General gaming superthread

[Perrydotto]

[Aria Genisi]

Noah Caldwell-Gervais did a really good (if rather long) retrospective video on the far cry series thus far. Absolutely worth a watch if you've got the time to spare

[Pocket]

(above video might be NSFW for nudity, by the way)

To a certain extent, I have to wonder if Far Cry 5 ended up being a victim of circumstance. It was probably started back in 2015 or 2016, when the figure in the news most relevant to its plot would have been Cliven Bundy. Identifying as a "proud American" didn't immediately arouse suspicion like it did back in the Bush era, and even Trump came across as an outsider trying to disrupt the peaceful status quo. It wouldn't have seemed very controversial to portray a group of separatists as unironically crazy and evil, without qualification. I myself was toying with the idea of reworking Edward Everett Hale's "The Man without a Country" as a movie set in the present day with its protagonist as an obvious Bundy analog. But then—counter to everyone's expectations, including Trump's—the pendulum swung the other direction and it swung hard. Suddenly, it was the left who found themselves the rebel faction, and portraying separatists as straight-up villainous might have reeked of an even worse form of whataboutism—like if BioShock Infinite had portrayed the Vox and only the Vox as the bad guys.

We saw something kind of similar happen with Battlefield: Hardline, whose original premise was made much more problematic by the events of Ferguson late in the game's development, so they were stuck making sweeping changes at the last minute to try to salvage what they'd already made. Developing the gameplay part of a game takes a lot more work than writing and recording dialog (although, admittedly, in both cases it was probably copy-pasted almost wholesale from its predecessors), so scrapping the whole project and starting over probably wasn't an option.

[DarkMatter]

PSA: If you donated to The Good Life check your e-mail to make sure your pledge went through. My bank flagged mine as "suspicious activity" since the origins are from Japan so now I need to call them on Monday to let them know it is in fact me trying to make that purchase. Kickstarter gives you seven days to get it fixed if there's a problem.

Kind of a pain in the ass.

[Perrydotto]

Meanwhile I'm glad that the devs of the recent Battletech game are at least saying they will adress the bug issues ASAP. One patch was already put out, with more fixes to come, and they are planning a bigger one in the next few months that adds more content and customization, as well.

They talk about it some more in this interview.

Also:

One of the vocal, minority reactions to BattleTech's release centered around a microscopic element of the game—the ability to select a gender pronoun during character creation. Right now, of 1,023 negative reviews on Steam, 47 mention "gender," and 60 mention "politics." What was the reaction within the studio as you were seeing players with very low playtime negatively review BattleTech for such a tiny feature?

MG: We only have one on-the-record answer to that. Internally, what we say to each other is, our work speaks for itself, right? And that’s that. Our only public statement is, we believe that… we make great games that are welcoming to everyone. Our character creation system just reflects that belief. That’s it. And that’s it.

Good.

[Perrydotto]

Personally I'm waiting for the bigger content patch until I start playing, hopefully by that point the kinks have been mostly ironed out and I can enjoy the game fully

I'm not regretting that I bought it on release though, I sadly kinda had to expect bugs on release due to having experience with Paradox-published stuff, and I'm glad my money helped fund the SJW menace

[Venusy]

Bought Steep, since there was a key going cheap, I know a friend who enjoyed it, and I've been looking for a new game to play while listening to podcasts.

So far, I have not been able to get past the tutorial. Not because the game is hard, but because the tutorial requires an always-on internet connection, and as I've subsequently found out, the latest Xbone beta update introduces Wi-Fi stability issues!

So I'll get some of the way through the tutorial (but not enough to get to the next point where it saves), and then connection error, returning to main menu.

There should be absolutely zero reason for a tutorial to require an internet connection - tutorials are this static introduction to the game world that you should not want to change with whatever dynamic networking features you've got going on.

