Gaming - General Chat

[nudge+]

I just finished both KOTOR games a while ago and I'm really looking forward to this one...  

[Mel81x+]

22 hours ago, Bluebird Hewitt said:

EA have confirmed that there won't be any microtransactions or loot boxes added before or after Fallen Order is launched. 

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2019-04-13-star-wars-jedi-fallen-order-is-a-single-player-story-game-with-no-multiplayer-and-no-microtransactions

While that sounds great, EA are not the most trustworthy of companies and I'll have to see it to believe it unfortunately. 

I am surprised at the no-mulitplayer comment more than the lootboxes tbh. Its a StarWars game and it has all the makings of a good multiplayer experience and EA are just going to let it be a one-time purchase? Lies is all I can say.

[Bluebird Hewitt]

On 10/04/2019 at 18:26, Bluebird Hewitt said:

I'm looking at getting Cuphead on Switch. Was always interested when it was first released but don't have an Xbox One or a proper laptop, so couldn't get it. 

Out today and while I won't download it until I get back home on Monday, I've read that the conversion to Switch is practically perfect. Can't wait to give this a go. 

[Mel81x+]

15 hours ago, Cannabis said:

I'd get Cuphead but I know I'd suck at it .

Really not that hard. I'd say give it a go you'll actually enjoy it.

[Dr. Gonzo]

On ‎14‎/‎04‎/‎2019 at 04:44, Bluebird Hewitt said:

EA have confirmed that there won't be any microtransactions or loot boxes added before or after Fallen Order is launched. 

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2019-04-13-star-wars-jedi-fallen-order-is-a-single-player-story-game-with-no-multiplayer-and-no-microtransactions

While that sounds great, EA are not the most trustworthy of companies and I'll have to see it to believe it unfortunately. 

I'm not that surprised tbh - Titanfall 2 did DLC in a way that I found most acceptable. People could pay for cosmetics (that were unlockable through gameplay) and that was a big surprise to people because it was an EA game. The head of Respawn is now on the Board of Directors at EA (*edit* I actually looked into this and I don't think that's true anymore so never mind), so I think he can do quite a bit to maintain the reputation of his development team - which I think is one of the best reputations in the industry right now. And part of that is the goodwill they've built with fans of the game through transparency with their microtransactions. Even with Apex Legends, which I loved but then got incredibly bored of because Battle Royale games are burning me the fuck out, I would never pay some of the prices they put for their silly cosmetic microtransactions - but that's a free game and the only microtransactions are cosmetic.

That's a far cry from Dice's Battlefront 2 being pay to win.

Like I said before, I'll continue to trust Respawn, like I did with Dice and BioWare up until they betrayed my trust. I'm sure it'll happen sooner or later, but hopefully Respawn can maintain it's excellent consumer friendly reputation for as long as possible.

Edited April 19, 2019 by Dr. Gonzo

[Dr. Gonzo]

I enjoyed Cuphead, but I found it super hard

[Bluebird Hewitt]

1 hour ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

I'm not that surprised tbh - Titanfall 2 did DLC in a way that I found most acceptable. People could pay for cosmetics (that were unlockable through gameplay) and that was a big surprise to people because it was an EA game. The head of Respawn is now on the Board of Directors at EA (*edit* I actually looked into this and I don't think that's true anymore so never mind), so I think he can do quite a bit to maintain the reputation of his development team - which I think is one of the best reputations in the industry right now. And part of that is the goodwill they've built with fans of the game through transparency with their microtransactions. Even with Apex Legends, which I loved but then got incredibly bored of because Battle Royale games are burning me the fuck out, I would never pay some of the prices they put for their silly cosmetic microtransactions - but that's a free game and the only microtransactions are cosmetic.

That's a far cry from Dice's Battlefront 2 being pay to win.

Like I said before, I'll continue to trust Respawn, like I did with Dice and BioWare up until they betrayed my trust. I'm sure it'll happen sooner or later, but hopefully Respawn can maintain it's excellent consumer friendly reputation for as long as possible.

While I admit that EA haven't bastardised Respawn yet, as you mentioned with Dice and in particular Bioware, I just can't trust any developer while EA oversee them. Unfortunately, seeing as it's Star Wars and the fans will buy it regardless, I just have a horrible feeling that EA will try something at some point with Fallen Order. 

54 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

I enjoyed Cuphead, but I found it super hard

I've heard about how difficult the game is, but a challenge is always welcome. The game pretty much sold me purely on its presentation alone, as it looks like you're playing an actual 1930's style animation, of which it all flows perfectly. 

