Topics

31

Modern Video Games / The Game Awards 2020

« on: November 18, 2020, 05:32:04 pm »

Just for kicks, figured I'd post the Game Awards listings and we can see if we like it or if we'd add or changing things.  I'm kinda surprised Hades was so well received, like it's a fantastic game, but its up there just as much as I think Last of Us 2 is.  Overall, it's a list that makes sense, fighting game category is probably stretching things with Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter, but the rest makes sense.

https://thegameawards.com/nominees

For me, just based on this list (As I'm still waiting on Cyberpunk 2077 which could be my proper GOTY and I haven't beaten Demon's Souls or even played Miles Morales), this is how I put my winners.  Not gonna do every category, just the ones that stand out for me.

Game of the Year:
Final Fantasy VII Remake

Best Art Direction:
Ori and the Will of the Wisps

Best Score and Music: (This is a super stacked category, all of these games are fighting for a position, I might have to really think about it lol)
Doom Eternal (Mick Gordon)
Final Fantasy VII Remake (Nobuo Uematsu, Masahi Hamauzu, Mitsuto Suzuki)
Hades (Darren Korb)
Ori and the Will of the Wisps (Gareth Coker)

Best Performance: (I may not be in love with this game, but both of their performances were incredibly good.)
Ashley Johnson as Ellie, The Last of Us Part II
Laura Bailey as Abby, The Last of Us Part II

Best Indie:
Hades

Best Action/Adventure:
Ghost of Tsushima

Best Role-Playing:
Final Fantasy VII Remake

Best Sports/Racing
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2

Debut Game: (They really shouldn't count Early Access games for this category, because while Phasmaphobia is a popular streamer game right now, this game is such an absolute buggy mess lol)
Carrion

32

General / Best and Worst Games of a Series

« on: October 25, 2020, 07:24:23 am »

Stealing an idea from Game Sack, but I think it could be a fun topic.  The idea is that you pick a game series, I would put a qualifier that there has to be at least a good 5 or 6 games to the series to pick from, then pick one you think is the best, and then pick one you think is the worst or at least weakest.  You have to have played them too, like if I pick Legend of Zelda, I would of course say one of the CD-I games are the worst, but I've never played them, so I wouldn't count them.

Legend of Zelda
Best: Breath of the Wild - This is a contentious pick even for me, as nostalgia wants me to pick Ocarina of Time, and I would actually say the better, more well rounded, game is Twilight Princess, but BOTW did something I always wanted with the series with its open world scale and while I had stuff that bothered me like the amount of proper dungeons, lack of proper bosses, and the musical score, I was so engrossed in this game.  I'm hoping the sequel really builds off the first game so that it can become my favorite Zelda proper with some *asterisks at the end of the one.

Worst: Tri-Force Heroes - I've not played every Zelda game, like I've not played the Tingle one or the DS games with the touch controls, and I'm sure there's something I'd maybe like less, but I thought this was a kinda goofy game, but it is one of those more...spinoff feeling Zelda games.  It's kinda mission based from what I remember, it has this gimmick without outfits, and it's more a co-op game, so as someone who primarily does singleplayer, it just didn't do much of anything for me.

Battlefield
Best: Battlefield 4 - I wasn't sure what game to pick for this one, as BF2 is such a classic, and Bad Company is the only real good singleplayer they've had and introduced the awesome destruction aspect, but I think BF4 was kinda the best all around game.  The levelution feature is awesome, I know it bothers some people, but having a mechanic that drastically changes the map as you play is just awesome, it plays really well as the Bad Company games weren't really the best in terms of like movement and gunplay (It's weird going back to Bad Company 2, I tried lol), lots of customization to weapons with a lot of variety, and it was sorta that last real good BF game as they struggled abit after it with Hardline, BF1, and BFV.  Still holds up very well too as it's 7 years old at this point.

Worst: Battlefield Heroes - Take a relatively realistic first person shooter series, and then make it a cartoonish third person, F2P experience, and you get one of the goofiest BF games possible lol It was kinda doing what Fornite is doing now, but like nearly ten years before that.  It's funny outfits, emotes, F2P microtransactions, and the gameplay is very bullet spongey and goofy.  It's still practically a BF game, like you have tanks, jeeps, planes, and even a helicopter, and it's generally about capping points still I think, it's just got this very cartoonish action happening.  It's not specifically a bad game, I remember playing it a bit, its just not what any BF fan wants from the series.

