Gaming | 2017 | SL&ENT's Steam Group wants you! (see OP) | Discord: https://discord.gg/DscUsCA

By Smokey Go To PostMgs3 was the last one where it was really like….This is fuked up

Kojima best work

By reilo Go To PostCouple people at work bought ME:A on XB1 (for MP) and they're saying that the graphics are quite bad and the 800p resolution is super noticeable. One of them even mentioned that he thinks ME3 looks better… today 💀

By HasphatsAnts Go To PostI just replayed ME3. This dude's hyperbole game is out of control lol

By Kibner Go To PostGames with feels and people left out Berseria and Legend of Heroes series? Smh

By reilo Go To PostCouple people at work bought ME:A on XB1 (for MP) and they're saying that the graphics are quite bad and the 800p resolution is super noticeable. One of them even mentioned that he thinks ME3 looks better… today 💀

By Dark PhaZe Go To Postman scorpio better come correct or i'm done with MS

By MS PRA great way to use this new controller on your Xbox One is with Copilot – a new console feature that allows any two Xbox Wireless Controllers act as if they were one. As part of our commitment to enhancing gaming for everyone, Copilot makes Xbox One more inviting and fun for new gamers or those needing assistance — whether it’s parents who want to help their kids play, experienced gamers looking to play with novice players, or gamers who need unique configurations to play (e.g. with hands apart, hand and chin, hand and foot, etc.).

By livefromkyoto Go To PostThey're already putting everything out on PC anyway, if you're already a PC gamer I don't see what the appeal of an Xbox would be.

By livefromkyoto Go To PostAlso, with that controller:


How TF did Nintendo not come up with that first? That's like the ur-solution to platformers they were chasing throughout the Wii U era.

By HasphatsAnts Go To PostUC4 is the best "Nate lies to Elena" game to date.

He really upped his game after getting married

By EldritchTrapStar Go To PostReally long wall of text incoming:

Since I beat BOTW, I was gonna do a write-up similar to how we do in the horror thread (shout-out to the participants), but I'll not go as far. I fit in the camp of people that find it to be excellent, even with it's technical shortcomings. Frame-rate isn't the biggest deal breaker for me, when it comes to games. That said, on the wiiu there were a couple of times when it dropped to levels where it moved past something that I could overlook, into infringing on my ability to have fun (and only a handful in the umpteen hours that I played…still inexcusable). Having played all three versions (if you could call them that), portable mode on the Switch was the best…by far.

Within the context of open world games and the design that coincides with them, it hits all of the marks that you would find: large open map, negative space that begs for exploration, gorgeous vistas, towns filled with NPCs,etc… There are aspects of BOTW that manages to exceed most of the open world games that I've played (freedom of choice). There are also design choices that follow some of the same shortcomings that I feel other open world action adventure games suffer from (some of the quest designs). It also tosses some conventions that I've grown to love about the series, in the bushes, while also not going the distance that the game it paid homage to the most went: The Legend of Zelda (the first one).

In terms of non playable characters (NPC for short), they are not all there to wax poetic about how your character is the greatest, and placate your ego. They have their own lives to live. Some of them have their own problems and complications varying from marital troubles, to self esteem issues. It's more reminiscent of PC RPGs than of open world titles like Far Cry or GTA. I ran into characters that didn't give a fuck that I was the legendary swordsman. One in particular even despised me, due to what happened 100 years prior. The characters all have a variety of body types and skin colors. It's one of the most inclusive games that I've played, in general. Towns actually feel lived in and structured in a way, that even Grand Theft Auto has totally of failed at, since San Andreas. With the amount of care that went into the world building, it's a fucking shame that quests delineate into the typical and mundane. The only difference in that respect, is that Nintendo does a better job of asking you to find 10 amount of item X than everybody else. Not that I was expecting anything, but that leads me to my next observation: the overworld and it's repudiation of convention.

