Withywarlock

Dragon Age: Origins worked so incredibly well because while I found a lot of its choices black-and-white (oftentimes good is the first in the list, evil is the lowest; see Bethesda's Fallout, Elder Scrolls, Mass Effect), it didn't explicitely say whether or not it was good nor evil. It was just a choice that would affect the world. No morality bar, just your companions' different dispositions to social taboos and Ferelden (and beyond in Sten's case) politics. My companions' feelings rarely entered into what I felt were ultimately better ways of living in Ferelden, which probably says a bit about my own politics. Of all the games that really got me thinking about moral choices, Fallout: New Vegas was what allowed me to view them through a critical lens. While karma exists and plays only the teensiest role, it pales in comparison to your standing with different factions, each with their own flaws and merits. I found that playing politics gives much more roleplay opportunities than being good or evil, and that the politics can differ game-by-game, world-by-world whereas you kinda know what end of the binary moral spectrum the game will allow. New Vegas' political problems barely escape the Strip, and yet that's far more interesting to me than deciding how to deal with the issue of national hydration in Fallout 3 in either a good or evil fashion.

I did a writeup on it on r/patientgamers last year, and quite enjoyed it. I was however looking at it from the viewpoint of it being a Grand Theft Auto contemporary, and not the simulator the developers were going for. I may play it again when the remaster comes down significantly in price, but given it's a 2K property that should be in the next few minutes.

I hold the seemingly unpopular opinion of thinking it's a good game. It's very much a survival horror game for people who don't like survival horror, and its story, characters and setting all hit the right notes. I was a bit confused about the ending though, but otherwise I felt it was a very solid game all around. I must play American Nightmare before I play the possible sequel. ^^

I was turned off by it being a modernisation of what was apparently a better, older CRPG (or at least an isometric tactics game). I've heard Syndicate described as the original Cyberpunk PC game before Shadowrun and the like came along. I may check it out as I don't think I could get into the original, but this might coax me into it if I like the world and ideas enough to try out its older brother. ^^

I don't like time-sensitive quests or games, but I can wholeheartedly appreciate what the dev is trying to do with them. The most infamous example I can think of is Fallout: A Post-Nuclear Roleplaying Game and Fallout 2, where you only have so many days to complete the main quest. In the first game you can extend the time limit by negotiating a deal with a water caravan, but that's not the permanent solution the people of the Vault require, so the timer's still ticking. There's also the bonus objective of stopping the main villain in I think 100 days which will impact your ending. Both of these have been addressed (read: addressed, not fixed) in the Steam versions of the game where you're given more time, and I think the Fallout Fixed mod completely removes the time-sensitivity so you can go at your own pace. Mechanically I hate them, but thematically I like them and they add an extra bit of flavour to what could be an otherwise ordinary quest. So long as they're not out-of-nowhere and it's clear there's a time limit, I can grin and bear it.

Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately) funding doesn't equal talent and quality, which is sadly not fully synonymous with 'AAA'. Amazon can easily fund high graphical and aural fidelity, marketing and future content, I'll concede that. But that doesn't count for anything if their games aren't good. Of the two known inspiring names to look forward to seeing in trailers or interviews one of them has left for Electronic Arts, and their other talent has no known experience besides Far Cry, System Shock, and Amazon's own games' frequent delays and cancellations. On the other hand, look at how well Amazon is doing with Amazon Originals TV shows. They're proving ample competition to Netfix and co., so their talent scouting abilities aren't all that bad. Like Google shutting down their studio, I don't think Amazon's gaming division's dead and I think they can make a so-called AAA game if we're going solely by budget. I won't say 'I'll eat my hat if they make a AAA game' because the most wrong I've ever been was with Fortnite's success "shoehorning a mode into an unknown game too late". I too am curious. Much as I dislike Amazon, I'm still keeping my eye on what their possible success means for the gaming landscape going forward.

JRPG is Japanese Roleplaying Game. Other acronyms include: CRPG (Computer - often mistake as Classic) ARPG (Action) SRPG (Strategy) TRPG (Tactics, which sometimes falls into the Strategy/Computer category. This acronym is also interchangable with Tabletop RPG, which I call TTRPG) WRPG (a newer one, Western RPG, often used when "just RPG" isn't quite enough) Computer Roleplaying games (CRPG) are my go-to for roleplaying games in the West, however I've recently fell in love with Yakuza and Dark Souls, both games I'd consider JRPGs not just for their countries of origin but the atmosphere which they give off, which might well be because they're made overseas. I know I'll always get a solid game with a JRPG, whereas Western RPGs can be very hit or miss.