33

Modern Video Games / Game Collections You Would Love To See

« on: October 18, 2020, 06:05:33 pm »

While game collections are not a new thing in any way, we've seen quite a collection of games over the past few years come out that have been great.  There's the real nice remake collections with stuff like Crash and Spyro, or you get classic collections that offer an easy way to play old classics like Mega Man and Castlevania.  Most recently we had the somewhat lacking Super Mario All 3D All Stars Collection, so what else would folks like to see happen?  And yes, Nintendo should've released a better collection that included Super Mario Galaxy 2, isn't 60 bucks for 3 rather half-assed ports, and isn't on some limited release schedule, just getting that out of the way lol



While I'm not a huge Castlevania fan, I enjoyed the previous collection of games as it was never a series I really got into as a kid as the only ones I had played, the first two, were pretty challenging.  I'm hoping we get a good new collection here soon that includes Symphony of the Night and Rondo of Blood (already released on PS4 in their own collection-like release), having the rest of the games from that general era, any handheld ones left, and then maybe the goofy N64 games.  Playing through the games definitely got me into the series more as I actually really like Super Castlevania IV.  After this they could do probably one or two more collections for all the post-2000 releases as there are a ton more games lol



This one is not a very big collection, but after the fun collections for the 8 Bit Mega Man games and the X series, I want a collection for Mega Man Legends.  I want the first three games remastered, of which I've never played the Tron Bonne game which is a pretty rare game these days, along with the prototype/prologue for Mega Man Legends 3 on 3DS.  The Legends games were actually my favorite Mega Man games, next to Mega Man X, and nothing would please me more than a collection like that.  Still dreaming of the day we get Mega Man Legends 3 lol  I would also say that I want at least Legends and Legends 2 to get the full remake treatment, Tron Bonne and the Prototype as a bonus, because I think those games would be awesome with some improvements, particularly in the controls as at least the first game I believe doesn't have analog stick support and had button aiming which was always a little wonky.



Twisted Metal is maybe an odd one to ask for, but I was huge into those games on the PS1 and I liked Black, though didn't play the PS3 one much.  Twisted Metal 2 in particular is my absolute favorite and I think the best, but I love those cheesy ass battle car games, and this would make for an incredibly fun collection as there's about 8 games for this and I'd love to replay the games, even the ones that aren't really considered the best lol

34

Modern Video Games / Monster Hunter

« on: September 19, 2020, 04:14:15 am »

I don't know if anyone else plays Monster Hunter, I'm a newer fan who just got into the series with World when it launched, as it finally felt like I could enjoy the series for the first time.  Figure we could have a thread for anyone who is playing the series, talk about whatever we want, and of the upcoming games as a World 2 is guaranteed and my guess will release early 2022, but until then I'm actually very hopeful for Monster Hunter Rise on Switch. 

I tried to play Generations Ultimate on Switch, but it's a port of a 3DS game and I thought it just looked and played poorly and that old Monster Hunter style is real rough.  This looks like an inbetween of what World and classic Monster Hunter, so I'm hoping it runs well and the bug whip thing for mobility and climbing is pretty awesome and unique compared to the Clutch Claw in World.

And for more to talk about, there is Monster Hunter Stories 2, but I've never played the first.  I guess it's turn based action with a cartoony aesthetic?  Nothing wrong with that.

35

Modern Video Games / Playstation 5 September Event

« on: September 16, 2020, 04:34:28 pm »

So this turned out to be a way bigger deal than I was expecting, so I'll post the info here to talk about.  Price should be announced soon.

- Final Fantasy XVI - Console exclusive and on PC, and it looks incredible.  Super classic fantasy setting which they haven't done in a long time I believe.  Visually very familiar to Final Fantasy XIV in particular as apparently it has at least the FF14 producer working on it.

- Spider-Man: Miles Morales - Actual gameplay, the new powers look incredible.  Confirmed to be a launch title.  Will be available on PS4.  There will be an ultimate edition that comes with a voucher for the first game remastered with all the DLC.

- Hogwarts Legacy - Third person, set in the 1800's, create a character, it's been known for a long time but finally revealed.

- Resident Evil 8 - They showed a little more, but not much, hopefully more at TGS next year.

