Shagger

@Crazycrab @Shagger Thank you very much for your detailed comments on all of this. The very fact I am going to have to re-read both of your posts multiple times to grok the levelling system tells me how convoluted they made it ... I screwed up levelling in Skyrim on my first playthrough but easily figured out what went wrong and how to fix it next time. And I am now almost positive I have levelled badly so far in Oblivion.

Do people actually use pick up lines? Since the 90s? People have always approached me with more normal human interaction. Level playing field, nobody playing an active or passive role. That is if I haven't hunted them down first. Muahaha! 
Pfft. If you want to pick me up, and make it stick for a decade, you have to go death metal. Say "who likes Arch Enemy?" and you'll have me wrapped around your finger! 😄 (Fortunatelhy my partner of 12 years is a metal head too. Though at the night we met we (somewhat drunkenly) danced to something as soft and romantic as "sweet child of mine" and since he's 15 years older than me, and I was only 21, that song made sense and stuck with us, so I still go all soft and remember that faithful Christmas party 12 years ago when I hear it. That's how we picked each other up.). 
 

"It's a Nintoaster. And yes, it works."

And I thought I had seen everything with AVGN's toaster Nintendo.

From what I've seen, the next-gen systems will be significantly more powerful, but use pretty much the same kind of tech as before. So in terms of functionality, it will probably be pretty much the same. Maybe that's what he meant. It's possible he did mean graphics as well, and if he did, he might have a point. Graphics are hitting a glass ceiling. It's getting to the point you can increase the power and graphics processing capabilities of a system several times over and make less and less of a difference.
The "next gen", at least for Sony and Microsoft, has been about better graphics and little else for too long. There's been very little effort put into innovating how we use consoles or enhancing the gameplay experience. Microsoft didn't sell it well at the announcement of the XBox One, they put too much emphasis on it, but using the console as an entrainment hub to access your TV services as well as games and streaming and control it all through one device was cool idea. PlayStation have PSVR, but VR is really an old idea that we only recently have been able to develop the technology to make it work decently, so I wouldn't call it innovative. Then there's Nintendo. Like them or not, they're the only major gaming hardware manufacturer who actually tries to enhance the gameplay experience rather than just focus on graphics. Some of their experiments work better than others of course, but what matters is that they try each time.

Sticky from Fallout 3
 

 
If you've played the game, you know why.

Done

The problem with Oblivion and one of the major reasons why it can get really hard, especially further on in the game, is the levelling system. TL;DR, it's busted as all hell.
I'll go through how it works for those who don't know. To build your character, near the start of the game you either a chose a class or create a class with seven major skills chosen out of all the 21 available skills and two favoured attributes. The favoured attributes only start a little higher and that's it, so don't factor into how the levelling system works, but the major skills do. This is the image I found on google to show an example of a major skill list. This came from a player who has clearly completely fucked this up, and I'll explain why soon.
 

 
Major skills start higher and level faster that the other minor skills and contribute to levelling up your character, making it very tempting to make major skills as the ones that matter most to you, but this can cause issues, and again those will be explained. You simply level skills by using them. You hit the next level when you improve your major skills a combined total of 10 times. You can still raise minor skills by using them, just like major ones. All the skills, both minor and major attain to an attribute. This is the screen you see when you level up;
 

 
Here, for example, you can see the attribute "Strength" governing the Blunt, Blade and Hand-to-Hand combat skills. Each level up you can improve these attributes by a certain amount, that's where those numbers, like the 3 next to strength come in. That number can be as high as 5, and count up 1 each you improve its three governed skills, minor or major, on two occasions between them as you progress through the level. So, for example, if this player raised Blunt, Blade and Hand-to-Hand a total of 10 times or more between them, he could raise strength by 5 the next time he/she levels up. Obviously, what you want to do is level skills attaining to three different attributes 10 times each level, that way to can up raise your attribute points the maximum of 15 total each level, it's the only way to level your character efficiently. You want a pen and paper at your side and take note each time you improve a skill and note what attribute it's governed by. Seriously.
 
Now think about it, what if this player had Blunt, Blade and Hand-to-Hand all selected as major skills? He/she can only improve major skills ten times before levelling up, so he/she would have to be extremely careful to level up NONE of his/her other major skills if he/she wants to raise strength by than maximum of 5 and of course remember use skills attaining to two other attributes 10 times and none of those skills can be major skills, only minor. This will happen every time the player wants to level up strength.
 
