Posts made by DIPSET

Also, not to beat a dead horse but Cyberpunk 2077 is a pretty big disappointment.

I wasn't excited through the roof or anything, but this game was a long time in the making and I obviously expected more from CDPR when they made one of my favourite RPG series in The Witcher. I was quite literally a 130 pound pipsqueak high schooler when the game was announced. I'm now an out of shape jaded adult haha. That's how much time passed since it's announcement and in that time CDPR hyped the shit outta this game.

Yesterday I went back and watched two pre-release CP77 videos. One was that PowerPoint presentation that the CDPR studio head Marcin gave back in like 2012. And the other was from the Xbox E3 event in 2019. Here are the promises from the 2012 video: https://youtu.be/OAATUe9uBI8

It's mostly subjective whether they delivered but I'd definitely say there is barely any connecting tissue to pen and paper RPG systems, let alone other common video game RPG systems for that matter. I feel like your skill checks, dialogue options, and freedom of choice are pretty limited. I can think of one or two instances in 20 hours where I even needed a skill check in dialogue and I've replayed scenes that ultimately play out the same way despite how I do things.

I wouldn't normally hold a PowerPoint presentation against them but the hype truly did start here when you make statements like: "SET NEW STANDARD IN THE FUTURISTIC RPG GENRE [...] If you don't believe me, play our Witcher games"

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Likewise, in the E3 video, they claim stuff like (paraphrasing) "Cyberpunk 2077 will be the next generation of role playing experiences."

Those are some pretty bold claims. It's one thing when fan expectations get blown out of proportion, but it's another when you make these claims, then give journalists a highly polished vertical slice preview build so they too report on how great everything is, then finally you release a half baked turkey.

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Ultimately, I can live with it. I've decided to put my game on pause and let the team keep cooking those sweet sweet updates, but I can't help but be a bit disappointed because I love these types of cRPG's.

@mbun

I basically love 99% of the output of Q-Games going back to Pixel Junk Racers back when my mind was blown away that you could download video games, but Eden was always the dark horse of their catalogue for me.

A) It came at a time when my dumb teenaged brain needed a bit more stimulation, and B) Something was always a bit "off" with the gameplay for me. I'm kinda surprised they gave it a sequel, but tbh I hadn't even heard of it until you brought it up. I might look into it just because I love Pixel Junk, but at the same time, maybe I should give the original Eden a better chance.

Vampire The Masquerade 2 delay and general news (or lack thereof) surrounding its production.

I actually have a lot of faith in the game. The original is a classic in my eyes and everything discussed and shown for this sequel is working for me, but you can't be firing the lead writer and series creator without even telling him why. I don't necessarily believe him. I feel like something nefarious happened behind the scenes to be honest but I can't substantiate that.

@phbz

I actually think the takeaway the writer was putting out there is that this isn’t unique to Cyberpunk. This happens all over the industry and it’s kinda similar to his other reports. Sort of like a loose “why even make games” sentiment hidden somewhere in there.

I feel like in my TV production world I hear people say things like “well when I worked on this show, we only needed 3 pose artists, so why does this show need 7?” and I can’t help but get annoyed because not all shows are made equal, they don’t all have the same budgets, talent, etc.

So it’s hard enough to schedule in an industry that is very pipeline driven with tried and true formulas for getting it done. I can’t even begin to imagine how to build a pipeline for a game with this much stuff going on. And obviously management doesn’t want to sit and wait to test out different options of production when they can just start DOING and adapt later.

Basically, I’m not surprised. Not sure what the fix for these massive games having development woes other than get less ambitious, don’t announce a release date and be open to stopping and reassessing problems as you go along.

Easier said than done. And what incentive do they have to change things? The game sold well and somehow reviewed well too.

@naltmank

I don’t think you’ll need a guide but just do all of Mementos. I actually enjoyed it but I respect the opinion of people who don’t like Mementos.

Either way, you gotta finish it to get the true ending.

The reveal trailer was insanely staged so the delay makes sense but I assumed they were going to just do a one month marketing push. I always prefer the 2-4 weeks campaign anyways.

But clearly I was wrong. They gotta get those $27.99 skins ready. Have Season 1-2 locked n loaded before launch.

@mbun

But like... Let's Go Pikachu for example has 5 cutscenes and they are barely animated. We're talking one walk cycle here. Cycles that already exist in other areas of the game. It's 2021.

Too far away. Just release the game Jan 21st, it's fine Capcom.

@e_zed_eh_intern

Not necessarily "forgot" so much as the willful neglect to make any attempt to modernize Pokemon. Take the default out-of-the-box character model and put it on a keyframe path and let it slide across the screen (in a cutscene), all good. Kick attack = keyframe up then footprint graphic on screen.

That kinda bullshit.

To pad the length, you should start the game shooting greasy pornos until you make enough money for the professional camera to shoot Pokémon.

I hope they remember to animate all the Pokémon in this game.

NHL is back!

My Avalanche won the NHL 21 video game Stanley Cup simulation so that means we're the champs.

Got this exact "Reverse Retro" Alternative jersey for my birthday:

Also immediately got a small black mark on the white stitching if anybody has cleaning tips (I'm a fucking idiot).

