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Jastiger
Oct 11, 2008

by FactsAreUseless
Muahaha Dark Souls ban lifted.


I'd say in the second game, the thing that really killed me was the PVP Lag and the overpowered magic and greatsword combos.

I feel like the game does a great job of encouraging multiple styles of play, and they can all be successful in the single player game. But in multiplayer I think its kind of silly the way it works out. Instead of having higher armors be slower, but powerful and more staunch fighters, they can nimbly dodge just as fast as a leather wearing ninja guy and still retain all of their staunchness and powerhitting. I feel like the threshold for being slower is much too low, and the bonuses for being lighter and faster aren't high enough.

Furthermore, the greatsword massive swinging arcs kind of bring the game down. Its a bit silly for a super ninja dude to nimbly dance around, or a caster to carefully weigh and measure their attacks, yet still fall to a massive 260 degree arc from a greatsword from a dude that can barely handle it. Combine that with the network code and people can just do massive horizontal slashes and wreak havoc on folks because of the massive area of death it causes. Too little risk for too much reward in that.

Most of my gripes are on the PVP side of it, so thats really all I have. Its otherwise a great game and I encourage it to anyone that wants an exciting and sometimes downright scary experience.

Black gulch! :argh:

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Jastiger
Oct 11, 2008

by FactsAreUseless

Action Tortoise posted:

The combat felt better, but I didn't like how the game went for a "harder, edgier" take on everyone.

Ehhh. I think it had a lot to do with the story. No longer are we a rookie team doing the bidding of a spectre. Shepard DIED and everyone didn't know what to do, the Collectors are destabilizing the galaxy, and the council is in flux. I think it does a good job of driving home the feeling that things are not well, and even though Shepard is on the case, it isn't getting better any time soon.

That is part of what I think drags down 3. I feel like they got the atmosphere right. Things are BAD. But...I just feel like a lot of it is rushed along. The game could have been a lot longer and I seriously wouldn't have minded. I felt like they built up this rich universe where you get to see the Asari homeworld, the Krogan homeworld...but you're only there for like ten minutes each. Bah.

That and the ending.

Jastiger
Oct 11, 2008

by FactsAreUseless
I am not sure if this has been brought up, but I wanted to touch on Civ 5. I feel like the game does so many things so right but drops the ball on a few.

One of these is City States. I've been playing a lot of multiplayer games with my buddy and a lot of them are quite fun! But...its frustrating that it always seems to come down to who can buy the most city states. Get the city states, and you win eventually. Also, once you get a hold on a city state its very difficult to hold on to them because of the pay-for-loyalty aspect. Why make a game so dynamic with all of the diplomacy, but have City States pledge allegiance to whoever pays them the most? We have alliances for 300 years and someone builds Big Ben and whoa, we love YOU now, have all our troops! They could have done a lot more with it with not a lot of effort and thats kind of a bummer.

Also, ideologies. The Freedom ideology is so ridiculously over powered. There is hardly ever a reason to go anything but. You get bonuses to city states, increased happiness and growth, bonus production and science from specialists, the list goes on. Autacracy is useful for war and ONLY war, but useful. Order is.....a watered down version of both. It has no bonus for city states and does absolutely nothing for you're growth unless you're a massive sprawling empire. How can they make such important decisions so over and under powered? Another frustration with an otherwise excellent game.

Jastiger has a new favorite as of 16:54 on Jun 28, 2014

Jastiger
Oct 11, 2008

by FactsAreUseless
Yeah I meant Civ 5! Sorry!


That is how it is with City States. You get a few and steam roll them all or you just get into an endless bidding war with other players/civs for them. Its especially frustrating when the ideologies give bonuses to city states and they are the main way you win. There should be a little extra depth there, I think.

And as Tiggum said, its just clear that some ideology policies are just simply BETTER. Half unhappiness from specialists is HUGE and is unmatched in any other ideology. It sounds like a great idea, but they implemented it poorly I think.