That's why the player who picked all magic for major skills fucked up. First, with the possible exceptions of Restoration and Destruction, never pick magic as major skills in this game even if you are a mage. Those skills are very easy to level in Oblivion and you can max them out much earlier if you just leave them as minor skills. Second, he/she now has issue where it's gonna be very difficult to level Intelligence and Willpower, the two most important attributes for mage, efficiently. And of course, once you've settled on those major skills, there's no way back.
 
It's the same when people pick all the weapon skills or all the stealth skills as major. It makes levelling to improve your most important attributes a nightmare and can leave you weaker than the level of the game and's that's what dictates the strength of the enemies. I think a lot of people aren't even fully aware of how the attribute points really work and/or don't bother keep track of what skills they've improved and how many times each level and that's why they have problems. Also, don't do quests that will lead to special weapons or armour until level 25 as those items also have to level up and don't hit their max until then.
 
This is why I hate this levelling system. To make it work for you have to be so calculating and careful to the point where you could say it's hard to even enjoy the game. And Bethesda knew the fucked up as they borrowed ideas from Fallout 3 to make Skyrim's levelling system and it is much better.
 
There are other issues, like @StaceyPowers pointed out. The AI that will go to the ends of universe to kill you and mini games that take some getting used to, but it's mostly the levelling system that's the root of this game's issues

UPDATE
The Series x will support backwards compatibly all the way back to the original Xbox and be compatible with XB1 peripherals, although that was to be expected. I do think some idiots work at Polygon though. The headline is "Four Generations of Backwards Compatibility" when this is only the fourth XBox. Twits
In any case, here's Polygon's article.

You're right for the most part. It really doesn't make a difference what platform a game is on 99% of the time. But we all know there's some asshole out there that just wants to pick a fight, and will argue that a game is impossible to play on one platform but is easy to play on another, when there's no damn difference.

Indeed. I do remember Cinderella getting trigged and going on a massive twitter rant about much Vannile offended her.

Snow from FFXIII

 
This self-righteous douche canoe is so annoying and dumb blind to what is going around him it's almost funny, but it stays in cringe. His abilities are useful in combat, but I can't stand the character. The game tries everything humanly possible to make you like him, but none of it works.
 
He is so beyond salvageable as a character that even having him played by Troy Baker couldn't save him. Think about that.

And interesting topic. Well thought up.
 
I think we will. It may not be exactly like it is on Star Trek, but I do see this being technically possible in our lifetime. What I find more interesting is how holodecks are featured culturally. Video games, whilst they have gained some serious stock and are more respected than ever as a mature pastime, aren't yet respected in the world of culture as perhaps they should be. The "holo-novels" in Star Trek, which are basically like role-playing narrative games, are a cultural expression held in no lower stature than classic novel would be today. I know that video games will be respected like that someday, but I would like to think that time is closer than how long it'll take for technology to get that advanced. They also use holodecks for training, experiments as well as recreation, and I see that in the future of gaming technology as well.

And interesting topic. Well thought up.
 
I think we will. It may not be exactly like it is on Star Trek, but I do see this being technically possible in our lifetime. What I find more interesting is how holodecks are featured culturally. Video games, whilst they have gained some serious stock and are more respected than ever as a mature pastime, aren't yet respected in the world of culture as perhaps they should be. The "holo-novels" in Star Trek, which are basically like role-playing narrative games, are a cultural expression held in no lower stature than classic novel would be today. I know that video games will be respected like that someday, but I would like to think that time is closer than how long it'll take for technology to get that advanced. They also use holodecks for training, experiments as well as recreation, and I see that in the future of gaming technology as well.

If you're asking if these games are available on multiple platforms including Xbox then yes, at least the more recent games. If you're asking if you can interact with players on other platforms and/or switch platforms to play the game same game account with the same save file then no, you can't. Most of these games are single player anyway.

And right way I've got issues. First, the name, it's dangerously close to XBox One X. There's a very real possibility that someone can accidentally buy the wrong console. Maybe I'm overacting, but I actually thought Scarlett was better.
 
Second, it looks like something one would mallet into the ground to build a fence.
 
But then there was this, in full game rendered footage, and I find myself falling in love...
 
Haven't seen much talk of features yet, and Microsoft hasn’t addressed reports of the company’s plans for two next-gen consoles, but the Xbox “Series” X naming does suggest there won’t be just a single console. We understand Microsoft is planning two new consoles for Series X, with a second lower priced and less powerful console planned alongside the more powerful main console.
 
For nerds, the Xbox Series X will include a custom-designed CPU based on AMD’s Zen 2 and Radeon RDNA architecture. Microsoft is also using an NVMe SSD on Xbox Series X, which promises to boost load times. Xbox Series X will also support 8K gaming, frame rates of up to 120 fps in games, ray tracing, and variable refresh rate support.