I didn't realise there was more than one, so the other two are news to me. I enjoyed the first one a fair bit on the Xbox Live Arcade, I think it was, though I wasn't all that good and didn't make it far. I reckon if I were offered the chance to play it again today I would find myself trying to do better!

I'm trying to improve my physical fitness and a cycling machine and video game tie-in would be a wonderful motivator for doing so, so it's a shame to hear about cheaters. I didn't realise cheating was so rife in the cycling world either, but I can easily imagine it being amplified in a game such as Zwift. I was quite enthusiastic about this, but if my progression is going to be made less motivating by seeing other people soar via cheats, I'd perhaps feel disheartened in cycling for fitness and simply carry on walking. Still, thanks for sharing this all the same. I like being reminded of the idea of Zwift. ^^

I wasn't really convinced it was anything but a rant in the first place, so I'm rather glad they walked back on it when it was reported upon. While a developer's perspective is valuable, it isn't when it's as venomous and doesn't offer any unique insight. It was for all intents and purposes another forum rant, and an unnecessarily late one at that. I'll say this much for that developer, that like CD Projekt Red humans are prone to make mistakes. What matters is rectifying them before moving on. I'm glad Ori's developer had the dignity to do so.

I never knew the name of this genre, which is a shame because I do so enjoy it. Thanks for reminding me what it was, I hope to achieve the same score as yourself!

Sorry to hear about the job and income issues, here's hoping you find yourself back on your feet. I imagine SEGA are going to be quite careful announcing a release date during these trying times, but then a lot of Total War fans are die-hard nutters who have bought worse for more I suppose.

An update on my experience so far: The opening cutscene shows a very charismatic Balan, not unlike Goro Majima's intro in Yakuza 0 which is honestly one of the best intros to a character I've ever seen. But beyond that, I'm left completely clueless as to what I'm supposed to do. Some sad people go to Balan's Wonderland, watch a show and are sucked into this make-believe world.... for reasons? The trailer says something about a soul-sucking force preventing people from being happy, but the game has yet to make an effort to explain this. It's a hub-based platformer, with a Chao Garden or Super Mario Galaxy-like mechanic where you've got to feed these Tims....? You enter levels, find these jewels to feed the Tims, and collect statues. I've yet to discover why, but I have little hope of the game telling me. In the levels there's different forms you can unlock but I lost one upon dying, and couldn't get it back. That form was required to progress, and I needed to restart the entire level to get it again. Maybe tomorrow. It's a shame that the game doesn't have anywhere near the charm and substance of Visual Works' cinematics, looking like Fur Fun or some other attempt to rip off Yooka-Laylee that you'd find on Steam Greenlight with a whole host of developer nonsense. The worlds are as incohesive as the barely understandable plot, and there's only so much I can put down to this being a demo. I'll remind you, and the devs for that matter, that this game comes out on the 26th of March 2021. If the game looks anything like it does here, it cannot begin to justify its price tag. This said I could end up liking this game, but nobody in their right mind should be OK with the price tag attached to this. The most fun I'll have with this is writing a review for the paper.

I'm massively into 3D platformers and even I think it's too expensive. It has to be the bee's knees to justify its price tag. I shall let you know in about ~2 hours' time when I'm able to download it. ^^

Everybody's favourite retroactive DLC-ifier is back with Total War: Warhammer III. There'll be six factions, four of which are the Ruinous Powers' respective armies (Khorne, Nurgle, Tzeentch and Slaanesh), and two Eastern factions, Kislev and Cathay. Given Cathay isn't represented as an army in the Warhammer Fantasy tabletop game (only in lore), and Kislev was represented as essentially another Empire subfaction previously, Creative Assembly will have some artistic license in one of the few original twists they'll be able to add to pre-established settings. As for the Chaos armies, I'm not sure if each of them have enough units to make an interesting Total War roster, so it'll be interesting to see if there's any original units created by CA. Diplomacy will be interesting too. The Gods have worked together before, if begrudgingly such as in Warhammer 30,000 with the Horus Heresy, but perhaps that's going to be the major campaign event - meeting requirements for the Ruinous Powers to collaborate and bring an end to the final entry to this series.... or perhaps stopping them? According to game director Ian Roxburgh the map is going to be twice as big as TWW2's Eye of the Vortex map, and with Mortal Empires returning this will only be all the more taxing. Put some money aside for a new CPU, chums. Are you looking forward to this? It's going to be £49.99 at day one, and with it the previous games will likely go on sale to help smoothe over the transition for people new to it. PS: No Ogre Kingdoms day one, 0/10.