The World Council makes a lot of sense, I think, I just wish they changed the way the votes worked from city states and gave you the ability to go "rogue" and have everyone hate you if you wanted to.

Jastiger
Oct 11, 2008

by FactsAreUseless
The AI I can get over, I mean it can't be perfect. I just wish it didn't give the AI Happiness bonuses. Happiness is kind of a thing dragging the game down. It punishes players for expanding and conquering whereas the AI does not have this problem. The game would be much more enjoyable if the AI had the same happiness penalties and needs as the player does since so much of what makes a solid strategy is the happiness effect on enemy civilizations.

Jastiger
Oct 11, 2008

by FactsAreUseless

Cleretic posted:

Apparently they tried that in testing, and it just didn't work. Striking out against the World Congress was just too powerful, to the point where there wasn't much reason not to do it no matter how many penalties they put on it.

I find that City-states are rarely too bad an issue unless the game includes a civ that really goes for them. It's very easy for Greece especially to go runaway with city-state support (Venice can probably do it well too, I've never played against an AI Venice), and once they get rolling it's very hard to stop them.

Really? Massive unhappiness penalties, embargoes, and permanent war with everyone wasn't enough of a disadvantage? What kind of penalty did they give, no one likes you, boo hoo?

Striking against the World Congress should be a Thing, but it should be a really difficult thing to the point where if you're doing it, you better have a drat good reason to do it. Otherwise it's just a quick way to a game over for you.

Bah Civ 5 does so many things decent enough but drops the ball on so many excellent ideas that they started to implement.

Jastiger
Oct 11, 2008

by FactsAreUseless

Mokinokaro posted:

It's a series tradition at this point. Remember corporations in Beyond the Sword?

Actually I do. Yeah. They have so many GREAT ideas but just fall short. I feel like they don't really play test their games enough. I feel like they have these great ideas and say "Yeah that would be great, lets do that" then they kick it out the door without having people play through.

Jastiger
Oct 11, 2008

by FactsAreUseless

Cleretic posted:

I'm not sure on the logic, but I can definitely see having 'going rogue' as an option being bad for balancing. The most important effect of the World Congress is to give lesser players some agency in the game; you might not have the ability to get up and start smashing the leading player, but you can put some effort towards securing city-states and getting enough clout to push through ways to slow them down.

If there was a way to just leave the World Congress, then that would defeat the purpose. The only guy that would benefit from that is the one that was far enough ahead to cop the penalties. If he's rendered immune to the World Congress by rebelling, then there's nothing those smaller civs can do to influence him. He won't pay the standing army tax, he won't adhere to nuclear non-proliferation, he's probably self-sufficient enough to not need trades, so there's nothing anybody can really do about them.

The World Congress isn't perfect, but I think that removing the rebelling option was a good idea.

I guess I'd have to disagree. The only time you can really start pushing things through unilaterally is in the later ages, and the only time you can have things that effect other players outside of embargoes are later in the game. By that point I would say going rogue should be an option. Go too early and get crushed by the embargoes. Go late and not be powerful enough get crushed by economic sanctions and military might. I think if you're genuinely powerful enough to unilaterally shrug off the United Nations, then you'd probably won the game anyways. I think the method of allowing for open rebellion gives civs that would have other methods to win a way to do so since a United Nations victory requires a simple purchase of city states. I think its a good way to offset the city-state-buy-to-win model it has going on now.

Another thing dragging Civ 5 down is the UI. If you're not paying attention to the top middle of your screen at all times and right when the turn ends, you run the risk of missing all the combat notices, exploration notices, and any other notifications. Why they have them pop up in small text and then disappear forever makes no sense to me.

Jastiger
Oct 11, 2008

by FactsAreUseless
Planescape:Torment: The story is really fun and I really love the dialogue. Its a blast!

But...the combat....the combat. I think I may be under leveled because every time I go into these goddam sewers everything just beats my rear end. I have to run past everything to even advance the story. Wererats that require +1 items to hit, yet I haven't even seen a +1 item the entire time! I feel like the pacing could have been set a bit better if I'm going to have my team die the entire time I go into a new area.