I'd also recommended The Outer Worlds. From the same studio that made Fallout New Vegas

Discord is basically a platform centred around gaming that allows people to group up and chat through both text and voice. Users can join and create servers on the discord platform for friends, members of their community or the public to join.
 
More details on their website.

This pretty much reflects my thoughts. I'm a multi-plat gamer and hold no sense of brand loyalty, but the PS4 killed it with its exclusive games and Sony knows and wants to keep that going. Microsoft I think have also learned from that and thus have put a lot of investment in new studios and stuff over the last couple of years and that I think the next Xbox will have some superb games, just not right away.

I will probably go for the PS5 just because of the exclusives, but I will wait until TES6 comes out.

I understand, and you have a point, Discord can take activity away from forums. It happened at another community I was part with, but that was much larger community that was more focused around community play and basically started using Discord to replace Teamspeak (PSA, teamspeak is a garbage app), so it didn't affect the activity on the threads too badly. I won't say anything else about that community other that it's problems and collapse came for different reasons. They're technically still active, and I was a game leader and even a moderator over there for a while, but I'm long over wanting anything to do with them.
Anyway, like you I am keen to hear other member's thoughts on this as well. It can help communities grow, but it really depends on what is said communities focus.

And if there isn't one, I think it could be a good idea to have one. Live chat and discussions between members through both text and voice, mod tools and lobbying to play games together. Discord has free and very well polished apps on PC and mobile devices, so can be used as a chat server between PC and console users. AI've seen a lot of communities use this service to great effect. I know I'm new, but I think it's something worth considering.

It's pessimistic, but I have to agree
The professional relationship between Kojima and Konami is shattered. Even if they did work on this together the environment would be, if anything, even more toxic than it was with MGS5 and that could only hurt the game. Komami is a company that just happen to own a lot of gaming related IP's, but isn't actually that interested in making video games. They'll publish their annual sports cash cows and publish other games here and there to claim relevancy in the gaming industry, but seek to actually make money elsewhere. You know what, let 'em.  A great game never made is a lesser evil compared to a terrible game ruining a franchise's legacy from a company that doesn't care. And because it seems Komami isn't will to sell these IPs, the latter is the best we can expect from any Komani game for the moment.

Well, here it is.
 
In my as always humble opinion, it wasn't brilliant. Nice to see confirmation of Resident Evil 3 Remake and more info on Kingdom Hearts 3 Re:Mind was gonna please fans, but that Ghost Of Tsushima trailer was a trailer for a trailer and most of the other games were duds or have very limited appeal, like Superliminal and Dreams as well as Paper Beast as a game that's already strange, but also VR. This opened with Untitled Goose Game... the perfect start and a great omen.
 
Onto my thoughts on the other stuff. Predator: Hunting Grounds will be Evolve and Friday the 13nth all over again, except I do see it being a pay-to-win, microtransaction laden leech. They're already doing "pre-order to win", so the intentions for this are very clear to me already. Spellbreak has potential, but a battle royal game trying to appeal to RPG fans? I'm sue about that. I do want to be wrong because it does look cool. It's totally right for PlayStation to celebrate 25 years and that message from Ken Kutaragi was sweet, if a bit short, so I'm not going to grudge that part, but let's be honest, it wasn't very useful.
 
However, there was one shining star. The very appealing partnership of Square Enix and Platinum Games came out swinging with this;
 
This looks amazing. This is probably still to early in development to draw any real conclusions and the release is probably a long way off, but this looks incredible. Getting some very nice Devil May Cry vibes. This, for me, was definitely the highlight.
 
So what are you taking away from the State of Play. Anything you're looking forward to?

Developer SimulaM, creator of classics such as Car Mechanic Simulator 2018, has announced a new game where you play as Jesus. Doing his Jesusy stuff...
 
 
Now, before we dismiss this, just think about it.
 
Video games are created as an entertainment media made to empower the player. Whether it be lifting the Champions League in FIFA, or slaying the mighty dragon in Skyrim, all good games exist to make the player feel lke they are more than what they are and believe they can be. Playing as Jesus? Playing literally as God? Performing miracles and creating an influence so important that it would become foundation of modern civilization itself? That has got to be the most empowering concept ever! A game with potential as limitless as the power of the great deities! And... log it all as Polaroids in your journal... just like Jesus did... potential!
 
 
 
...or maybe...
 
 
...just maybe...
 
 
...this game is fucking stupid.