I looked this up to see if it was coming to Steam and of course it's already on my wishlist! It looks like a good game but the graphical fidelity and flashiness leaves a lot to be desired. I'm going to give the demo a whirl and see if this is worth its, err, £49.99 price tag? Let's hope it sees the steep discounts other Squenix published games do shortly after release.

This would be interesting news if Microsoft wasn't anything more than Xbox Division, but they own Windows OS and all its accoutrements, used by all manner of people. That's going to make an endless stream of money so long as people feel they need Windows versus other operating systems. Now how much Xbox has made since the acquisition is going to be a much more telling statistic, with the question of how many people are joining Team Green in anticipation for Zenimax properties?

The Swift Zulian Panther in World of Warcraft. After ~170 tries at getting it, how could it not be?

It wasn't hidden so much as underutilised, but on the Xbox 360 there were various 'modes' you could set your controller to via the Guide button. These however didn't seem to change much of anything in early games, and were probably forgotten after the first wave of games for that system. Similarly the type of gamer per your Gamercard (Underground, Family, Recreational) you were was I think supposed to match you up with similar players via Xbox Live, but again didn't seem to do anything.

So long as David "Emotions" Cage is in charge, no. And without him Quantic Dreams' future is probably as a porting house to build up their portfolio before being entrusted with publisher money. The thing is David Cage is an auteur, meaning he has a lot of creative control and requires strict adherence to his artistic vision at all costs, so personal brands don't mean much at Quantic Dreams. Much as I've ragged on Cage in the past I'll not deny him the accolade of writing (mostly) tightly woven together stories and memorable characters, which is very hard to achieve in an open world game. I wouldn't be at all surprised if his attempts at an open world rivalled Deadly Premonition's jankiness, which not everyone has the stomach for. Without him, I don't think Quantic Dreams could make a 'Quantic Dreams game'.

In Dark Souls it's usually when I've encountered a new bonfire or boss, though some awesome gear and consumables also help with me wrapping up a nice session. In the case of II: Scholar of the First Sin though, it was highly addictive because I kept on killing boss after boss, discovering zone after zone. I've just finished it today though so New Game + is where my latest session has ended. But aye, it depends on the game. Sometimes it's when I've done a level, or 100%'d a previously visited one, and sometimes it's when I'm significantly closer to finishing it because the game's boring me to tears.

I already subscribe to the "patient gamers" mindset so I'm continuing to save money playing and buying games that are older than six months. As neither spoilers nor the day one experience have no impact on me, I don't really care much for getting games brand new upon release. Plus the fact I'm used to digital versions of games costing £59.99 at launch for the past ~4 years, so this 'news' of them being $70 at launch isn't at all surprising or bothersome to me.

The good folks of streaming subforums really ought to tell Google that 'Stadia is the future' because they didn't seem to get the memo. While one can't be entirely gloomy (or cheery, depending on your perspective) about Stadia's demise just yet, Google shutting down their first party studio is worrying news for the platform's future. On the plus side, Stadia has seen rave reviews for its handling of so-called AAA titles, and continues to appeal to people who don't want the high-end dedicated gaming hardware required to run them. What do we think to this? A cost-saving scheme to look at the bigger picture, or the deathknell of Big G's service? As pessimistic as I am about this, I think Stadia will do fine without its first party titles, but deciding that just over a year after being publicly known isn't helpful for their image or the people working in said studios. I hope those who lost their jobs find their feet in studios more deserving of their talent. Unrelated to this story is Opa-Opa's theme from Fantasy Zone. Enjoy, or don't. I can't tell you what to do.

The requirements for The Insane title in World of Warcraft (no, I will not stop linking my Armory). However, as I'm a rather boring person with rather boring taste, I enjoyed doing it immensely, and will probably not experience such pleasure in the future of that game.

The only time I think a game offended me with any just cause to be offended was Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 with terrorist attacks in London. At the time I lived in a small village in the North so there was absolutely no terrorist threat whatsoever, but I was still shaken by the London bus and train bombings. Showing similar, action-ised affairs in MW3 six years later is a long time, but it was still fresh in my mind as a horrific event. I could probably play it today without any issue, but I remember actively hating Sledgehammer for such an attempt at shock value. I suppose the thing I'd find most offensive about that today would be that they didn't get the same backlash as Modern Warfare 2's 'No Russian' mission. All the budget that went into that.... wasted.