Otherwise lovin' the game.

Jastiger
Oct 11, 2008

by FactsAreUseless
I am on default. I guess I hadn't thought of that.

Jastiger
Oct 11, 2008

by FactsAreUseless

Mortimer posted:

Really the epitome of this in all of Torment is Curst Prison :gonk:. gently caress that place.

I"m stuck in the Modron Maze. This is really freaking stupid. Who thought this was a good idea?

Jastiger
Oct 11, 2008

by FactsAreUseless

Mortimer posted:

That's optional I thought? Just look up how to get through it

I did. Its essentially either kill enemies that two shot you or keep grinding on trivial enemies and hope they drop an item that lets you leave. I just want to get out and continue the story.

Furthermore, another problem with PS:T is that you have required quest information hidden 3 levels deep in a dialogue menu. I end up running around lost and stumped until I ask just the right question to that one vague NPC in one closet in the city. Its stupid and making me not want to play this supposed classic.

Jastiger
Oct 11, 2008

by FactsAreUseless

Mortimer posted:

Save your game more :smaug:

If you're in the cube you're pretty close to the end? Actually wait that's the cube you can figure out the puzzle and get screwed over isn't it? Ahaha yeah save more.

My save isn't the problem its just a grind. I'm not dying or anything, its just silly. Trap me in a place where I am reliant on a RNG to get out? How stupid.

I'm also trying to advance a main quest point and the NPC I know I'm supposed to talk to doesn't give me the dialogue option required.

Jastiger
Oct 11, 2008

by FactsAreUseless

Levitate posted:

If I'm not mistaken the Modron Maze is intentionally designed to be tedious or some poo poo because it's a commentary on poor level design in D&D games or something but maybe I'm making that poo poo up and it doesn't change the fact that it sucks to do. It is optional though so you only have yourself to blame.

Yes its the players fault for not knowing ahead of time an area is optional and you can't leave until you actually go there. :wtc: how is that a justifiable defense to poor level design?

I actually finished PS:T. It was a lot of fun for sure. I just wish the endings had a bit more closure based on the decisions you made. I felt like it didn't matter what my alignment was at all and it didn't impact the game as much. I think the writing was great and I'm super glad I got to experience the game though.

Jastiger
Oct 11, 2008

by FactsAreUseless
Icewind Dale so far is pretty bad rear end. Except starting out is even more brutal here than in BG1. First battle-

"Goblin attacks mage"

"Mage dies"



awesome, reload!

Its just so grindy and you really gotta rest after EVERY fight. It gets a little rough.

Jastiger
Oct 11, 2008

by FactsAreUseless

Alteisen posted:

You think that's horrible? Banshees have fully modeled genitals. :barf:

For those who haven't played ME3, this is what a banshee looks like.



I dunno I think it makes them MORE scary. Why would creatures capable of ripping apart space-time with their mind be worried about something as stupid as clothing while they commit biocide?

Jastiger
Oct 11, 2008

by FactsAreUseless
Pet classes have never really been done right. Even the original Everquest had serious problems with it. Pets would solo just about any other class pretty consistently as well as out damage them. It wasn't until about 3 years in that they started to really tackle the balance by buffing other classes.

I hated pets in wow though. As a marksman hunter it made me mad that all my skill was negated by a stupid beast master hunter pressing attack with his pet.

Dragging down Banished. It doesn't do a good job explaining how the wood cutters work or the gatherers. I have huge dips in production and can't tell why. Grrr.

Jastiger
Oct 11, 2008

by FactsAreUseless

Away all Goats posted:

Wood cutters...cut wood. Make sure they have a marketplace nearby(if your village is big enough to support one) so they can actually retrieve wood without having to walk across the map for it. Also make sure you have enough space in your stockpile.

Gatherers work best in dense forest, so you can usually build them right next to your foresters lodge.