- Devil May Cry 5: Special Edition - Launch day digital release, looks to have all new Virgil stuff and they super ramped up the amount of enemies.

- Demon's Souls - Fully gameplay and god damn it looks incredible. Confirmed to be a launch title and available on PC.

And there it is....November 12th, 500 dollars for the main console, 400 for the disc-less version.

- God of War 2 - Teased for a 2021 release.

That was a pretty great showing, good exclusives announced, that Playstation Plus Collection will be basically their version of a game pass for their PS4 exclusives for people to play them on the PS5, and the PS5 price is right what it should be.

36

User Feedback / dakooldood

« on: August 05, 2020, 02:39:12 pm »

Opening up his thread, he bought a game from me, paid promptly, and was easy to deal with.

37

Marketplace / -For Sale- DB: Kakarot, Nioh 2, Last of Us 1 & 2 PS4

« on: July 28, 2020, 02:08:40 am »

Selling off a few PS4 games.  Everything priced is with shipping, nothing to add.  The Last of Us: Remastered case is cracked near the spine, happened in shipping when I ordered it on Amazon years ago (I only just unsealed it), but it didn't damage the disc at all, it opens perfectly fine, and it's easy to replace with a spare case if it bothers you at all.  Paypal only.  USA shipping only.  Send me a private message if you are interested.

Death Stranding - $30
DBZ: Kakarot - $45
Last of Us: Remastered/Last of Us 2 Combo - $50
Ghost of Tsushima (Code is still good for the DLC, never used it) - $50

38

Hardware and Tech / PC Monitor Recommendations

« on: June 22, 2020, 02:55:21 pm »

Anyone got any monitors they'd recommend? I'm not looking for some 500 dollar, high end, 4k setup, but I've been using a rather large older TV for awhile now, of which this TV has to be like 10 years old now and I'm just noticing more often that it's not keeping up with games on PC and console like it use to, the clarity just isn't there, so I figure it's time for an upgrade since I got a few extra bucks.

Price range is around 200 bucks, I need HDMI in for it so I can hook up my consoles to it with a splitter box I got, and size wise I'd probably say 27".  Been using this 31" TV for so long, even though I know it's too big for the setup, but it actually has a pretty good picture, so I went with it over a 27" spare one I got because of that.  Oh and if it helps, I'm running a GTX 1060 on my PC, so it can handle outs for DVI, HDMI, and Display.

I'm planning to browse a few youtube videos on monitors since it's pretty easy to find stuff like that now when shopping for things, but personal recommendations are always helpful.

39

Modern Video Games / Recent survival/crafting game recommendations...

« on: May 24, 2020, 10:15:55 pm »

While I do enjoy a well designed narrative, or crazy action rides, I also really love more casual survival/crafting oriented experiences.   This ranges from everything like Terraria, Animal Crossing, Minecraft, and Stardew Valley, to more intense stuff like The Forest, Subnautica, DayZ, and so on.  Not that these are the same types of games, they just fill that certain need I have to dump a bajillion hours into what comes across as more of a time waster experience than having something I play from a beginning to an end with a plot and characters, while also letting me play them while running a podcast.

Anyone know of anything that's come out in the past year or two that they'd recommend?  Preferably on PC, but I could play it on PS4 also as long as it's not a first person game on there.  I've heard of like Green Hell, which reminds me a lot of The Forest, but wasn't sure if it was any good.  I know there's Raft, but I'm not super into that world setting and gameplay loop.  I saw that Deadside was kinda DayZ-like, but more basic with AI enemies.  One I'm eagerly waiting for is the Subnautica standalone expansion.

40

Off Topic / May the 4th Be With You! (Random Star Wars Talk)

« on: May 04, 2020, 08:10:59 am »

Figured it might be fun to just have some casual Star Wars talk about whatever with the date as it is.  I know the Clone Wars show just finished it's last season this past week (I still need to watch it), there's some good toys coming out, and Battlefront 2 just released it's last big update. 

Let's not turn this into arguing about stuff with the recent trilogy, it won't be useful for anyone, this is here just to talk about anything we enjoy with Star Wars and about stuff coming up like The Mandalorian new seasons, there's the Rogue One prequel series happening, we can talk about games, or toys, or even the books as I know they were starting a new series with the "High Republic" time period which is set only a few centuries before The Phantom Menace compared to the "Old Republic", which was a few thousand years before the current story stuff.

