Withywarlock

Overhyped? Yes, absolutely. My definition - if it can be called that as it's not exactly definitive - is that people get so excited about a game that they'll buy it without any sort of critical thinking. "I'll get it anyway" is why so many games are allowed to come out as rushed, as evidently buggy, with as much content missing as they do. We can talk about the industry-wide problems going on behind the curtain, they absolutely exist, but some of that accountability falls on the consumer. Alternatively, overhyped is when the game turns out to be less than its marketing - who'd've thunk it? As for overrated, that's a term that gets bandied around too much but then that's typical of most games discourse. It's up there with words like janky, P2W and greed. As @Grungie said in that thread, and I quote, Overrated to me means the game's critical/user rating is too high for what it is. That's it. One can like something as Grungie points out, but think that it's liked too much and sometimes for the wrong reasons. I certainly think Gothic is vastly overrated by its fanbase, but I still like what a lot of it does (even if as said in another thread the game is less than the sum of its parts). Similarly, underrated is another term that gets tossed hither and yon, usually by people who liked the game a lot. It's rare you'll see someone who dislikes a game and say it's underrated, because even if one dislikes it they can see how others should be able to enjoy it. Good thread, Clasher. Thanks for bringing up the topic.

YouTube is my #1 most used app. Everything I do involves that being on in the background. Discord runs in the background, but I only use it to catch up and play with my D&D group. Facebook for memes, keeping in touch with family, and talking to my partner online. D&D Beyond for 5th Edition rules and character sheet customisation. Audible/BBC Sounds/Spotify for audiobooks and podcasts.

My partner and I are looking to buy our own home, and she's handy and financially sensible enough to handle any of that sort of work that needs doing. My pay packet's going straight to her at the end of the month seeing as I'd just spend it all on cake. The house I currently live in is owned by our local council (i.e "council housing"), so we pay rent and have essential works done on it for us per their contractual obligation. It's hit and miss, and you can't really do much about the neighbours, but it's cheap enough. I suppose it's only as good as the area you live in really.

I didn't realise it was an unpopular opinion. I really ought to follow Nintendo critique more, I imagine there's some interesting views out there. Granted, I didn't like it myself all that much but I figured it would've gone down OK with the rest of the userbase; any critique being that people were just tired of the whole DS model in general. I think that just about sums up most of Nintendo's best ideas. The Nintendo Switch gets a lot of flak for being underpowered... mostly in reference to third party games. For instance, I loved the haptic feedback on the Switch but it was hardly used for third party games, making me wonder why I didn't just play them elsewhere with a higher frame rate and graphical fidelity (and likely on sale for less, more frequently). As for the 3DS, it looked pretty neat in Super Mario 3D Land, but beyond that I can't see many developers using it in their games all that well. Even then I generally don't see many good applications for 3D; it's novelty rapidly wears thin and isn't worth the eye-strain it put me through. I wouldn't be surprised, but it's food for thought: how do game developers feel about making games for consoles where the gimmicks are so intrinsically tied to it? Can you make a game for the 3DS without the 3D feature and charge more than the '2D' version of the system because it's a newer model? And how does that compare to home consoles' gimmicks?

I'm not quite sure if this counts, but the way you can impact your environment via destruction in Dark Messiah of Might & Magic is incredible. They really thought of everything, from cutting ropes on bridges to cause enemies to fall, to having chandeliers swing into patrols. There was also the beginnings of The Elder Scrolls IV: The Shivering Isles, where you could kill off or render insane a group of adventurers entering a dungeon. Not to mention getting a pleasant view of the Realm of the Mad God if you decided to hit him.

The closest thing I've seen to things being 'figured out' is Rocksmith's CDLC (custom downloadable content), where people upload music on third party sites with the Rocksmith elements to play along to in order to be scored at the end. It's still using copyrighted material without permission, but Ubisoft turn a blind eye as long as you're not up/downloading songs they're selling as official DLC. It would be nice to have some more music games and such, but copyright is a legal minefield that appears to be at its worst in music.