Right but the game isn't clear on what is dense enough or not. I know they cut wood yet I have a log shortage in a small village. What gives? It just says "they cut wood", yet often times they are dicking around NOT cutting wood. I'm sure there is a reason, but it isn't communicated in the game

Jastiger
Oct 11, 2008

by FactsAreUseless

JebanyPedal posted:

Trevor is loving annoying and has obnoxious VO. His character is poo poo and unfunny.

This a billion times. Why he's popular is just beyond me.

Bringing down Blood Dragon for me? Just got it on a stupid cheap sale.

I have to sign in to Uplay to even play it. What is this poo poo? I don't know my password and it took them 8 hours to send me one. Screw that, just let me play the game everyone says is awesome without having to deal with Ubisoft bs :mad:

Jastiger
Oct 11, 2008

by FactsAreUseless

The Moon Monster posted:


My problem with the game is that it was just so easy. I never had any of the cool moments I heard everyone talking about because I never had any trouble whatsoever beating whatever the game threw at me. I can't say that about the Arkham games even on normal difficulty so it's not like my skills are super amazing, the game is simply really easy.

This. SoM was a really good game that COULD have been great. Still a really solid title I do not spending some money on. But I have to agree here, I heard of all these bad rear end stories of captians coming back and calling you out. In my game I died maybe 5 times and at least 3 of them were to Caragors. I never had a captain come try to find me, I never got to see them all patched up, and I found I was quickly a demi-god once I started getting upgrades. I would have loved to have had the combat and encounters the way they are, but maybe have less chance to insta-kill the enemies.

Jastiger
Oct 11, 2008

by FactsAreUseless
Lost Odyssey was a really fun game but god drat it takes like a full minute to load from the overworld screen to the battle screen. I remember picking it up and playing it and quitting after the first hour because I spent more time looking at those weird clock looking transitional thingies than I spent actually fighting enemies.

The game was a ton of fun and I thought it was one of the better RPGS for the 360, but drat if that wasnt' a constant drag.

Jastiger
Oct 11, 2008

by FactsAreUseless

DStecks posted:

Ashley Williams has nothing to do with Cerberus, and is extremely distressed to learn that Shepard has fallen in with them in ME2.

This is true, but she still had troubles when Shepard asked why she still believed in god and stuff. She still sounded pretty Neo Con in that discussion. Not as far as Cerberus, but still definitely fit the mold.

The thing dragging down Dragon Age: Inquisition for me is really minor, but its the lack of the ability to find out how tough an area is until you get your rear end beat over and over again. I try to run away and they still just range attack you down. It is frustrating at times. THe game is a ton of fun otherwise, I'm just momentarily frustrated that the "Journey has Ended" because some respawning scrubs ended up being way higher than the last pack I just took down.

Jastiger
Oct 11, 2008

by FactsAreUseless
I always disliked in x com that aliens got a free move if they are discovered. Nothing worse than meticulously sneaking up on what you think are aliens, and you find them! Then they get a free intro video and ad free move behind cover.

But if they find YOU, nope, it's their turn get shot scrub.

Jastiger
Oct 11, 2008

by FactsAreUseless
Why is Tiggum so dedicated to defending Skyrim? It was a fun game, but everything others are saying are completely true. The quest railroads you, and the game is best with emergent gameplay just walkin' around or screwing with stuff.

Really what they need to do in all of TES games is figure out more enemy diversity. There are like...3-5 enemy archtypes per difficulty category (Small Animals-->Bandits/Bad Guys-->Dire version of aforementioned animals-->Dragons/Demons) and thats it. Once you cap out the difficulty you end up fighting the SAME type of guys forever and ever. I think they'd do well to simply get a more diverse enemy selection so I'm not killing Dire_Ice_Troll_01 over and over again in the wilderness, or the same baddies at the end of a dungeon every. Single. Time.

Otherwise they are a blast and you can have a lot of fun, just not in the main quest all the time.

