Messages

46

General / Re: STEAM ADDS OPTION TO SEE HOW MUCH YOU'VE SPENT ON ALL YOUR GAMES

« on: June 21, 2018, 12:13:16 am »

Interesting. I'm at $459.53. I mostly buy bundles and sales, I've only bought a few full priced games. I have 136 games, but a lot where from Indiebox who's cost is obviously not accounted here. My account is a month away from 7 years old.

47

Modern Video Games / Re: Finally caving in to 4k gaming. Has anyone decided to go 4k yet?

« on: June 13, 2018, 10:24:07 pm »

I only got a digital TV this year because my brother was getting rid of his from 2011. I've exclusively used CRTs before then. Maybe I'll get something 4k ready in 2035.

48

General / Re: Has gaming gotten better on worse in your opinion?

« on: June 12, 2018, 02:03:15 am »

Worse in all but technology, which is naturally way better.

In many ways gaming is a victim of it's own success. As it's grown in popularity it stretches itself ever thinner in a moronic attempt for wider appeal. Back in it's less widespread days it was selling to a very specific group that required a certain level of respect for it's audience that modern games lack. This is of course clearly present in all the nickle-and-dimming of micro-transactions, loot boxes, season passes, etc. that rely more on whales so they can give the finger to the more average audience. Things like dropping the complexity of games to appeal to the lowest common denominator, shoehorning in politics where they don't belong (count the times they said 'diversity' this E3), forsaking single player experiences so they can slap the fore-mentioned further monetization systems as well as shit always online crap... these are near ubiquitous with every major game now.

For all the new technology that allows games to do almost anything it's almost never been used to anything close to it's potential in favor of lazy and scummy monetization schemes. Gaming was always a business but a game used to sell on it's uniqueness and quality, where more often than not these take a back seat now. Obviously this isn't every game, but I'd wager to say this is the majority developed by big developers.

Look at Bethesda, who hilariously said they where going to be the champion of single-player games at one point not too long ago (what a laugh)... they own two unique franchises that are widely popular, sell millions upon millions each entry... and have now double or TRIPLE sold out both on monetizable platforms. Elder Scrolls Online, Elder Scroll Legends, Elder Scroll Blades, Fallout Shelter, Fallout 76... franchise loyalty built on excellent games used to make money milkers. The main series get more and more infrequent while they build worlds that COULD be used in a real game... but that doesn't have the potential for constant selling of digital 'goods'. Oh goody, games as a 'service'.

This games-as-a-service crap is going to kill video games as I think of them. What was gaming a decade ago might not exist in the mainstream a decade from now. It's not all doom and gloom, however. Indie games are pretty much what gaming was in the 90s and 00's- unique projects where design and passion comes before profit, can be for niche audiences and live and die by their quality. This is amazing, but these are small teams or single devs with tight budgets... this surely inspires creativity, but they can never match what big studios COULD do. Giant studios have the capacity to push video games to their utmost limits, providing unimaginable experiences... but they don't and this is what most depresses me. When you have no motivation outside maximum profit why sell 10 million copies of an exceptional game when you could make a generic battle royale with the POTENTIAL of out-earning those 10 million with micro-transactions? The early days of gaming struck a balance between artistry and business, but now gaming is a not a creative vision or even just a product... but a 'service'.

The days of horse armor dlc seem pretty quaint by comparison... if only we'd known.

TL;DR
I'm a bitter old man who doesn't even like the things he likes. Gaming will be a completely different and utterly worse thing than it used to be in a decade or less, it's potential for innovation and inspiration squandered for profit-squeezing from major companies.

49

General / Re: Am I depressed or is E3 sucking so far?

« on: June 11, 2018, 11:07:33 pm »

So far the only things I care about are Cuphead DLC and the distant, ethereal whisper of Elder Scrolls 6...

I'd say it sucks so far, personally at least. I hope Nintendo has something, but they've already done their big franchises I like so my hopes aren't super high...

50

Modern Video Games / Re: E3 2018: Bethesda

« on: June 10, 2018, 10:49:54 pm »

Awesome!!! The only company that makes my favorite genre of game is never going to make another real one again!!!



Edit: Guess I was wrong, too bad it's many years away... will we make it to a decade at 2021? Place your bets now!

51

Modern Video Games / Re: E3 2018: Bethesda

« on: June 09, 2018, 10:45:58 pm »

I am prepared for my yearly disappointment. Fallout 76 is probably going to be a dumb 'gaming as a service' thing that isn't a good single player game and they aren't going to give us Elder Scrolls 6 because although it would print money, it doesn't have the same POTENTIAL of printing money as a 'gaming as a service' thing.

I don't care about anything else they make. The next Elder Scrolls is probably gonna be a battle royal game.

I don't know if you can tell, but I am a tiiiiiiny bit pessimistic about the modern gaming industry.

52

Modern Video Games / Re: Opinions on paying for online play?

« on: June 04, 2018, 04:51:51 pm »

It's complete bunk... more profit squeezing from an increasingly awful industry. I do almost all online stuff on PC anyway.

I'm upset Nintendo is finally jumping on this awful bandwagon, but at least their pricing is less than Sony & Microsoft. It's super annoying to have to pay to access features on games like Smash... I haven't gone online with Playstation since Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale which at the time was at least free, don't know if stuff like that still is.

53

Modern Video Games / Re: E3 Rumor/Leak Discussion

« on: May 14, 2018, 10:33:18 pm »

Mehhhhhh... that StarFox game might be interesting, but everything else on the list might as well be Call of Assassin's Duty XXIVX for how much it interests me.