As @Empire rightly points out though, there's a lot of time between now and when Netflix Pass is filled with enough games to be competitive and plug the subscription haemorrage. We saw this with Google Stadia, which - memes aside - had enough users and was still killed off despite having all the time and money in the world to see development. Netflix is just as bad for killing off their projects by failing to renew seasons or commission pitches. They lack the patience and commitment to see through an idea on this scale. Mobile gaming works for them because it acts as a guaranteed revenue stream, the money they put in being miniscule compared to the money they put out (unlike their shows and definitely big budget games). The "next big thing" might well be Netflix's answer to The Last of Us but video game development isn't like baking a cake, and BonusXP are hardly Fanny Craddock. Currently neither myself nor Netflix can justify the cost and time to try something different, especially when competition is so fierce.

Perhaps at the end of this particular ark with the Norse mythology, and then there'll be a reboot with Kratos again. Or perhaps Atrius will ascend to become a god of a different domain (I'm guessing the Trickster domain)? I could easily see an Overlord: Fellowship of Evil spin-off in that there's four Overlord-wannabes, and neither of them are - in this instance - Kratos. So you'd have Atreus, Batreus, Catreus and Fatreus, or whoever the equivilant of Atreus would be times three. I'm just spitballing here.🤔

I don't remember the MTV one, but I had a demo (and later the full version) of Music 2000. It was a brilliant game and which provided some some basic understanding of music mixing, and with it you could make some songs that I'd consider worth paying for. My guess as to why these games no longer exist, per the video linked above, is because Music 2000 et al invented some of the instruments and music mixing methods, now existing and having been improved/replaced by newer softwares. Music 2000 wasn't really a game any more than other audio editing software, except it was on a games console. Just because Sony Movie Studio 17 Platinum is on Steam does not mean it's a video editing game. I wouldn't mind seeing more products like this, or perhaps in the style of Rocksmith where you learn how to use the instruments as you go along, and even have game elements to them to figure out the way you best learn your setup.

It's very rare that I do. The exception I make consistently is Total War: Warhammer, all three games I preordered because they have a bonus army locked behind a pre-release paywall. I won't go any further into that because we've had three (four?) threads on the subject recently. I concur with Stray. I really want to get it: it's a game I've followed since its announcement and it's exactly the sort of thing that makes me want to pay full price to show the market I want more of this, but I'm beyond that mindset now and I currently lack the disposable income to do so for such a game. In slightly better circumstances I'd grab it in a heartbeat, but this is one I can't get upon it's release. A shame as it's the most impressive title in a long time to lure me into getting it that early.

I had to look that up and there was no way I was going to get that. Good job! Here's my nomination: "Build routine seven two one initiated."

I'll preface this by saying you've listed two so-called AAA games, so naturally their focus is going to be on streamlining to expand their userbase, rather than enhancing it (and why bother? As Justin above me says, people will pay for it after the fact - see Civilization, or any Paradox/Slitherine game for further examples.) In answer to the first game, put yourself in the dev's shoes: does custom magic work for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim? What's the use of combining spell effects when you can cast two seperately and conserve Magicka? Rather than provide solutions via custom spells, they instead just provided enough spells for every eventuality, which are far and few between. Don't get me wrong, custom magic is awesome and practically broken in the player's favour in III: Morrowind, but I imagine the devs found it easier to just make a compact spell list they know is going to work, and some spells that may come in handy once in the entirety of the player's time spent with the game. Plus there's modders, which is the same reason why Blizzard doesn't do much with its UI: addons do everything without the devs needing to bog down their already volatile code. Dragon Age: Inquisition's reasoning is far more obvious to me: streamlining, or 'dumbing down'. BioWare/EA don't want to make a challenging tactical combat game, they want to make a game that will attract the most people. If that means removing the parts that make people's brains hurt like tactics and positioning, they'll do it in a pinch. Ironically, going away from the d20 system of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic has made the games all the harder to number-crunch. Sometimes it's just culling the chaff: do we need all this additional guff slowing down the game? There's some cases where the guff is the charm such as in World of Warcraft. The Kanrethad Ebonlocke questline (AKA Warlock Green Fire) was the perfect example of class design: using all of a class' spell loadout including spells that don't get much use, like minor teleportation and certain summons. It could not be completed by simply equipping better gear, but instead it tested knowledge and logical applications for your abilities. Blizzard didn't like the idea of doing that for every class though, and decided to scrap it to make the class easier for everyone to understand (read: do more damage). The good news is that those who want those features back are getting them in other games. They're not as well known, marketed, or even developed, but the old adage of 'if you build it, they will come' applies. CRPGs and strategy games especially are the genres I've seen where these developments are occurring. Don't like the current trends of Big Gaming? Look to the past or to those lesser lit corners of Steam.