The praise of the amount of freedom that you have to tackle…any situation is not unwarranted. If you see a point on the map, nine times out of the ten you can get there: via horseback, rock climbing, or sheer ingenuity. You can go from the game's tutorial section to the end boss, and it gives you the tools to accomplish that feat. More to the point, you're bound to run into something. The only problem is, in effort to support the unexpected means a person may proceed to a certain point, variety and rewards take a bit of a hit.

For the sake of setup (outside of Hyrule Castle), instead of the typical Zelda dungeons that people familiar with the series are accustomed to, shrines and the divine beasts fill those roles. Gone are the personalities that the dungeons have had, post NES era LoZ games. For the shrines, environmental storytelling is exchanged for a vibrant science fiction color palette, that breeds mundane familiarity, outside of the cool sounding names (I get why). The divine beasts strips down the need for backtracking and exploration, for the sake of streamlining puzzle solving. While I did enjoy them (only one of them really stands out), and understand the narrative reasons as to why this was done, they felt more like stop gaps in a series that…well…is famous, largely in part, because of it's dungeons. The set pieces are more memorable than the actual dungeons themselves, and that's not good. This would be easy to overlook, if not for the “end game” area. Hyrule Castle functions like a modern take on the idea of a dungeon, and is perfectly executed and yet…there is only one of it. Twilight Princess's overworld had areas that you could bomb your way into to find secret passageways and dungeon-eque underworlds. Again, outside of Hyrule castle, the only thing you're using bombs for is to hurt enemies or find mats to trade for currency. Zelda 1 came out in the 80's and even within it's limited framework, it felt a lot better in that regard.

That leads to bosses and the rogue gallery that litters the landscape. In terms of presentation, outside of phase 1 of the final boss, NONE of the bosses in this game has the presence and air of intimidation that the other Zelda games have (2D or 3D). That's by in large, due to the aesthetic cohesion shared by the dungeons. There are only four main bosses and a handful of mini-bosses that populate the overworld. That leads to my biggest issue with the game. With the amount of negative space used, I didn't feel like they added enough mini-bosses, hero challenges (think events that leads to rewards instead of just a puzzle), or enough of a variety in the rogue gallery, to really let you flex the creativity that you have. Granted, the Zelda games never have more than a handful of enemy types, this is the one title in the series where that aspect is felt the most. On the bosses, from a mechanical standpoint, I am fucking glad that they've moved past the same tired format of using the item acquired from the dungeon and attacking the glowing weak point flashing on a bosses face. Here, you figure it out, use your skills and make it work. I hope that flashing red weak point shit never returns. Ever. Get that the fuck outta here.

With that said, the enemy AI does a semi decent job of masking the lack of enemies, by adapting to certain player tactics. If enemies are disarmed, they search out other weapons. If someone spots Link, they'll call for backup. I saw a situation happen to a friend of mine that didn't occur once in my play-through. Instead of fighting him straight up, an enemy backed up and waited until he wasn't blocking and threw a claymore in his face: killing him in the process. Lyonels are BOTW's equivalent to a Capcom and Platinum games enemy type, instead of the typical Nintendo one. They require finesse and a bit of a mastery of the game's deceptively simple combat system. They'll flush you out of cover, rush you down, stalk you, and do whatever it takes to kill you if you aggro them. They are the game's best enemy, and honestly, it should have had a few more designed like them. I'll also add, everything in the game has a tell, in the way that most good action games have them. There is either a sound effect to listen for or start-up animation (which the game is more than generous about) to watch out for. At the risk of sounding elitist, outside of Lyonels, if you're getting wrecked you should take a step back and be observant. Everything is more than fair.

I don't care to comment on the weapon degradation or stamina system. Once I got into the groove of it, I thought it was fine. You don't actually need to break your high level gear, unless you want to. It's a subjective set of systems and I recognize the argument for and against them. Whatever. I will state, outside of the mobile guardians and Lyonels, at no point in time did I feel like I died due to Link not having stamina. Even at his slowest bop, not even the quicker enemies have tagged me while I ran away. The start-up on their mid-ranged attacks seems to have been designed with the stamina system in mind.