DragonAge: Inquisition: I'm having a blast with the game for sure all around. What drags it down for me currently is the feeling of utter massiveness in the game. I feel like if I"m playing the game I have to dedicate like 3 hours because I'm going to find some elf root which shows a nearby quest which has me going over to this place, then to that place, and ahhh I didn't really get anything done because it was a piddly side quest! A good thing to have bring a game down I guess.

Other parts though are how the areas have "levels". I took a quest to this swamp and was chillin and like IMMEDIATELY died. Without warning. I thought I was just bad at tactics, but it turns out they were just twice my level and I simply couldn't do anything about it. There was NO indication of this until engaging the enemies. Same with some of the rifts I'll come across in the low level area. Just instant death to my party. Boo.

Jastiger
Oct 11, 2008

by FactsAreUseless

thepokey posted:

Haven't played it for a couple of months, but if it's PC, you can right click (or left click? whatever the non-attack button is) on enemies which will select them and show you their level before you engage them. Likewise if you pull back into tactics mode before engaging it'll show you their levels.

Thanks for that. THe downside is when you approach those rifts. The enemies aren't spawned yet so you have no idea whats coming your way.

Jastiger
Oct 11, 2008

by FactsAreUseless

Lotish posted:

But you can target the rift to get an idea. Rifts have levels too. May have to get close enough for your hand to start sparking first, I don't recall, but at that distance you can bail in a hurry.

The more you know! Thanks for that.

Jastiger
Oct 11, 2008

by FactsAreUseless

Kugyou no Tenshi posted:

gently caress any mass "collectible" production without any kind of purchase or distribution control, and double-gently caress people who buy things they don't want solely to sell them to other people at a markup. I had wanted to pick up the CE of a game recently, only to find out that it sold out before I got the e-mail letting me know preorders were up, and several hundred of them were up for sale on eBay the day the game was released, anywhere from 150% to 500% of the retail price. Some of the listings were parting out the edition to the point where you'd be paying over $500 for all the things that came in it, including one listing for $100 for the box. Scalpers are a cancer on the collectible market, and I really wish there were stronger unlicensed retail regulations (or that the ones that exist were enforced better).

I had to quote this because, while I agree with you, this is pretty much the basis of our economic system. Sure you're talking about something silly like video games and collectibles, but buying a bunch of stuff you don't need in order to sell them to others is done pretty much all the time.

The difference is you're mad at games. Someone who does it with oil or water is a "Good businessman".


Tiggum posted:

Oh, well, I don't find them boring to play, but yeah, the characters and story are poo poo. But it's a video game, what do you expect? Even the games people single out as having amazing stories are almost always trite and formulaic, especially action games like Skyrim. And the games people praise as giving you choices and consequences are generally really shallow and pretty much everything just happens the way it was always going to regardless, just because having real choices and consequences would basically mean creating many times as much content, most of which very few people would ever even see.

If you want a good story, read a book. If you want a game where your choices matter, play a pen-and-paper RPG with other people. Video games aren't really equipped to deliver either of those things.


I see what you're saying, and you're wrong. Video games can have good stories. And as you say, Skyrim doesn't do a good job with this. I think the conflict is that TES games are about BE WHOEVER YOU WANT TO BE and MAKE YOUR CHARACTER YOURS! And then railroads you not into chance encounters to push the story along, but linear, specific, and (dare I say) ludonarratively dissonant (sp?) situations. If you're Barsh McBarsh the Argonian, why the hell would you even want to join the Mages Guild? Why would you care? If you're Evil McEvilPants, why wouldn't you just murder everyone that couldn't help you, once they gave you the information you needed? The game keeps you on rails here. I think people in the thread are saying (at least I'm saying) that having the Mage Guild be a part of the plot isn't the problem. Its that you have one way, and one way only to deal with it, where in outside of the main quest you often have multiple (if shallow) ways to handle things, and almost infinite ways to handle combat.


To your credit, you're right, its part of the plot, it just doesn't mean that it makes sense and you at least seem to be defending the railroad way as the "correct and only" way.