[Dr. Gonzo]

6 minutes ago, Bluebird Hewitt said:

While I admit that EA haven't bastardised Respawn yet, as you mentioned with Dice and in particular Bioware, I just can't trust any developer while EA oversee them. Unfortunately, seeing as it's Star Wars and the fans will buy it regardless, I just have a horrible feeling that EA will try something at some point with Fallen Order. 

I've heard about how difficult the game is, but a challenge is always welcome. The game pretty much sold me purely on its presentation alone, as it looks like you're playing an actual 1930's style animation, of which it all flows perfectly. 

I think with EA it's only a matter of time until a good developer is ruined. Them and ActivisionBlizzard are the two worst publishers that almost always seem to kill what they get their hands on.

And Cuphead's animation is so ridiculously good. It's a great game. I played it a while ago, it was really cheap when it first launched on the Xbox. It's basically a game of mostly old school boss fights - but I fucking love it despite how tough it is and I thought it'd be more of a platformer than it is, but was pleasantly surprised.

Quality little game. I'm surprised Microsoft agreed to let it go to the Switch prior to the Xbox Live/GamePass coming to the Switch - which is when Cuphead will be on my switch (not gonna pay for the damn thing twice lol). I do hope the Microsoft-Nintendo collaboration leads to more.

[Mel81x+]

1 hour ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

I enjoyed Cuphead, but I found it super hard

I think the initial controller play is a bit hard to master but once you get going its pretty easy to get a hang off imo. What is a bit tricky is the discipline of hitting a pattern to beat enemies but even that is once again a matter of time and practice. 

Something that did go under my radar was the new Metro Exodus game. Anyone played it?

 

[Azeem]

A lot of people seem to lose their passion for gaming by the mid 20s as i have seen maybe its because the graphics are definitely impressive but gaming has become  difficult for the casual people, you have to become a pro to properly play them at least. 

[Mel81x+]

19 minutes ago, Azeem said:

A lot of people seem to lose their passion for gaming by the mid 20s as i have seen maybe its because the graphics are definitely impressive but gaming has become  difficult for the casual people, you have to become a pro to properly play them at least. 

Think that kinda depends on the games you play in your mid 20s too. I suppose the games these days are far more engaging and some aren't really stress busters like the stuff we played when we were younger (platformers, racing games, etc). I also think the industry is slowly trending/or has already trended towards game hierarchies where companies make games based on the demographic they want to hit instead of a fun game. Case in point are these games coming out like NiOh, Dark Souls etc versus the more casual oriented games for the masses like Fortnite, etc where the ramping is completely different. 

I think its a good thing honestly because you want to please a bigger demographic and not every game is for everyone.

On that note, Mortal Kombat 11 is quite good if anyone wants to pick it up. Decent Story Mode, decent Krypt system and I think you can actually learn the combat system quite quickly since its got stop-frames and the wakeup/recovery frame system is very simple compared to games like Street Fighter. Don't get me wrong its got a lot of hidden complexity with the reversals and the block system but its a lot more easier to get into now.

Edited April 27, 2019 by Mel81x

[Azeem]

19 minutes ago, Mel81x said:

Think that kinda depends on the games you play in your mid 20s too. I suppose the games these days are far more engaging and some aren't really stress busters like the stuff we played when we were younger (platformers, racing games, etc). I also think the industry is slowly trending/or has already trended towards game hierarchies where companies make games based on the demographic they want to hit instead of a fun game. Case in point are these games coming out like NiOh, Dark Souls etc versus the more casual oriented games for the masses like Fortnite, etc where the ramping is completely different. 

I think its a good thing honestly because you want to please a bigger demographic and not every game is for everyone.

On that note, Mortal Kombat 11 is quite good if anyone wants to pick it up. Decent Story Mode, decent Krypt system and I think you can actually learn the combat system quite quickly since its got stop-frames and the wakeup/recovery frame system is very simple compared to games like Street Fighter. Don't get me wrong its got a lot of hidden complexity with the reversals and the block system but its a lot more easier to get into now.

My cousin had a PS2 and he had Mortal Kombat Deception, in the story mode i was struck in a particular stage, looked forward going there and kept making plans on how to get past the stage meanwhile but then life happened he went overseas and took his PS2 with him and i never got past that stage.

Sad ending 

[Bluebird Hewitt]

2 hours ago, Azeem said:

A lot of people seem to lose their passion for gaming by the mid 20s as i have seen maybe its because the graphics are definitely impressive but gaming has become  difficult for the casual people, you have to become a pro to properly play them at least. 

I was still playing games a bit in my mid 20's (this was in 2010) and only had a PS3 the year before, so was going through the likes of Uncharted which I missed out on previously. Also had my Wii going as well and had the likes of Brawl, Mario Kart, Mario Galaxy and Punch out on there. 