[Perrydotto]

haha wow that's bad

the only tutorials I can remember needing an online connection are the tutorials in Guild Wars 2 but 1) that's an MMO so being online is kinda a thing and 2) you play them together with other people who are also in the tutorial areas so there's at least a reason for it

[Madeline]

What even is the point of having always-online DRM (essentially) for a tutorial in a console game on a console that hasn’t been hacked?

[Adiwan]

Besides DRM developers can use analytics to gather data where people get stuck, die a lot, or spend quality time.

[Venusy]

Aside from analytics, one thing I'm wondering is if it forces you to view the microtransaction store as part of the tutorial.

[Perrydotto]

[SlateSlabrock]

Aside from analytics, one thing I'm wondering is if it forces you to view the microtransaction store as part of the tutorial.

[Adiwan]

That's nasty. I'd rather have NOT the option than being teased.

[Perrydotto]

thanks Dragon Age

[Madeline]

I had no idea analytics were a thing.

[Perrydotto]

Corporations will take any means there are to collect data about us. It's often the most valuable part of us!



(I hate how often this picture is useful)

[Fizzbuzz]

Besides DRM developers can use analytics to gather data where people get stuck, die a lot, or spend quality time.

Even then, analytics data can be collected while the player is offline and then uploaded whenever an Internet connection is available. Requiring an always-on connection makes me feel like the developer is either extremely paranoid about possible future piracy, or lazy.

[Venusy]

The Nintendo Switch online service has been revealed, $20 per year for cloud saves, online play, and a selection of NES games with online play (supporting both traditional multiplayer and two players sharing one pad). They've also confirmed that no other Virtual Console features are planned.

I think cloud saves are going to be the big thing for a lot of people aside from online play, but I also don't fully know if I'm going to pay for this? I haven't played Splatoon 2 online in a while, and most of the enjoyment I get from Smash Bros. is in single player.

[Highbrow Dash]

That sucks. I'd be okay with it if these games had dedicated servers, but they don't. I'm not thrilled to pay for NES games and save storage (they could just let us backup saves to an SD instead)

That said I just bought Splatoon 2 and I'll be buying Smash, so I'll be paying anyway. Hopefully this won't kill off their online communities.

[Madeline]

All of my Switch games are single player so far, so save backups are the one thing that I would have liked having. Oh well.

[DarkMatter]

$20 for a year is cheap enough and I'll want to play Smash Bros. online (though I usually do local multiplayer with it) and the NES games seem like a nice bonus, especially since the NES Mini is still impossible to find.

[Aria Genisi]

There's also a family plan for 8 nintendo accounts on it for $35. Assuming that there's no specific restrictions on it, it could potentially mean that a bunch of people could get into a family group and chip in for it.

[Madeline]

Ooh, that’s a good point. That would definitely make it much more affordable.

[DarkMatter]

Forgot to mention I've been playing Yakuza 0. This is my first foray into the world of Yakuza (the prequel to the entire series seemed like a good place to start). So far I'm really loving it. It's walks on that fine line between serious tone and goofiness so well. In a weird way it kind of reminds me of Deadly Premonition? I just reached Chapter 4. I really love Kiryu and Majima, they both seem like such great characters. It's taking me so long to get through the chapters because I keep stumbling across sidequests by mistake and can't leave them undone.

[Madeline]

In keeping with my tradition of being LTTP, I started Axiom Verge this morning. I’ve only just gotten past the second boss so far, but it’s good. It feels a bit like someone mashed Contra into the first Metroid game, but items like the Address Disruptor are unique nd keep the game from feeling like just another 8-bit style Metroidvania. The music is very good, too, as is the grotesque biomechanical aesthetic straight out of Giger.

[Logicgate]

In keeping with my tradition of being LTTP, I'm generally regarded as the best 2D Zelda game of all time, and one of the most successful releases for the Super Nintendo console

[Adiwan]

I own two Wii U games (Bayonetta 2 and Pikmin 3) but no console. I think I have a problem... of not having the console!
The console doesn't get as cheap as I want it to be in order to purchase one.

