't have much to reward your curiosity. (Probably due to its smaller budget.)

But the sheer amount of "two characters dryly exposit dialogue" cutscenes that played in the beginning, was a good reminder why I (usually) prefer playing indies over 'the games that so desperately want to be movies'.

Video Games: The General Discussion & Community Thread Number Two

I tried my best to enjoy the atmosphere. But Blacktail's combat is just awful, and it made me want to play something else.

'The Forgotten City' is interesting as a narrative so far. But the sense of direction seems a little vague and contrived. (Like I was supposed to think that diving off a huge cliff into a shallow pool would keep me alive, when I took damage after jumping from far smaller heights. Very logical.) And it was hard to feel immersed, when I had two separate characters introducing themselves, and then abruptly canceling the conversation as the ‘time loop’ moved forward.)

(And it also had some pretty egregious load times. But I might've fixed that by verifying the game files somehow.)

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In other news, I upgraded to a PS5 after all. (Since my launch PS4 was starting to die on me, and it was cheaper than buying a whole new PC to play Elden Ring.)

I just wish most of my Steam wishlist was on the Playstation Store.

So now I’m waiting 16 HOURS for my game data to transfer.

Edit: 20 Hours later, and it claimed their was an error. (But only after it finished.) Fuck me. (And Sony.)

Video Games: The General Discussion & Community Thread Number Two

@Fabricant451 It isn't the soundtrack's fault for why the game is so unpleasant to experience.

The nauseating camera that constantly zooms in and out, or wildly changes perspective out of nowhere, is the primary culprit. (Along with all the other consistent visual glitches and bugs that kept happening.)

The first song that played near the beginning sounded fine, I guess. But then the soundtrack would frequently cut in and out at times that felt unnatural. So I don't even know how much of "the soundtrack" I actually heard (as intended), when the bike-riding tends to be silent/cut out the music.

Plus its open world felt empty, and the game was absolutely boring me to tears. (And the very few mechanics that it did have, were f*cking broken. Like the ability to "call your bike back to you" and the fact that it basically never works. Supposedly due to how poor the pathfinding is...)

I digress. What have you been playing?

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Review for the game I played instead: Downpurr (Basically Kero Blaster) would be an indie darling. If the boss fights weren't rigged against you. It's short, but I enjoyed its platforming/gimmick levels. However, I swear most bosses have RNG attack patterns that CANNOT be dodged (well). (So you'll die until the game lets you beat them, essentially.)

Next game is Blacktail. My first impressions go as follows…



It's intrigued me. Just hoping the combat improves over time...

Video Games: The General Discussion & Community Thread Number Two

Sable: It's Breath Of The Wild, except there's basically nothing to do. (The camera is broken. There's audio and visual glitches aplenty. (Mostly the latter.) It's a game that feels like (and most likely is) an unfinished product. So it fucking baffles me that this is so highly played/reviewed. Had to bring my own soundtrack to keep myself going with this one...

Don't know if I'll bother completing this one. But I guess we'll see...

Video Games: The General Discussion & Community Thread Number Two

Well, that's a buzzkill.

Metal Hellsinger feels like it might've been rushed in development, and could've used a bit more time in the oven.

The game's art (through its numerous cutscenes) is great, and so is its soundtrack. And despite being difficult, it does feel like its accessible. (Even has a 'game journalist' mode option. A mode that let's you completely bypass the rhythm matching part.) And any game where you improve as you play, has to be doing *something* right.

But the shielded enemy is a complete flow killer. Most upgrades feel a bit tacked on. And Archeon, it's 2nd to last level, is buggy as all hell. Had numerous enemies falling through the terrain, and I got soft-locked at the boss, due to a spawned minion vanishing and spoiling my entire run. So if that shit happens again, I won't be finishing the campaign.

(Also, the fact that all the bosses are the exact same monster design feels a bit lazy.)

Though either way, I'll be playing something else tomorrow, most likely.

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Edit: Fortunately, I was able to finish it. And yeah, Metal Hellsinger can be pretty engaging. (Once you're good enough to do well, and realize that some weapons just aren't worth using.) I'll rate it a 6.66. Because metal.

And I don't know if it quite reaches a 7/10, "I'd easily recommend this to others who like the genre". But I did like it.

The next indie I picked is back to average. 'Last Night Of Winter' has a decent artstyle, and its combat is functional throughout. Limited by a tiny inventory system, and its occasionally unfair enemy hitboxes. But the platforming and ice skating sections are miserable and boring. Plus its story doesn’t exist, and the character dialogue isn’t particularly interesting.

So I’ll be nice, and give this a 5/10. (I think I’ll be able to complete this one in another session.)