I'm planning to start back into the Rebels cartoon, finishing that up as I was coming up on the last season I believe, and then I'll get into Clone Wars.  Sorta watching it backwards I guess since Rebels is after Clone and it has characters from Clone showing up in Rebels lol

And with one more thing to add, here's my current batch of Black Series 6" figures.  I'm waiting on my Baby Yoda, and Sith Jet Trooper at the moment which are supposed to release this month, and then I have the Carbonized Stormtrooper and Boba Fett on pre-order.  Honestly too many stormtroopers coming out right now with two more Force Unleashed ones happening, and then they just announced a "Mandalorian/Rogue One" Stormtrooper, but it's mostly just an update of the classic figure which should have some slightly better articulation and it has some slight mold tweaks, but I'll probably pass on it since it is just a plain Stormtrooper lol

41

Modern Video Games / Final Fantasy 7 Remake *SPOILERS*

« on: April 23, 2020, 12:06:31 am »

So with the game out, a lot of folks having beaten it or are still going through it, and because it is a pretty important game for gaming in particular, figured we could have a thread to just talk about whatever.  What we liked, what we didn't, the controversial ending, what we hope to see in the future, etc...

I already wrote about my view in the challenge thread, but the short version is that I absolutely adored the game, it's fantastic, best Final Fantasy game I've played in many years (Since at least FFX), and as a JRPG, probably one of the better ones I've played in awhile alongside Xenoblade Chronicles 2 back in 2017.  Visually great even with some of the minor texture issues, they greatly expanded the dialogue and character interaction, making them better than they ever were, the gameplay is probably the best Square has done when looking at Final Fantasy or Kingdom Hearts, and I think the story is very faithful, even with the new additions and changes that show up by the end.

For me, in terms of my status with FF7 in general, I consider myself a fan, just not a serious one, I've not played the spin off games and I haven't replayed the original game much since the PS1 days, but I still remember a lot about the story and characters and watched Advent Children, so I'm not hardcore "FF7 is the best game ever!", but I have a reasonable grasp on the game and I love the setting and characters, even more so now than then.

And to get to right to the point, I loved the games ending.  I'm not someone that could probably ever be called a "purist" about anything (Game wise that is, I think it's abhorrent what Disney is doing with their remakes lol), I love seeing new takes on old things.  It doesn't always work, but to me they took something that could have just been a standard beat for beat remake, and are seemingly turning it into something that is both remake and sequel at the same time.  I think the point of what they did was so they had the freedom to bring in more of the expanded canon they've built up for FF7 and to do brand new stuff with the world.  It's a lot of the original creators getting a second chance to do something far bigger than what they originally made and to me that is absolutely exciting.  Like now rather than just waiting for the next part I know every turn and twist for or the story already being done in just the one game, things could be so different now that we are dealing with stuff like alternate timelines.

I still feel like the next part will still hit all the base notes the story is supposed to hit, it'll just possibly have different paths and maybe some different endings.  Heck, the stuff with Zack makes me feel like in one timeline we'll do stuff with the regular cast, and then at points we'll get time playing Zack in his new scenario and we see how that goes and how it possibly leads up to the timelines interconnecting towards the end perhaps.  Not knowing what is gonna happen is again very exciting.  It could certainly fail, it could lean far too hard into crazy Kingdom Hearts level nonsense (I don't think this ending is on that level, it makes way more sense than most of KH does, and it's honestly not that crazily far-fetched with what happens in FF7 normally in regards to like the connection of characters, all the magical life stream stuff, etc...)

So what are your folks takes on it? What were your favorite moments? I'll just say, the Honey Bee Inn scene, my jaw was on the floor, it was so ridiculously wondrous and crazy that it was actually happening lol

42

Modern Video Games / 2020 Games

« on: March 06, 2020, 03:44:00 am »

Just about time to dive into a particularly heavy season of games and I'd like to see what everyone is excited for at this point as we've had a number of delays and date confirmations over the past few months.

Top Hype - Definitely my most anticipated games.
Ori and the Will of the Wisps
Resident Evil 3 Remake
Final Fantasy 7
Cyberpunk 2077

Mid Hype - Still pretty excited for these ones.
Doom Eternal
Dying Light 2
The Last of Us 2
Ghosts of Tsushima

Low Hype - Ones I will definitely play this year, but might not be at release.
Animal Crossing
Nioh 2
Maneater
Marvel Avengers

Hype - Can't go full on with these till I see more and have actual confirmed dates.
Halo Infinite
Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition
Elden Ring
Tales of Arise
Godfall

43

Modern Video Games / What are the good PC VR experiences?