My dip has mainly been in the last few years, though this was mainly due to work issues at the time. Yakuza 0 got me out of that slump but I haven't been arsed to play much more recently. Once the football season finishes though, that might change. 

You could argue that when you start to hit mid 20's, you're focusing far more on a relationship, career, family, social life etc than playing some games. 

As for gaming becoming difficult for casual players, I disagree entirely. Many games these days are 'easy to play but difficult to master' due to the games depth. The likes of Street Fighter and possibly FIFA to a small degree fall into that. Simply put, if you gave a casual player a game from the NES era, they'd be fucked before getting fucked. 

1 hour ago, Mel81x said:

Think that kinda depends on the games you play in your mid 20s too. I suppose the games these days are far more engaging and some aren't really stress busters like the stuff we played when we were younger (platformers, racing games, etc). I also think the industry is slowly trending/or has already trended towards game hierarchies where companies make games based on the demographic they want to hit instead of a fun game. Case in point are these games coming out like NiOh, Dark Souls etc versus the more casual oriented games for the masses like Fortnite, etc where the ramping is completely different. 

I think its a good thing honestly because you want to please a bigger demographic and not every game is for everyone.

On that note, Mortal Kombat 11 is quite good if anyone wants to pick it up. Decent Story Mode, decent Krypt system and I think you can actually learn the combat system quite quickly since its got stop-frames and the wakeup/recovery frame system is very simple compared to games like Street Fighter. Don't get me wrong its got a lot of hidden complexity with the reversals and the block system but its a lot more easier to get into now.

I agree that more choice these days is always better. Unfortunately, you get the likes of EA and Activision that are more interested in bleeding you dry than creating a good game. Thankfully, that's where the Indies come in as they can cater to a broader audience whereas most casuals would usually play your 'AAA' titles only. 

As for MK11, I would be tempted but you know the super duper edition with everything in it will be out in a year and for much cheaper. 

[Azeem]

3 minutes ago, Bluebird Hewitt said:

 You could argue that when you start to hit mid 20's, you're focusing far more on a relationship, career, family, social life etc than playing some games. 

Gaming is a habit that fades away as people get older compared to other entertainments like movies, theater, music etc which people still do even despite all those things you mentioned but i guess grown men playing video games isn't something that people really like    

[Mel81x+]

3 hours ago, Bluebird Hewitt said:

As for MK11, I would be tempted but you know the super duper edition with everything in it will be out in a year and for much cheaper. 

I dont disagree there but the sad thing is that when that happens there will be other games I want to play and I can now safely say my backlog is complete with zero games sitting it (I think I sighed when that happened).

3 hours ago, Azeem said:

Gaming is a habit that fades away as people get older compared to other entertainments like movies, theater, music etc which people still do even despite all those things you mentioned but i guess grown men playing video games isn't something that people really like    

I wouldn't say its a habit you get out of it just depends on your taste in entertainment and more importantly how your social circles are as well. Things like the theater, movies, etc in the past are easily discussable in social circles because hey everyone does them but its not like gaming has evolved beyond just a game they've got stories, arcs and in some cases are playable by all age groups and then you've got this hype built around them that engages people of all age groups too. 

[Bluebird Hewitt]

So the Sonic the Hedgehog film trailer is out. 

Question. How do you lower already very low expectations? 

 

[Mel81x+]

On 30/04/2019 at 23:00, Bluebird Hewitt said:

So the Sonic the Hedgehog film trailer is out. 

Question. How do you lower already very low expectations? 

 

Why even bother making a movie out of something that was never ever created to even be a movie? What a waste.

[Bluebird Hewitt]

Well....... this is disturbing. 

https://m.uk.ign.com/articles/2019/05/06/employees-of-riot-games-to-walkout-in-protest-on-monday?abthid=5cd070ca3739c3747d001bb3

Not the walk out, but this tid bit within the article that you could argue has assisted with the walkout. 

Is this sort of thing quite common in America (or even technically legal) @Eco and @Dr. Gonzo? 

Edited May 6, 2019 by Bluebird Hewitt

[Eco]

5 minutes ago, Bluebird Hewitt said:

Well....... this is disturbing. 

https://m.uk.ign.com/articles/2019/05/06/employees-of-riot-games-to-walkout-in-protest-on-monday?abthid=5cd070ca3739c3747d001bb3

Not the walk out, but this tid bit within the article that you could argue has assisted with the walkout. 

Is this sort of thing quite common in America (or even technically legal) @Eco and @Dr. Gonzo? 