I always take whatever Gamers™ say is the "true" anything with a pinch of salt (read: utter contempt). I've seen too many people with unwashed arses and ill-fitting clothes tell me what is true or not, and quite frankly I don't care for being told what "true gamers" do. My ideal experience is playing on Easy, mowing through the ranks of the unholy as a supersoldier. If that's wrong, I don't want to be right. Having said that, I don't begrudge anyone for playing on Hard mode and above: it's supposed to be set in Hell after all, and what better way to experience that than to use the zippy movement and bunnyhopping to evade overwhelming firepower? It's a shame too many people however begrudge me for liking the opposite end of the difficulty spectrum. The 'true' experience is what you like. Whether others agree, including the developers, is another matter entirely.

My cat would sit on my laptop when I played games at my mum's. Or more appropriately on my wrist. In the middle of a dungeon in World of Warcraft. Maybe she liked my Feral Druid's cat form roaming around in lush jungles?

Some good choices here. @StaceyPowers, do you have any particular games you'd like to nominate? Super Lucky's Tale: Gilly Island. When I was going through my Hawaiian shirt phase, this beach level with its beauteous soundtrack had everything I could've hoped for. A gorgeous hubworld with great levels that fit the theme better than any other, it's a shame that it was carved out content from the base game. It features one of the original cat antagonists, and doesn't really add anything to hide the fact it's just another level. Still, if it's good for one thing it's that it's a suitable candidate for this thread. Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon. Though the novelty wore thin, its 80s action film aesthetic with various pop culture references served long enough to see it through this short expansion. It was easy to become dramatically overpowered but that suited the constant warring that you'd see take over the island. A fine homage that knows what it's doing, unlike so, so many other 80s nostalgia attempts. Far Cry 5: Hearts of Darkness. Likely named such because it's set in Vietnam, like Apocalypse Now, which is a loose adaptation of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness novel. Now that's out of the way, it's a decent attempt at a shooter set during the conflict in Viet Nam, appropriate for Far Cry 5's "search and destroy" objectives in its sandbox. Seperated from your unit, you must rescue other soldiers, take down key parts of the opposition's forces, and survive a final showdown at the end of the expansion. It's short but it does what it wants to well. Assassin's Creed IV: Freedom Cry. You play as Adewale freeing slaves and shooting people with cannons. I think that's enough commentary to sell anyone on it. A shameless plug, and do let me know if this is too much because I linked a video of my own yesterday, but I did a series of DLC reviews called "Downloadable Discontent" (a name shamelessly nicked from Jim Stephanie Sterling's Jimquisition episode), featuring reviews of two DLCs mentioned here. The playlist can be found here.

If there have been any they would've been discussed a very long time ago. The toys-to-life craze ended quite a while ago, but I still enjoy talking about them and what could have been. Were I a lot less environmentally conscious I'd probably be glad to hear news of their return if that were to happen. It appears that won't be the case, seeing as there's no word on Guitar Hero - the fantastic plastic before TTL - coming back yet. I'd bought practically all of the Skylanders games but didn't have a phone compatible for the mobile games, which only used the codes that came in the boxes with the stickers and Top Trumps-like cards. They were the best out of the 'big three', the other two being Disney Something or Other, and Lego Dimensions. Disney didn't really offer much to me, bearing in mind I was in my early 20s and I wouldn't have much joy with it as a child because sandbox gameplay was never really my thing. As for Lego it was too much effort setting up the portal, but the game itself pretty decent. It's more Lego for those who want it, now with actual Lego. I do still own a lot of my figures, which I've kept in case I play D&D with them one day, or some other purpose. But would I like them to make a comeback? ...no. As much as I like physical media, toys like this which aren't really built or made to last that long shouldn't be made. I appreciate that they're a drop in the ocean (no pun intended) compared to the other environmental impacts of plastic in our waters, but the less there is the better. If TTL have to stop existing to help that, so be it. I will say that at least Nintendo characters are recognisable and have developed a fan following. You could have one on your desk and say "oh, that's so-and-so, from this-and-that." But even then they would mostly gather dust once you'd linked it to your device/game. Plus they were decently modelled, and didn't have elaborate designs that made for poor machine-painting. Amen. It was like the plastic instrument phases: everyone loved them... until they didn't, and it came to the point where - among other collectable tat with physical media, Ubisoft being the worst for this - stores simply stopped taking them because they didn't have the room for it. My local CeX would only take the games, not the instruments because it was that bad. Not even charity shops were picking them up in my area, including the one I worked at for a while. I agree with oversaturation, even Skylanders alone struggled to stand on its own two feet with the amount of releases it had and staggered content. People just couldn't afford multiple of these games, even when they were in their final days selling the larger gimmicky figures 3 for £15 (given they were £15+ per figure on release). I found the games to be good, but not £60+ good on launch. What's left of the darkSpyro forum would like to have a word with you. 😅 Only joking. Missing those times greatly! In closing, I think I said everything I wanted to in this video about why they came and went. It's a fairly long unscripted talk, but it covers the various reasons why I think Skylanders at least struggled. The TL;DR for why Toys-to-Life struggled could be accurately summed up as "Activision-Blizzard," given their handling of Guitar Hero. However it's nice to talk about TTL in general and the specifics as to why they went down the portal of power. Thanks for this thread, Yaramaki. It's nice to look back on these things every now and again, and maybe their future with Amiibo still going.