I hope there are some decent surprises because outside of a couple KickStarter games there is nothing from the mainstream I have been looking forwards to all year...

54

Modern Video Games / Re: Smash Bros 2018 Brainstorm

« on: May 05, 2018, 09:21:36 pm »

Bandana Dee (Kirby)

I will accept no new characters ever again so this doesn't happen. This is more of a meme choice than Goku.

55

Modern Video Games / Re: Thoughts on Fortnite & PUBG. Have you been hit by the hype train?

« on: April 10, 2018, 01:31:37 pm »

Haven't played either, especially glad I didn't pay for PUBG. PUBG is basically an unfinished, full-priced game that will only get worse... I read about the controversy where people wanted regional servers because of lag, cheating and language barrier yet instead of meeting this reasonable request the creator called these people 'xenophobic' in the most current year tactic possible.... surely because of morals and not how much business comes from China. Not to mention them trying to sue everyone for the most ludicrous reasons. I'm glad Fortnite is moving from being a slice of the pie to having seemingly most of it, everyone involved at PUBG seem to be clownshoes morons.

As for Fortnite itself, meh. Maybe I'll try one day if it's free. It like PUBG wants to be a stupid e-sport, so it'll probably decline in quality.

56

Marketplace / Re: FT: Bazaar of random gaming goodies -- Updated often!

« on: April 05, 2018, 08:26:18 pm »

According to all known laws of game collecting, there is no way that someone would want the Bee Movie game. It's quality is simply too low to get any interest in trades off the ground. The game, of course, attempts trade anyways. Because licensed games don't care what collectors think is infeasible.

(if you are updating, I'll keep an eye out. While not interested in buying/selling, I am always interested in trades when something tickles me.)

57

Video Game Database Discussion / Re: What do people use the notes feature for?

« on: April 03, 2018, 10:27:59 am »

On top of what people said already, I also like to put little jokes or quotes from the game sometimes.

58

Classic Video Games / Re: Your Opinions Of The Spyro Series

« on: March 30, 2018, 05:46:06 pm »

I've played the first 3 and they are all-time classics. That's about all, peace out.

59

Video Game Database Discussion / Re: Collection List

« on: March 27, 2018, 09:49:18 am »

I most certainly do not, and the trend of digital only games is greatly annoying.

I love games such as Cuphead and Divinity Original Sin 2, and I will never 'own' them and despite their excellence I HATE the feeling of spending money on a digital product. Every-time something like that happens it's in the back of my mind I could just pirate it and that would likely be MORE ownership than buying it (not linked to any service)... I don't because I want to support the mostly always smaller studios that put them put. Another example is Sonic Mania I kinda wanted to play, but not an overly high amount... I didn't wanna buy a digital copy but I also coulden't pirate because talented self-made fans created the game. I was likely never going to play it because of this until the physical version got announced (thank goodness).

I think listing digital games in a collection is no more ridiculous than listing pirated games, but that's just me. One day digital services may close down, or a console's memory may be erased after being outdated by newer hardware or even a company just yanking your digital rights for whatever reason and all your 'ownership' is gone.

60

Classic Video Games / Re: What are your top 10 JRPG's? For each generation.

« on: March 26, 2018, 08:02:09 am »

Are you just trolling? You don't even have your own list!

Because I'm not an expert on the topic. And I already know what I know, I'm here to learn what I don't know, or might not know. And perhaps others are as well?

And where's your list by the way?

I didn't mean to be rude, it's just a really massive undertaking to make a top 10 for every generation in a single thread, ya know? It's also common to start with your by filling out your own list, which has a way of showing you're serious. Perhaps my perception is skewed because this is the kind of thing I might do ironically making fun of how prevalent list threads are.

As a show of good faith, I'll attempt this here massive list... when I think of JRPGs, I don't tend to think of action RPGs, so I am excluding those... tactical RPGs I do count though.

8-bit era:
1. Dragon Quest IV
2. Final Fantasy II
3. Dragon Quest III
4. Final Fantasy III
5. Final Fantasy
6. Mother
7. Dragon Quest II
8. Dragon Quest
There are many more JRPGs not release in America that are probably good, but I've never played them enough. In fact, this list is probably every 8-bit RPG I've played (enough to rate).

16-Bit era:
1. Final Fantasy VI
2. Chrono Trigger
3. Pokemon Gold/Silver/Crystal
4. Super Mario RPG
5. Lufia
6. Live-A-Live
7. Dragon Quest V
8. Final Fantasy V
9. Lufia II
10. Final Fantasy IV


64-Bit (Maybe not accurate, N64/PS1 era)
1. Dragon Quest VII
2. Final Fantasy Tactics
3. Final Fantasy VIII
4. Final Fantasy IX
5. Final Fantasy VII
6. Paper Mario
7. Suikoden II
8. Wild Arms 2
9. The Legend of Dragoon

I started losing interest in more pure JRPGs starting here.

PS2 Era:
1. Final Fantasy X
2. Star Ocean 3
3. Phantom Brave
4. Mother 3
5. Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door
6. Final Fantasy X-2
7. Final Fantasy Tactics Advance
8. Fire Emblem
9. La Pucelle Tactics
10. Golden Sun

By this point I had almost lost all interest in JRPGs. I have not played a single JRPG of the last 2 gens... plenty of Western RPGs which may be my favorite genre, but not JRPGs. After FFX I lost interest in Final Fantasy, which was once potentially my favorite series (as may be told by it's frequency on the list). Other than Pokemon, which I have played every entry into, the last time I think I played a true JRPG to completion was Dragon Quest IX creeping up on a decade ago.