It's not common, I'd say, but given certain standards, you can be asked to sign a document forbidding you to do certain things (go to competitor, sue company for X amount of reasons) and the like. 

[Dr. Gonzo]

4 minutes ago, Bluebird Hewitt said:

Well....... this is disturbing. 

https://m.uk.ign.com/articles/2019/05/06/employees-of-riot-games-to-walkout-in-protest-on-monday?abthid=5cd070ca3739c3747d001bb3

Not the walk out, but this tid bit within the article that you could argue has assisted with the walkout. 

Is this sort of thing quite common in America (or even technically legal) @Eco and @Dr. Gonzo? 

I don't know much about arbitration agreements other than what I saw from John Oliver a while back. But yeah, they're technically legal. They're actually fairly common in more than just employment agreements, tbh. I've only noticed them after I saw that John Oliver segment though.

I just checked my employment contract though and it doesn't have one. Hooray.

[Dr. Gonzo]

On ‎30‎/‎04‎/‎2019 at 10:30, Bluebird Hewitt said:

So the Sonic the Hedgehog film trailer is out. 

Question. How do you lower already very low expectations? 

 

It looks fucking abysmal.

But also remember there was a Mario film that was live action. That also looked abysmal. And I was a kid who liked Mario at the time. So perhaps this is an homage to that terrible film, by taking Mario's rival and making a similarly shite looking film.

Meanwhile Detective Pikachu looks fantastic 

[Bluebird Hewitt]

1 hour ago, Eco said:

It's not common, I'd say, but given certain standards, you can be asked to sign a document forbidding you to do certain things (go to competitor, sue company for X amount of reasons) and the like. 

Fair enough. I was hoping that this was more the exception than the norm. I can understand the competitor angle but I struggle to understand why, unless they're that shitty, a company would tell you to sign a contract of employment that states you can't sue them, even if they're breaking the law (as appears to possibly be the case here). 

1 hour ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

I don't know much about arbitration agreements other than what I saw from John Oliver a while back. But yeah, they're technically legal. They're actually fairly common in more than just employment agreements, tbh. I've only noticed them after I saw that John Oliver segment though.

I just checked my employment contract though and it doesn't have one. Hooray.

Any particular reason? 

1 hour ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

It looks fucking abysmal.

But also remember there was a Mario film that was live action. That also looked abysmal. And I was a kid who liked Mario at the time. So perhaps this is an homage to that terrible film, by taking Mario's rival and making a similarly shite looking film.

Meanwhile Detective Pikachu looks fantastic 

Exact same reason I saw that abomination in the cinema all those years ago. A couple of years ago, my folks thought it'd be a great idea to buy the film for me on DVD. 

As for Detective Pikachu, it does actually look very good and I probably will watch it should it come to Netflix. 

[Dr. Gonzo]

16 minutes ago, Bluebird Hewitt said:

Fair enough. I was hoping that this was more the exception than the norm. I can understand the competitor angle but I struggle to understand why, unless they're that shitty, a company would tell you to sign a contract of employment that states you can't sue them, even if they're breaking the law (as appears to possibly be the case here). 

Any particular reason? 

Exact same reason I saw that abomination in the cinema all those years ago. A couple of years ago, my folks thought it'd be a great idea to buy the film for me on DVD. 

As for Detective Pikachu, it does actually look very good and I probably will watch it should it come to Netflix. 

I'm not sure I understand the question - any particular reason they're technically legal? No idea why I'm afraid, my assumption would be because it's America and big companies have lobbied lawmakers to allow for mandatory binding arbitration, because (I assume) arbitration is cheaper than going to court and the fact they get a say in who presides over certain cases probably means more favourable decisions to companies?

I found this link though and it explains the clauses better than I can: https://www.thebalancesmb.com/mandatory-arbitration-clauses-in-business-agreements-397425

[Bluebird Hewitt]

4 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

I'm not sure I understand the question - any particular reason they're technically legal? No idea why I'm afraid, my assumption would be because it's America and big companies have lobbied lawmakers to allow for mandatory binding arbitration, because (I assume) arbitration is cheaper than going to court and the fact they get a say in who presides over certain cases probably means more favourable decisions to companies?

I found this link though and it explains the clauses better than I can: https://www.thebalancesmb.com/mandatory-arbitration-clauses-in-business-agreements-397425

Should have explained myself better but yeah, it was mainly around that specific arbitration agreement (giving up the rights to sue a company). Just seems a bit dodgy, especially in this particular scenario. 

[Mel81x+]

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2019/05/bethesdas-latest-elder-scrolls-adventure-taken-down-amid-cries-of-plagiarism/

Shame on you Bethesda