It's not an admonishment or anything (not that I have any such authority to begin with), just a recommendation 😅. I only say this because the forums get clogged with off-topic stuff very easily and it just creates more work for the mods reminding people to stay on topic. ~ Now I've derailed things I'll make it up to the OP: I was going to say Warhammer in general because it's not until recently that things have gone beyond "Blood Ravens fight Orks which are driven by Chaos which has attracted Tyrannids and must ally with the Eldar to stop them." However, I think Space Hulk has gone on long enough. It's a turn-based tactics game with hard-and-fast rules where you play as Terminator Space Marines versus Genestealers. That's it. I'm astonished that it's taken as many installments as it has to reach the point where we have multiple Space Marine Chapters. The only true innovation there's been was a Left 4 Dead style FPS which takes away the authenticity of being in Tactical Dreadnought Armour by being, err, playable. And here comes Darktide, doing the same thing but with slightly less powerful (in lore, but not in game) units.

They can learn this in addition to Maths & English, much like any other subject being taught besides those two. When I was in primary school we had computers installed toward the end of my time there, which helped me decide that I wanted to get into IT and games design for middle school. I still want to know what that Noddy game was all about though... Not gonna lie, the marketing worked on me too. It's made me genuinely curious about this, to say I'm not that big on these sorts of coding game. Gonna have to wait a few days for the price. ~ I'm pleased to know that more children will be introduced to S.T.E.M fields through this. I hope it proves an educational experience that will boost the argument that video games can be good for people, rather than just a PR stunt.

I think you might be posting this in the wrong thread: General Gaming Discussion, Last Game Played or the Pickup Thread might be a better choice, seeing as Unpacking isn't a franchise that's had a chance to go on for longer than it should. ~ I choose Warcraft for this thread. It ran out of steam before its first expansion, the climactic fight at Blackwing Lair being evidence because it was designed as a total joke. Illidan Stormrage's line of 'death was merely a setback' began a precedent that previously only existed in comic books. Its characters have long since been tired and unmotivated, expansion plot hooks being stretched beyond the imagination. The engine is sluggish, and beneath what few mechanics are left to streamline is a poorly organised heap of code that can't be rejiggered in case the whole KerPlunk configuration comes crashing down in on itself. You could make a World of Warcraft 2. You could alienate what few players you have left, pile a load of money into an MMO that could only wish to be half as successful as the original game in its twilight days, and you could bring about a new beginning that can't take off while the old lore didn't get the swan song it so rightfully deserved. I'd say it'd be better to quit now than continue development, but at the same time we're past the point where Warcraft can have a dignified end. When it dies it'll be recorded only as a pathetic footnote in the history of gaming despite all the impact it had on the industry for all the years that it did. What Blizzard didn't do with Warcraft is the only thing people will ultimately care about bittersweetly, and fortunately for its legacy, there's a lot to think about in that regard.

