Quoting: Arehandoro

Quoting: rustybroomhandle

Quoting: Arehandoro

Quoting: rustybroomhandle

Quoting: NociferAh, Mass Effect. That sci-fi game that had such an absolutely great first part, before somehow managing to turn into an absolute crapfest in its second and third parts. For anyone who not only cares about good game writing but also enjoys reading about good game writing (and writing in general)

Pfff, opinions. ME2 is the best of the three by a huge margin. Primarily due to the fact that it actually does a better job of establishing reasons to care about individual characters rather than just the clinical plot stuff.

That's the whole problem of ME2, though. In a mission of such scale that the whole universe is in peril, caring for individual characters, is a bit ridiculous. And going from a half-science/half-space-magic based story to a drama based story, with stupidity reaching new level with the

Spoiler, click me

creation of the humanoid reaper.

I'll continue in spoiler in case someone has not played it yet.

Spoiler, click me

The reapers have been wiping civilizations for eons and it doesn't occur to them that creating a biped reaper with opposable thumbs is better that the squid form until they meet the humans.

Or the fact the humans have been out of their home planet for mere 200 years, and they go from being looked from above, being patronized, etc to be in charge of everything. Where does the last battle happen? In earth.

The propaganda of humans > aliens just because and the deidity of a single character than can be resurrected from death (almost like Jesus) and command the whole galaxy against a huge threat is what destroyed ME2 and 3.

That only at the story level. Killing the mako, cutting exploration, adding bullets to the weapons and adding a bit more of bum and tits here and there deepened the above mentioned fails.

Basically all of what you said boils down to: things you don't like vs things you like vs. things other people like vs. things other people don't like.

There's no objectively good or bad here. We don't all want the same things from games/stories. If you don't like the thing, maybe the thing just is not for you and you can move on.

Yes, of course. But what would be of the internet if we didn't try to convince someone else that what we like is better? :P /s

I love it when people try to do that. Enthusiasm is great to see. Sadly, it's much more common to see people shitting on things other people love, as if we should all be cynical haters of everything by default, and we're only allowed to love something if that thing is perfect, and therefore mystically beyond criticism.

That's not me. I love all sorts of flawed but still wonderful things. I still occasionally take a stab at stuff, but (hopefully) more in the vein of trying to understand why people love it (e.g. Stadia).

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Quoting: wvstolzing

Quoting: slaapliedjeIs it me, or is this just a ploy to get people to install Origin. Like EA finally realized it was a failure, but so they went back to allowing games to be sold on Steam again... but still require origin so they have a reason to say the software still lives?

Of all the 'trademarks' that EA bought & made a travesty of, the case of 'Origin' is possibly the most bizarre.

Thought I think the name will be laid to rest soon: https://venturebeat.com/2020/09/14/electronic-arts-doubles-down-on-ea-play-brand-with-ea-desktop-app/ [External Link]

Urgh, goddam. Serebit mentioned in Discord that Origin was going away, and I genuinely thought that I might start playing EA games again after nearly a decade of boycot. But nope, they're just re-launching Origin v2, calling it EA Desktop, and bundling their shitty subscription service in?? Yeah. No thanks.

Unless it gets actual Linux support, of course. Might reconsider if that happens. Right after I shoot down that flying pig...

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Quoting: rustybroomhandle

Quoting: NociferAh, Mass Effect. That sci-fi game that had such an absolutely great first part, before somehow managing to turn into an absolute crapfest in its second and third parts. For anyone who not only cares about good game writing but also enjoys reading about good game writing (and writing in general)

Pfff, opinions. ME2 is the best of the three by a huge margin. Primarily due to the fact that it actually does a better job of establishing reasons to care about individual characters rather than just the clinical plot stuff.

Yep, ME2 was a better game by far. Great characters, tight story telling, far, far more accessible combat. I loved everything about it, whereas I had to persevere quite a bit to get through the first few hours of the first game.

Never played the third, since they moved it to Origin, but I'd have loved to give a shot, despite the weird controversy over the ending(s).

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Quoting: Faalhaas

Quoting: win8linuxThis game seems to have influences from old-school id shooters, DOOM (2016), DOOM Eternal, and Source games (HL2 in particular). Could be one to watch closely.

Changes are high I will buy and play this. But c'mon... How is this not a Ghostrunner-clone? Unless the developers started their work before that gameplay came out. I read that SPRAWL is inspired by other games like Mirror's Edge... And as it happens... Ghostrunner also took many elements from the Mirror's Edge games.

Given that GhostRunner only launched late last year, I'd be gobsmacked if there's any inspiration here. I get what you mean though, especially with the ghostly-voice-in-your-head narrative. Very similar.

Ghostrunner is more like a puzzle game though - one shot and you're dead. I like the approach here better, where you're allowed to cock up a fair bit and can keep strafe running, jumping and shooting to turn things around.

Also bullet-time. Love it!