« on: February 03, 2020, 11:51:07 pm »

I've long been very middle ground with VR as I never found it to be all that engaging as someone that enjoys long playtime experiences, but after getting to play Beat Saber on PSVR awhile ago, it's made me super want to get VR mostly for that, but I also want to look for other stuff beyond just the single game to justify its cost.  I'm planning to get an Oculus Rift S over a PSVR definitely for custom songs in Beat Saber and hopefully more game variety.

Anyone know whats good or interesting? Like I'm curious about shooters in this setup, not so much stuff like Superhot, but more involved shooters if possible.  I'm also super curious about casual "experience" stuff, like I have family I want to show it to, but need it very chill and maybe more interesting like traveling through a real world location.

I'm open for other types of games, but I just really don't know whats good other than a few of the bigger hit ones or stuff that has come out recently like that kinda goofy looking Walking Dead experience or the upcoming Half-Life game.

44

Marketplace / Selling DBZ: Kakarot (PS4) and Death Stranding (PS4)

« on: January 30, 2020, 11:59:44 am »

Selling Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot for PS4, Death Stranding for PS4, and Astral Chain for Nintendo Switch.  They are all in good condition, only taken out a few times to beat the games.  None of them come with anything extra, because that's just what new games do now lol

$40 dollars each, which includes the shipping.
Paypal only
USA shipping only

Send me a message if you are interested in any of them.

45

General / Favorite Games of the Decade

« on: December 30, 2019, 08:46:16 am »

Since this is all the big game talk right now, figured it couldn't hurt to do the same here, talking about our favorite games of the past decade.  Mine will be mostly in order as I am looking for lists to remember all the games of the past decade lol

- Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock (2010) - Much like Brutal Legend, this is a game that felt made for me specifically.  I've long been a Guitar Hero fan since the very beginning and while it had its ups and downs, I always enjoyed it, but Warriors of Rock as the swansong of the series (Guitar Hero Live is trash), it just had kinda everything I loved with all these great metal songs (the final song is a great Megadeth song written for it) and the style is the big craziness the series was known for compared to Rock Band, but it was all extra metal in feel.  I still have my 360 primarily so I can go back and replay Warriors of Rock and Rock Band 3.

- Metro 2033 (2010) - I'm a huge fan of the STALKER game series, they had an atmosphere and tone that you just don't really see anymore and the Metro series feels very much like a spiritual successor to those games.  Dark, gritty, creepy, with good gunplay and an interesting story and setting, I've enjoyed all of the games in the series so far.

- Shovel Knight (2014) - It seems fitting that this game hit completion right at the end of this decade, because of all the indie platformers that came up in the decade, Shovel Knight did everything so well.  It's a throwback game, with it's own gameplay style and steadily released great new content for many years.  It was also one of the very first games I helped Kickstart.

- Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (2017) - This is probably my most complicated favorite ever.  I consider it one of the best Zelda games, it did so much of what I always wanted the series to do, even though I have a lot of problems with it still, but it also has some real significant emotional attachment for me that I won't go into, so it's this oddly amazing, yet flawed, but still beloved game of mine.  This one would likely be considered my main game of the decade

- Monster Hunter World (2018) - Monster Hunter was always a series I wanted to get into as I loved the premise, but I always found the controls and general experience very clunky and it stayed that way for many years, until World showed up and cleaned up almost everything.  I've dumped nearly 400 hours into the game with Iceborne and I'm gonna keep playing it till the next one releases as I just really enjoy the experience and while it has a lot of depth, it's also very casual, where I kinda just pop back in during events, do as much as I can, and then after that I pop on a few times a week to maybe kill a monster or two and feel satisfied with just that.

There are probably a few other games I could put here, but my memory is the worst sometimes and I'll have to dig abit.  There's certainly  tons of games I really liked, but for me, a "Game of the Decade" is something I invested a ton of time into or have a real notable connection with and have gone back multiple times to play or want to play again.  Bloodborne was a notable one that I deleted from my list, but I haven't gone back to replay it and I'm not sure if I like it or Dark Souls 3 more, but we'll see as I want to replay it.