I think they want to play it safe especially after Amazon's series of hits and misses, not to mention the pessimistic attitude that appears to prevail with their unreleased titles. They seem to have curried favour with a particular developer: BonusXP, whose biggest project was Netflix's own The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance - Tactics... my least-favourite video game that I've ever played, and that's saying something. But that's as big-budget they've gone, and if that's the best dev they can find for a Jim Henson licensed film and Stranger Things video games - their flagship show - then I don't want to imagine who they'll want to contract for a so-called AAA game. I think the best we can expect until Netflix gets its backside in gear is an asymetric PvP game set in the Stranger Things universe akin to Dead by Daylight. I haven't seen enough of it to say if that's an appropriate example, so my next bet is a Telltale-style game, perhaps with a different cast and monster of the week.

The line "we couldn’t make an FMV article without talking about Night Trap" told me a worrying amount about this article, but at least they disclosed that so soon. There's some decent choices on there, the newer ones especially, but I wouldn't be surprised if they hadn't played any of these for the sake of a quick article given their surface-level takes. I'll admit I'm mostly just bitter about the lack of Final Liberation: Epic 40,000, which is the gold standard for Warhammer, FMV games and surprisingly 40K cosplay. Take your disagreements up with Commissar Holt. Thanks for sharing the article all the same. It's nice for FMV games to get some more attention even with that site's tepid takes.

As said in a recent thread of yours, I'd nominated the developers of Stray to do a sequel to Dog's Life, a game where you play as a dog and do dog things like playing in parks, sniffing things and pooping. You also solve puzzles that will uptimately put a stop to a crazy cat lady's nefarious scheme to impound all dogs. It was a really fun collectathon that put a unique twist on things. Stray saw the money on the table and just picked it up without any resistance in nearly 20 years. I imagine due to its greater success and coverage we'll see a lot more games like it. I hope we do. EDIT: Just seen you quote my post in said thread. Great minds think alike!

It is available in single-player, and the friendly AI is oftentimes better than the already laser-precise enemy NPCs. You get two squads of two to customise and boss around, meaning you can sit back in safety while they breach and clear, but you may need to do all the restraining/gathering evidence/reporting arrests & deaths yourself (you can get your teammates to do it but it's cumbersome). In a game like Dark Souls I make the distinction between difficult and punishing, but Ready or Not is both: enemies aren't restricted to the same things as the player like calling for surrender, can take a few more poorly placed shots, and execute civilians. You're not going to get an A+ rating on your first attempt of any map, unless it's one where you're up against muggers and methheads (the lesser known Dungeons & Dragons competitor). The game is clearly made for co-op with comms (you can't possibly hope to succeed without voice chat) and there is limited player-versus-player multiplayer in the training course area (with those you invite to go through with it). I wouldn't recommend paying its full asking price for single-player, but if you can get a bunch of mates together you're in for a polished Early Access SWAT romp. PS: The other games I mentioned were off the top of my head. More appropriate examples would've been Squad and Ground Branch.

Rare took way more flak than was deserved for Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, so I'd like to see them do a LEGO game. They clearly know their stuff when it comes to characters, mechanics, world design, physics and whatever else is required to make that sort of game with the property that should've been used. Bandai-Namco, having made Klonoa and Pac-Man World back in ye olden days (I'm pleased to say Klonoa stealth-released on Steam earlier this month if people want to check it out) would probably do a good job of a Donkey Kong or Mario game. Or more fitting Crash Bandicoot given the linearity in true 2.5D fashion of Klonoa, or the compact spaces of Pac-Man World. BlueTwelve Studio behind Stray doing a Dog's Life sequel would be pawsome. I've not yet had chance to play Stray but the reviews can't all be wrong, and honestly the principles behind the two games are similar enough to warrant belief they could do good work with the idea. Finally, off the top of my head, Harebrained Schemes doing taking Fallout back to its CRPG roots. They did astounding work with the Shadowrun Returns trilogy, Dragonfall my favourite (and seemingly the most critically acclaimed). They write well, their dry wit and sense of humour would work for the setting, and their turn-based mechanics are far more fluid than most in the genre. I can see myself returning to this thread, I like this idea a lot. Thanks for sharing it with us, Kane.

That episode is one of my favourites. Like the one in the OP, I find it fascinating how the creators take a fairly mundane happening and snowball it out of proportion. What I'd give to be a fly on the wall when they're in the writing room.