Jastiger
Oct 11, 2008

by FactsAreUseless

Kugyou no Tenshi posted:

You do realize I don't agree (morally, not factually) with literally any of that premise, though? Artificial scarcity is cartel behavior, but at least it's understandable from the perspective of actual business, where the person has a stake in the production or distribution of the resource, as opposed to people who abuse the permissive nature of sites like eBay to intentionally create scarcity in a resource or product someone else produced, and that they have no normal legal hand in the distribution of. When the production model is "limited edition of 5000", the intended concept is "5000 people get one", not "500 people get 10, and sell 9 if not all 10 at batshit prices".

Oh no, I totally agree. Just imagine that post was written with me doing the :jerkbag:. You're absolutely right on the point with limited editions and the like. I"m just pointing out that people that do this ARE totally being assholes, but so are people that do the same thing with something like oil or water. The difference is the Amiibo guy is an rear end in a top hat, but the water cartel is just protecting industry standards.


DStecks posted:

Tiggum is the Clarence Thomas of gaming.

This is really funny.

Jastiger
Oct 11, 2008

by FactsAreUseless
Regarding parent chat: How many of us are big gamers and are also parents. If we play our cards right WE could be the cool parents!

Tiggum is actually acting like Clarence Thomas. He refuses to see the context in which the games are marketed, and how they have historically behaved. Even if everything you say is correct (I don't think it is), you're ignoring how it actually fits into the narrative.

TES games let you customize literally every aspect of your character from the size of their ears to the type of fighter they are. The criticism on the quest mechanics of railroading you into being something you don't want to be is problematic and really I think bad game design.

Like this, in the Fire Emblem game for the Nintendo DS you have a ton of classes. Later on at the end of the game it is REQUIRED that you have a magic user of a certain skill to have a certain item to defeat the boss. If you don't have any mages high enough level to do it, you're hosed. So you're FORCED to level up a mage, even if you don't want to use them. Thats an example of railroading that I think hurts the game. It tells the story the way they wanted to sure, but its not a very good way to introduce that mechanic when you HAVE to do it.

Same thing with Skyrim. You don't get to "deal" with the mages, you HAVE to become one. You HAVE to join. You don't have to do this with other aspects of the game. The control is yanked away from the player; they no longer get to be their specific Dragonborne, they have to become the "magic man" as you say. Which is a valid thing to do, but not a good thing to do. It brings the game down.

Also I don't know why people are mad about Tiggum chat, its literally what the thread is for I thought.

Jastiger
Oct 11, 2008

by FactsAreUseless

Kimmalah posted:

Once again, no you really don't.

Stuff like the Companions or the Blades faction quests are better examples, where you absolutely cannot progress in any way without doing certain things (that a lot of people may not want to do) and there's no way to work around it. You either do it or ignore the questlines.

I'm having trouble parsing this. No you really don't what?

Jastiger
Oct 11, 2008

by FactsAreUseless

GOTTA STAY FAI posted:

"No you really don't" need to continue posting

I don't understand why you're so hostile. Its on topic about what is bringing down Skyrim.


CJacobs posted:

He's saying, no you really don't need to join the college, which is technically true because you can just go talk to the OTHER npc they will direct you to when you do join, skipping the college segment entirely. A similar example would be skipping the Galaxy News Radio quests in Fallout 3 because you talked to the Doctor at Rivet City before going to ask Three Dog where to get information about your Dad; Three Dog directs you to go talk to the doctor but since she's an NPC in the game world you can just go do that at any time.

Ah well that makes sense then.

Content: Dragon Age: Inquisition I'm a rogue, why do I need to be super high level to pick the lowliest of locks! I feel like I"m locked out of tons of super awesome content because I can't pick locks. (in reality probably is just more crafting recipes)

Jastiger
Oct 11, 2008

by FactsAreUseless

FactsAreUseless posted:

Did you prefer the content in the northern or southern half of the map?

I didn't even acknowledge Falkreath, and Riften is too backwards for this Dragonborn. Better off without em.