[Madeline]

In keeping with my tradition of being LTTP, I'm generally regarded as the best 2D Zelda game of all time, and one of the most successful releases for the Super Nintendo console

You’re my favorite 2D Zelda

(I was asking for that, wasn’t I )

[Aria Genisi]

Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon got announced. Back in the kickstarter campaign, one of the stretch goals was a retro side-game, and here it is! It's looking like it's basically not-Castlevania 3.

If you backed Bloodstained for $28 or more, you get a copy for free (and you could choose which platform you want the key for). But if you didn't, you can buy it when it gets released on the 24th of this month for $10. It'll be available on Steam, PS4, Xbone, Switch, 3DS, and Vita, so just pick your platform of choice.

EDIT 2: from the website, the game has two different difficulty modes: Veteran and Casual. Veteran basically means that it's like classic castlevania. Lives, knockback, and the sort of difficulty you'd expect from an old castlevania game. Casual gets rid of the knockback and gives you unlimted lives, and maybe changes a few other things to make it less intense.

EDIT: Also, as (maybe) the only one excited about Gunvolt, a sequel got announced, starring the villain protagonist, Copen:

[Orange Fluffy Sheep]

The Switch wasn't even a thing when I backed Bloodstained. I didn't know I was going for a portable jumping in caves game.

[Vivianinatoga]

They've sent so many surveys and given us so many opportunities to change what system to get the code for...

[Aria Genisi]

If you backed it, you still have until the 18th to decide on your platform for the main game and the retro game. If you *didn’t* back it, you have until the 14th to slacker back it.

[Venusy]

Bought Steep, since there was a key going cheap, I know a friend who enjoyed it, and I've been looking for a new game to play while listening to podcasts.

So far, I have not been able to get past the tutorial. Not because the game is hard, but because the tutorial requires an always-on internet connection, and as I've subsequently found out, the latest Xbone beta update introduces Wi-Fi stability issues!

So I'll get some of the way through the tutorial (but not enough to get to the next point where it saves), and then connection error, returning to main menu.

There should be absolutely zero reason for a tutorial to require an internet connection - tutorials are this static introduction to the game world that you should not want to change with whatever dynamic networking features you've got going on.

OK, the Xbone beta updated again, and now I can actually get past the tutorial, it's really fun just exploring and doing races and other things. I'm playing as a goat and wingsuiting head first into cliff faces.

I still have no idea why the tutorial required an internet connection. There was a cutscene part way through the tutorial which was so low res that it looked like it could have been streaming, but it also could have just been badly encoded.

Also, the "your objective" pop up after the tutorial is one of the most Ubisoft things imaginable.

CONTENT

EDIT: Also, there's a dragon outfit, but apparently I can unlock a rocket wingpack without having to pay for the DLC if I save up credits, so that's what I'm going to do.

[Aramek]

Look who is gonna be in FF14!



It's Ba'gamnan!
Eeee!
Don't read anything into that eeee.

[Madeline]

If you backed it, you still have until the 18th to decide on your platform for the main game and the retro game. If you *didn’t* back it, you have until the 14th to slacker back it.

You can ask Fangamer to resend the survey, too, if you need to change your mind. I changed mine from PS4 to Switch for both games and it went through okay. I’m only a slacker backer so it should work for other backers.

[Aria Genisi]

Yeah, you can redo the survey whenever you want, as many times as you want.

[Madeline]

Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap is on sale for 50% off on Switch, Steam, PS4 (US only so far), and Xbox One (Gold required) until May 22nd. This was one of my favorite games last year, and a fantastic remake, if anyone is interested in checking it out but hasn’t yet. Here’s a trailer:

[Highbrow Dash]

I'm in love with Splatoon 2 It's so good.

I was really unsure about buying it, I mean it looked interesting but it's so weird and I'd never played it before. I'm glad I went for it

[Madeline]

There are still people playing the first Splatoon online at night, but we desynced after me getting to experience everyone else seeming to teleport around the map. Also, they are way better than I am.

I don’t think I’ll be trying again