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Was vaguely interested in buying this, but I note that it still requires Origin to play. So... nah.

Mass Effect 1 and 2 were great when I played them years ago on the PS3. Fond memories. And if EA ever comes to their senses and ditch their useless launcher (at least when bought on Steam), I'll be throwing money at them again for titles like this.

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Quoting: drlamb

Quoting: LordDaveTheKindI would definitely buy and play it, if I wasn't kind of sensitive to horror and gore :sick:

Horror isn't my thing either. How I ever completed Amnesia the dark descent in High school I'll never understand. Much like Amnesia Rebirth isn't as scary as TDD, REVIII is not as scary as REVII. I could barely stomach 30 minutes in REVII and yet I've played hours of REVIII on Stadia. It is a really easy horror game with some jump scares thrown in to keep you on your toes.

If Google wasn't giving away a free Stadia Premiere edition with REVIII I likely would've ordered it on Steam. Hopefully an FOV slider gets added to all platforms soon.

The FOV is brutal. I was getting slightly queasy watching FuryForge playing it on Twitch. Lovely looking game too, such a shame it's like watching it through a telescope.

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I love that this is playable straight out of the box now (presumably), but I just went to take a look on Steam and not only is it a cool £65, it's also hampered by Denuvo DRM. I can stomach the former, but I don't buy anything related to the latter, so it's a no from me.

Game looks great too, although I've watched a couple of Twitch streams on it and while it's very pretty, everyone's main complaint is that it's trivially easy. I wonder if they'll add in a hard mode after you complete the game, perhaps?

But as long as it has Denuvo, I ain't touching it.

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I really love the look of this, but waiting another year will feel like torture. I'm sure you'll cover it via a release article and when you do, it's an insta-buy for me!

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Quoting: PiddlyDYou're on the initial "wow" of it - but the practical realities of it mean that unless you have an entire room to basically dedicate to VR gaming - it is too much of a hassle currently - especially when the novelty of the games wear off.

I had a friend try to sell me on it several years ago. I bought a boatload of retro FPGA devices instead with the money I would have spent on VR.

Personally, I think VR is the 3D TV of PC gaming. It initially impresses, but after a while, you'll find that traditional gaming is still far more convenient, accessible, affordable, and enjoyable.

Maybe for some, but certainly not for me. I'm well over the wow-period, but I still love VR. You don't need a big room at all. I have a tiny place space and still managed Alyx without any bother.

In fact, the three games I play most now in "standing" VR are Beat Sabre, BoxVR and more recently Groove Gunner - and all three are literally "just stand, no movement at all". So they're very well suited to tiny spaces.

The other type of VR, my favourite, I think, is "sitting VR", which is what I use for Elite, Overload and Automobilista 2 (although I've hardly played the latter because it's too realistic a game to be played on a gamepad... it really needs a wheel).

Sitting VR is incredible. I don't even use the Index controllers - just mouse+kbd while wearing the headset. But it's incredible. Truly can't be overstated how much better cockpit games are in VR. You couldn't even say it's 1000x better - it's way more, a completely new, just amazing experience altogether.

Still agree with a lot of the naysayers though. And this puts the lie to your 3D TV analogy - VR isn't a replacement for my monitor and probably never will be. Whereas 3D TV was a layer on top of a normal TV, VR is a completely new way of playing, interacting with and experiencing your games.

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Quoting: Beamboom

Quoting: scaine

Quoting: orochi_kyoIt is a matter of time the converts get bored of preaching this new uncomfortable new belief to get back to their old religion. Happens almost every time.

Are you seriously comparing a next generational, niche, and groundbreaking technology (VR) to gaming on the go (mobile) and claiming that mobile gaming is the future?

Whenever the topic is VR there's always guys like these who for some reason have this urge to "call us out" for being so wrong and disillusioned. It's even unclear to me why they are so eager to tell us, but I have come to the conclusion that it simply must be plain old envy kicking in.

I just leave them be. They only tend to get more extreme if their opinions are challenged in a dialogue.

To be fair, it's pretty easy to become quite passionate about VR and get all fired up by it, claiming that it will change the world... so it's easy to see why some people want to counter that a bit. We're eager to shout about it from the rooftops, so they're eager to note that they're not "buying the coolaid". Fair enough, really. We're both right, from our own perspectives.

I'd love it to change the world, but as Liam notes in his article, it'll need to be cheaper, lighter and ideally wireless, before it can make serious inroads. And even when it does, it'll still be tied to a powerful PC.

But think in terms of decades and it does get quite exciting, I reckon. The first PCs back in the early 90's were like fridges and had the processing power of an overpriced calculator. Thirty years later, we carry super-computers in our pockets and the battery lasts nearly 3 days.

VR will evolve more slowly, being niche, but it's still exciting to think that this kind of technology might become truly wireless, affordable and as light as a pair of glasses within our lifetimes.

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