FactsAreUseless posted:

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Kingdoms of Amalur. The game was a weird mess in a lot of ways, but the combat was really solid.

The combat was fun, and other games should take the queue to make all mixes viable. But as someone else said, it only stood out because nothing else was really in the same league.

Jastiger
Oct 11, 2008

by FactsAreUseless
Pillars of Eternity

After how many years and threads about this game, its finally out.

And I have to work and can't play it. Dragging it down for me.



For real, Lords of Xulima. I've followed the devs on it and they say "we don't hand hold you, its hard like old school RPGS"! when in reality they just put huge difficulty spikes in with pixel hunting secret switches to progress in the game. The devs are just like "gently caress you, figure it out". The gameplay is alright, but its turned into a huge grind once you get to a certain point.

Jastiger
Oct 11, 2008

by FactsAreUseless
The Fallout Games seem to be on the cusp of really being SUPER DUPER awesome and then they devolve into samey enemies, samey weapons, and repetative quests. The best time I have in any of the recent Fallouts has been the first few hours since everything is so new, and dangerous, and exciting!

Then you figure out that yeah, you just need to shoot them here and there and then yeah, you just need more of this item, and oh no you're full on inventory, and no of course you can't just go into that cardboard box, the door is LOCKED you see, and the immersion is broken.

Both NV and 3 were alright, they just need to make more diversity in enemies, locations, as well as more unique dungeons and areas and they'll be great.

And get rid of the loving cazadors good god.

Jastiger
Oct 11, 2008

by FactsAreUseless

Lunchmeat Larry posted:

The best Fallout, Fallout 1, does not have most of these problems.

I should clarify, RECENT Fallouts. You're right.

Jastiger
Oct 11, 2008

by FactsAreUseless

Esroc posted:

Finally got around to picking up a PS4 and The Last of Us came with it. I was pretty excited because I had heard good things, but my excitement quickly turned into disappointment and anger.

I'll start by saying that there is quite a lot the game does superbly. The graphics are top notch. The levels are beautiful (most of the time, but I'll get to that in a minute) the characters look great, and the animations are among the best I've seen. The little things are what drives it home, the subtle facial movements and hand gestures really lend life to the characters and make it a lot easier to care about them. On top of that, the plot is very well voiced and engaging, and frequently has me alternating between sitting on the edge of my seat or wiping away a single tear.

That being said, the actual gameplay is dogshit and has made it a chore to enjoy the wonderful story. Crafting is almost useless since supplies are so sparse you almost never have enough to do anything which led to long stretches of me actually forgetting it even had a crafting system. The gun combat is unresponsive at best and no amount of fiddling with the aim sensitivity alleviates the problem. Melee weapons are an absolute joke since apparently the fungus had a side effect of also turning everything into glass, so a loving steel pipe shatters like fine china after only a couple hits. Every enemy both human and zombie alike is a bullet sponge that requires more ammo to kill than is usually provided by the game in the first place, forcing you to fall back on your Glass Stick of Uselessness. And good luck landing a headshot because not only is the aiming working against you, but the zombies twitch like epileptics so landing anything other than a torso shot is an exercise in futility. But it doesn't matter! Because headshots are never OHK's unless it's point blank with a shotgun.

Then there's the levels, which alternate between beautiful set pieces and blatantly obvious arena's. You can walk through a beautifully crafted forest that looks natural as can be and is brimming with eye candy, then exit into a nice open area with random debris that are all conveniently waist high and also conveniently placed to separate you from the enemy. And good luck with stealth, since enemies are haphazardly placed 90% of the time and sneaking around one will almost certainly get you spotted by another no matter what route you take. So keep your Porcelain Bat handy, and try not to shatter it by looking at it funny.

Also keep an eye out for two main characters that many might overlook. I call them "Convenient Plank" and "Convenient Dumpster". These loyal motherfuckers will be with you on your journey every step of the way, always showing up anytime you need to cross or climb something. Because the devs are loving proud of their plank and dumpster system they came up with and you will learn to love it too, even if they have to shove it down your throat. Which they will. Repeatedly.