This is already wordy as fuck, as is, so I'll just end it with this: even with what I felt to be shortcomings, it still stands out among the crowd. I don't put in the amount of hours that I did into this, if I don't find it to be fun (I really don't see the point). It's easily one of the best open world games that I've played (and a lot better in some aspects) and mostly what I've been hoping that a modern Zelda title would be like. I just hope that for the next one, they'll bring back some of the other aspects of older titles that I felt to be lacking here, and that they'll break away from samey conventions as well.

Side-notes:

-The voice acting ranges from good to not great (wasn't thrilled with Zelda..).
-Gerudo Town is the best thing Nintendo has done.
-I don't know about VA, but Link talks plenty in the game (via text) and is a much better character for it. The excuse they give about his silence (in this game) is the dumbest and most juvenile shit possible.

By Dark PhaZe Go To Post
apparently this is 1080p but its the exact same image quality (low textures, bad AA) on the pro version…this exact scene really stood out on my playthrough the other night

By livefromkyoto Go To PostThey're already putting everything out on PC anyway, if you're already a PC gamer I don't see what the appeal of an Xbox would be.

For me, I've had a hate-boner for MS since red ring and now that they've given up on Japanese games almost entirely they'll have a hard time ever winning me back. But I'd be lying if I said the shots coming out of PS4 Pro didn't have me excited for what something a fair bit more powerful could do.

Plus, their controller game is on point. The new one they announced today looks awesome:

http://news.xbox.com/2017/03/21/xbox-wireless-controller-recon-tech-special-edition/

It's all going to come down to what they announce at E3. If they just show up with Crackdown and that dumb looking pirate game again then there's no point, it's just a Halo paywall as far as I'm concerned. But hopefully they'll have some new titles that really show off the hardware; they have to, right?

By Kuma Go To PostI hate the dialoge options in DAI. Can't be the asshole character I want to be

By Kuma Go To PostI hate the dialoge options in DAI. Can't be the asshole character I want to be

By Kibner Go To PostThis probably came out of MS's recent super-heavy investment into design for disabilities. Nintendo doesn't much care about that.

By Smokey Go To PostI've conceded and am keeping my XB1S around because it's a UHD player, and I'll need one when I get a 4k TV in 2018 anyway. Halo is the only thing I played on it and 6 is coming to PC too.

Think I'm gonna get out of the console game anyway for a while. I got a OG PS4 as it is and I'm not interested in continuing to pay for PSN and on an inferior iteration of a system. Sell PS4 and maybe come back in holiday 2017 with a Pro bundle to prepare for the TV.

By Kuma Go To PostI hate the dialoge options in DAI. Can't be the asshole character I want to be

By livefromkyoto Go To PostReally? I always choose the good guy route in these types of games, but it seemed like there were plenty of dickish responses.

By data Go To PostYou can go kill the main boss from the start in Wildlands just like Zelda

whys it not revolutionary

By livefromkyoto Go To PostYou always seem like exhibit A of "consoles are not for this type of person" anyway. If you're the type of guy who's fine with the troubleshooting/tinkering side of PC gaming and is mainly into Western AAA and the technological/cutting edge visual elements of gaming (which people give you grief for but I get it), a console just seems like a glorified friends list to me.

By Phoenix RISING Go To PostDid.someone suggest that 20k is how much someone gets paid/mo to be a game reviewer or did I misread?

By data Go To PostThe only radio station in Bolivia is run by a drug cartel apparently

By Phoenix RISING Go To PostRead all of it. Would you give it a 7/10 tho?

By Kibner Go To PostETS2?

Nah the game doesn't look like trash at all. You are looking at a sandy planet, dusty planet too.

But it's probably the art style that doesn't do it for you.

By Hitch Go To PostFucking hating Dota at the moment

Might have to take a week off before I break something


edit: what in the name of fuck is that Omen X monstrosity