Posts made by bam541

@jdincinerator if you have some left over time from the first run, you can do a second run as long as the timer's still up. Even pausing will not stop the timer.

Just tried out the Village demo on PS4. Man, that's such a good demo! I'm particularly impressed by the voice acting, everyone did quite well and it actually got me to care for the characters in such a short time. I tried it out on Casual difficulty and
it's already pretty intense for me, as someone who usually avoids horror stuff. Also, it looks and runs pretty decent on base PS4. RE Engine continues to prove how flexible it is.

Just finished ICO (PS3 remaster)... and I can't believe how good this game is! There's no better example of a game's quality being more than the sum of its parts.

First of all, Bluepoint must have done something with the controls and such, because I think this controls way better than TLG and the SOTC remake. I can't believe that the OG version would control like this. I never got really annoyed during the platforming parts, and while "controlling" Yorda around can be a bit finicky, it never gets worse than slowing me down for a few seconds. Same thing for the camera. I was surprised about the fixed cameras at first, but it turned out great for me. It made the game look way more cinematic without bothering the gameplay too much.

The castle's atmosphere is top notch. It feels empty/deserted, but in this sinister kind of way. It would have been so uncomfortable for me to explore on my own. It's also backed up by very effective ambiance and a handful of creepy tracks. The design of the castle is also pretty great, especially considering that all of castle's sections feels like they're actually connected and existing in a real world.

Story wise, it's definitely Ueda-san's most minimalist work. I really like that Yorda's personality is mostly shown through her mannerisms, like shaking her head frantically when I keep bugging her to follow me up a path she can't take. I also love that I can see the main character and Yorda asleep on the couch whenever I return to the game after loading a save file, it's super cute.

I think this is a unpopular opinion, but Ico is easily Ueda-san's finest game for me. I have no noteworthy complaints about it. Absolute masterpiece. (10/10)

@brawlman I'm so happy that SoR 4 end up being successful. The Beat Em Up genre gonna be even bigger this gen, starting with that TMNT game.

I feel like if I never played games, it would have been harder for me to be empathetic to people, or to see from others' perspective. Even back when stories in games weren't so well executed, I think I grasped a lot from the experience of being put into various situations and having to deal with obstacles to progress. I think the biggest example of this is that I tend to think a lot about how people would feel about something I might do, and that's related to my experience with RPGs like Dragon Age Origins and Mass Effect, and a bunch of visual novels, all of which I played at a pretty young age.

With games, even if I'm only there to act things out without making real choices for the story, there's just so much more that I can take away from the experience, and I have rarely been as engaged when I'm watching movies or reading books. It's like when you learn how to do things better if you actually try to do them, instead of just watching or reading instructions and calling it a day.

I also got into photography because of the photo mode trend that started during the last gen, which is honestly one of my favorite parts of that generation. I found out that I really like messing around with view angles, composition, and all of those other technical stuff, and games are so perfect for it because it's so easy and immediate to see the results of what I played around with. I was gifted a mirrorless camera not long after I really got into photo modes as well, which pretty much seals the deal on my love for photography.

@shoulderguy half of the games on S tier are on Hall of Greats already, I wonder when the other ones will follow suit...

@shoulderguy I forgot about those flashback scenes! There's some endearing character moments there for sure. There's also some really beautiful environments during those scenes, like the night time one in the forest.

@scotty just played ICO for an hour and it's so good. If nothing goes horribly wrong, it's on track to be my favorite Ueda game.

I haven't played Bully since like 2009, really excited to jump in again.

I actually still have one more batch of games I want to buy if I have the cash to spare, hopefully nothing goes wrong.

@jdincinerator It's kinda funny to me that Immortals and Genshin Impact, which are the most prominent BOTW clones to me (each put their own spin on it ofc), came out pretty close to each other. Like, I guess 3 years is enough time for game devs when they already have a strong base to build on.

@dipset I think that's a case of the sales being mostly driven by the quality of the previous game (CoD 4 in this case, obviously). I personally just like how violent and visceral the game is (spraying down enemies with a LMG and hacking of their limbs feels so good), and I'm personally always been more interested in the Pacific/Japanese side of WWII so it was quite a fun time for me. Funny analogy, btw.

The previous generation of consoles (finally got used to saying that) have produced many genre defining games that will perhaps influence its future peers, which we'll see more clearly as time goes on, and more developers are able to fully incorporate the new ideas from those games into their own. My question to y'all is: What are the games from this era that you think will be very influential? And how exactly will that influence manifest? Think of it as a prediction of sorts. It can be a negative or positive influence. Focus on PC-PS4-Xbone-Switch games, maybe Wii U as well if you think there's something worth mentioning.

There's a lot that I would like to mention, but I'll limit myself to just one so you guys can chime in as well. Right now I'm feeling super optimistic, so I want to say that I think Hades will be very influential, considering the workplace controversies in 2020 surrounding prominent devs like Naughty Dog. Supergiant handled the development of Hades very well, with them launching to early access before 2020, and using the advantages of said system to it's fullest, resulting in a widely celebrated and beloved game, while not pushing the capabilities of the development team beyond humane limits. I want to believe that many devs out there, indie or not, are looking at this as an example of a very viable way to develop great games in the future. Outside of that, I have seen many devs in awe of the things that Hades did, and the systems in the game. I haven't played it myself so I can't be too confident in that, but I'm sure roguelike games especially in the future would look up to Hades.

P.S. obviously there are a couple of games that have been released way earlier in this gen that already have many examples of their influences in other game. Feel free to mention that as well if you like, I think it's cool to celebrate games like that.

@el-shmiablo ah, I forgot about Respawn. I already played those, Titanfall 2 is one of the best FPS I ever played. I hope they keep making shooters somehow, I know they're probably working on the next Fallen Order game which I also enjoyed.

@el-shmiablo lol, I definitely understand where you're coming from with Treyarch, but I personally really like the Black Ops series a lot, at least the first three games. World at War is also one of my favorite CoD campaigns ever. They definitely feel a bit lacking in terms of gunplay feel and tech compared to the other games.

On a not-too-related note, I've been wanting to play Infinite Warfare and the new MW just to sample how well IW is doing these days. Maybe I'll get a cheap used copy somewhere.

@dipset this kinda reminds me of the CoD 4 - World at War situation way back then. Infinity Ward leading the charge with a fresh take on the franchise, then Treyarch having to deal with being the "step-backwards" game because they didn't fully take advantage of IW's tech yet. I guess with having multiple studios, things like this will happen every once in a while.

@dipset CoD stays on top, and there's just nothing we can do about it, lol. Kinda glad that I've successfully jumped off the CoD train years ago.

Mat Piscatella's 2021 March NPD thread (click it to see the whole thing)

The most interesting tidbits here for me include the fact that PS5 is the fastest selling console in US history (5 months so far), and MH Rise is selling really well (number 2 on March's bestseller). Sony and Capcom doing pretty well this year so far.

P.S. forgot to mention how well Spider-Man Miles Morales is selling.

Started collecting cassette tapes about 2 weeks ago, here's what I got so far. Got these for about 23 US bucks.

Companion stream for episode 4:

Youtube Video

@sheria yeah, the translation seems really well written so far.