And also enemies that can one hit kill you without recourse just because they stepped into your bubble are loving stupid, especially in a game where you are frequently dogpiled by multiple enemies and stepping out of their range is never an option. It's lovely game design no matter how you slice it. The Last of Us is just chock full of artificial difficulty via a cheap combat system and overpowered enemies because apparently Naughty Dog has no goddamn idea what "skill" or "balance" is.

I will finish this game, because god forgive me I loving love the story and I've managed to become attached to the characters. I want to see how it ends. But as soon as it becomes clear a cutscene is about to end I groan as dread overcomes me, in anticipation for the hell that I'm going to have to slog through for the next hour in order to enjoy the reward of more exposition.

In conclusion, I have a new title for this game: Should've Been a Movie

Have to disagree. I felt the gun play got really repetitive, and I wish it gave me more arrows, but most of this doesn't ring true for me. A good headshot DOES take down most enemies, and you can get hte upgrade that allows you to shiv clickers that grab you. I agree it sucks at first, but its the games way of letting you grow more powerful. Also upgrade your melee weapons so they last a bit longer. I only used them in emergencies, so if you're constantly running out of ammo because you're missing, then I think thats more on you. I am not great at the game and I had enough to get through. I borrowed my friends PS3 JUST for that game and it was well worth it *wipes away a tear*.

Just finished Dragon Age: Inquisition. Was a blast! Too much content though and I am bummed I wasn't able to piece together the story OR do some companions side missions. The crafting was also confusing too. I'd spend precious resources on a "Dual Dagger Grip" but UH OH you needed a SINGLE daggar grip! I dunno, was confusing at times with some of the items too. Was also frustrating to fight some of the most powerful creatures in the game.......and they still drop gear inferior to your existing stuff. Doesn't scale well.

Still, a great game. I'd play it again if I knew I didn't have to do a bazillion side missions/war table missions just to be competent.

Jastiger
Oct 11, 2008

by FactsAreUseless

eating only apples posted:

I'm curious who you missed out on? Gating companion quests behind high approval is dumb (DA2 somehow did it better where approval just affected how they treated you, not giving you their quests) but even with the Inquisition characters I've been mean to they've handed over their quests. Iron Bull's is pretty buggy and I've missed out on a bunch of content with Sera because she's entirely neutral to me or whatever but she still handed out all her quests, all the others pony up their quests really easily. I guess if you never bother pandering to Solas he might not but I've never done that :shobon:

I never did Iron Bull's quest, so I was never able to to get his tarot card to change, whereas I was able to do so for everyone else. I've chatted him up, drank beer with em, killed a few dragons. You know, normal stuff that buds do. But no quest to do whatever it is I'm supposed to do. I literally never once had Cole in my party, nor Blackwall and I was able to do both of theirs. So, I dunno whats going on, must be a bug or something.

Jastiger
Oct 11, 2008

by FactsAreUseless

Crane Fist posted:

I just had to stop playing Dungeon of the Endless after my third straight run where the exit door from Level 11 was in the very last room I opened and I got swarmed to death again. gently caress YOU GIVE ME SOME DUST

When it looks like I'm not going to be able to win, I focus on trying to do unlock ables. Like trying to get new characters or something. At least get something out of the run.

But yeah, it can be downright brutal at times.

Jastiger
Oct 11, 2008

by FactsAreUseless

10 Beers posted:

Were you mean to Krem, Iron Bull's first officer or whatever? There's one chat option you can click, where you basicslly disparage Krem for being transgendered, and it will absolutely wreck your approval and ability to do personal quests for your teammates.

No way. Me and bull are buds.

Someone mentioned a certain conversation line, I may try that though

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Jastiger
Oct 11, 2008

by FactsAreUseless

ElGroucho posted:

loving STALKER

"Here's gun, go make me money"

That is why that game is awesome.

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