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Also very excited to watch the outdoor games this year. Again, my Avs are getting the special treatment by playing @ Lake Tahoe. It's pretty cool because they don't need a crowd so the locations are waaaaaaaay cooler than a baseball park.

This will make for amazing TV and obviously photography:

Ori and the Will of the Wisps

I downloaded this from Game Pass because why not, and I'm pretty blown away by how fun this is. I wasn't super interested in the original despite some friends telling me it's a good game, but the lack of worthwhile combat and most of the good stuff being in side content kept me away.

Now in this sequel, I'm really enjoying myself about 2.5 hours in. Combat very obviously took inspiration from Hollow Knight and at this point, there are a lot more similarities between these two games. Mainly, the combat feels very similar with clear enemy attack patters that require a bit of chipping away, enemies that pack a punch, and even the menu's look similar.

I went back and watched videos of Hollow Knight and it looks a bit flat by comparison to Ori in that Ori fills the frame at all times. Little BG and FG elements are animated and there is a strong composition on screen at all times. It isn't too noisy either, they just fill the screen to create a lot of depth but none of it is distracting.

In the end, I might end up liking this more than Hollow Knight. I'm now fully in on the Ori franchise if it has any legs, and if Hollow Knight was clear inspiration for this game in 2020, I can only imagine how great Hollow Knight Silksong is in 2021.

I'm actually intrigued by what their take on the "female psychopath" might be. GTA to me is somewhere between completely on the nose satire with some subtlety peppered in certain areas. We've seen the same sort of take for quite a number of years now and I think a female protagonist done well would change up the same ol same ol criticisms and jokes.

The other thing would be getting out of America. I think globalism is big enough where the same American-ism's can apply almost anywhere, but it would deviate enough to bring some freshness to the writing and backdrop.

God dammit can PS5 just become available again?

Obvious one but Dark Souls II

I actually sorta liked it, wounds and all, back in 2014, but I hit a point where I realized I just like the mechanics of Dark Souls but that can only carry me for so long.

Some levels had no thought. And I mean no thought whatsoever. I'm not trying to be snarky video game fan #348745 here. I really mean it—some levels were slapped together like words on paper the night before the essay is due. We're talking doorways to nowhere, aimless empty buildings, just pure grouty ugly eye hurting textures.

Look at this caca poo poo:

I've heard the PS4 version is better and I recently got it on sale so I'm going to give it a try, but it'll take a lot of tweaking to fix the bad levels in this game. I at least hope the disgusting textures and bad lighting are fixed. Ultimately, I'm in no rush to try it, but at least they tried to redeem themselves with the PS4 Scholar of the First Sin release.

@capnbobamous

By Wolf 3, you mean Riddick sequel which is definitely being developed on the side? Yup yup yup!

Picked up my Switch playthrough of FF7 so I can fully understand this ending then dive into spoiler modes and such. I forget so much of this game since I played it for the first time in like 2007 maybe. I definitely look forward to my whole party, including Red XIII, dressed up as sailors in "disguise".

So, other than Advent Children and Dirge of Cerberus, I don't even know about all this other FF7 spin off shit. What's the syllabus to even grasp WTF is going on here? Gonna finish FF7 on Switch then watch Advent Children, but I likely don't have to consume it all?

CBGB

Threw this on as background noise while I had to do a boring task at work. I grew up on punk rock, and I'm aware of the importance of the CBGB club, so I figured I'd give the movie a try but my fuck this script is awful.

Kinda makes you appreciate biopics like Straight Outta Compton (a movie I didn't love) because movies like that at least have a better tonal balance of drama with the occasional whimsy. This movie is just trying way too hard to be lighthearted, which is especially weird considering how ruthless the punk scene was. I mean back then, there were literal punk gangs who'd stomp one another out for fun. The tone of this movie is a mess.

Nobody can act either. Alan Rickman does a serviceable job, but his character is constantly making terrible decisions and his calm isn't much different from his angry or his happy.

Honestly, I'd rather watch a documentary about CBGB than this biopic about it's owner and the bands that shaped the punk scene. The only redeeming quality of the movie is the music: Talking Heads, Dead Boys, Blondie, Ramones, Television, etc. Again, maybe just play the records and skip the movie.

D+

Sound of Metal

What a great movie! As an able bodied person, I don't want to speak on behalf of those who are deaf or a part of Deaf culture, but I think a lot of people in that culture will appreciate this one. It's about a tried and true rock n roller having to cope with deafness as an adult, which as far as he can tell, will directly affect his ability to live the life he wants to live.

I've met enough people within deaf culture to know that a lot of the general public don't even understand that deaf people have their own community and culture, and like many so called disabilities, many deaf people embrace who they are and choose to live this way for one reason or another. Likewise, many families choose to give their children relatively new medical tech called cochlear implants, which again, is highly debated within households with deaf children. The protagonist Ruben copes with all of this internally, and I think the movie does an amazing job to representing the human side of the internal struggle with a "disability" as well as the greater representation of people who happily live as a deaf community.

It's great to see representation on screen and this is what I want to see more of. My only complaint is that we've seen this plot structure many times before, but it's still really great regardless.

Also SUPER shout out to the lead actor Riz Ahmed who knocks it out of the park. You can see his anguish, his fear, his happiness, and just so much personality through not only his words but the way he moves his body. I can only image he's nothing like Ruben in real life and he just put on a show here.

A