What are you playing? [SPOILER TAGS PLEASE]

Started by Sabby, May 31, 2009, 12:45:35 PM

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Brandon

Quote from: Wolfy on March 05, 2012, 10:09:14 PM
Anyone know anything about Defense of the Ancients?

Cause....I just got put into the Dota 2 beta test. @_@

Well its very similar to League of legends so I would say you control a single champion that levels as you kill creeps and other champions. You get gold over time and by last hitting creeps (getting the killing blow). As I understand it you can also last hit friendly creeps to deny enemy champions their last hit but I dont care for that mechanic and its not in LoL.

Anyway, on Assassins creed. Im glad theyre changing the location. Ezio was getting a little boring IMO. I question how a native American is supposed to fit into the setting though. They would be about as neutral as neutral could be in the revolution. This is purely speculation but something tells me that the assassins or templars are going to be controlling the Free mason's similar to how the templars were "controlling" the Vatican in AC2. If that is the case Im going to get really annoyed

Aside from that you have a number of champions each with 4 special skills that vary from champion to champion and they advance through levels earned in the game and by purchasing items from the various shops. The point of the game is to push lanes and destroy the enemy towers along the way till you arrive in the enemy's base. Then destroy their main base (in LoL its called the nexus).

Thats about all i can tell you wolfy, Ive never played Dota. Ive only played LoL which is, as I understand it, like Dota with some mechanical changes
Brandon: What makes him tick? - My on's and off's - My open games thread - My Away Thread
Limits: I do not, under any circumstances play out scenes involving M/M, non-con, or toilet play

Sabby

Well that was abrupt and hilarious xD playing Resistance 3. "Remember that tower you blew up? Well it caused a power surge which blew up ANOTHER tower on the other side of the country, and this one made a portal to space, and it's freezing the whole planet!" Uhm... how? Why? We're just guna run with this then? We are? Okay, shoot things, whatever.

Oniya

Quote from: Brandon on March 05, 2012, 10:52:46 PM
Anyway, on Assassins creed. Im glad theyre changing the location. Ezio was getting a little boring IMO. I question how a native American is supposed to fit into the setting though. They would be about as neutral as neutral could be in the revolution. This is purely speculation but something tells me that the assassins or templars are going to be controlling the Free mason's similar to how the templars were "controlling" the Vatican in AC2. If that is the case Im going to get really annoyed

Actually, there were a number of tribes who joined the conflict on both sides:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Revolutionary_War#Native_Americans

(The little Oni is studying the Revolutionary War at the moment.  I'd upload her history book, but it won't fit through the router.)
"Language was invented for one reason, boys - to woo women.~*~*~Don't think it's all been done before
And in that endeavor, laziness will not do." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think we're never gonna win this war
Robin Williams-Dead Poets Society ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think your world's gonna fall apart
I do have a cause, though.  It's obscenity.  I'm for it.  - Tom Lehrer~*~All you need is your beautiful heart
O/O's Updated 5/11/21 - A/A's - Current Status! - Writing a novel - all draws for Fool of Fire up!
Requests updated March 17

Timeless

Quote from: Hemingway on March 05, 2012, 04:40:14 PMBut I'll settle for revolutionary times. Especially since he seems to favor a tomahawk over wrist blades. A tomahawk! And a bow!

This. Just this. I dig the whole jumping trees thing though, and I'm still psyched when it comes to the AC series. I love this series from the first game to the recent one. (Though I would say, I'm disappointed with the ending for AC: Revelations. Like.. yeah.) But I don't understand on the trademark armblades and then suddenly tomahawk? Though it's apparent from the released trailer that the hookblade is still there, as well as the gun in the arm gauntlet. I'm looking forward to see what Ubisoft would do, but still, I'm excited to see this game and will play it nevertheless.

For the other stuff, I'm just ignoring the aliens god-thingies, and Desmond mostly though. (I didn't even care to complete the Desmond section in AC: Revelation.)

Geeklet

Quote from: Timeless on March 06, 2012, 10:53:28 AM
This. Just this. I dig the whole jumping trees thing though, and I'm still psyched when it comes to the AC series. I love this series from the first game to the recent one. (Though I would say, I'm disappointed with the ending for AC: Revelations. Like.. yeah.) But I don't understand on the trademark armblades and then suddenly tomahawk? Though it's apparent from the released trailer that the hookblade is still there, as well as the gun in the arm gauntlet. I'm looking forward to see what Ubisoft would do, but still, I'm excited to see this game and will play it nevertheless.

For the other stuff, I'm just ignoring the aliens god-thingies, and Desmond mostly though. (I didn't even care to complete the Desmond section in AC: Revelation.)

Trust me, you arent missing much of anything from the Desmond section of AC: Revelations. From a story perspective, Brotherhood and Revelations really didn't add much of anything to the overall arc, except for
Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide
Lucy secretly being a Templar. Even though its not something thats outright said, based on the Subject 16 sections, and what you do at the end of the game, its pretty well implied.

It seems to me those two games were just cash cows, so they could get more money on the franchise, and maybe introduce some cool new moves/weapons.

I'm anxious to see the next game, though. Now that they've switched time periods, and actually upped the sequel count (instead of just adding on to the previous game), I'm hoping there is actually some more story development, and things actually come closer to resolving. Also, the whole jumping through trees thing was way cool.

Sabby

The main thing that bugs me is the Assassins ignore their own rules and that of common sense for the game to have brand recognition. I liked the first games premise, because a secret war going through the ages is of course going to have to adapt to the changes of the land and the society. For the place and time of AC1, the Assassin's made perfect sense. You have to suspend your belief a little, what with kitted out walking armouries posing as priests, but the parkour and agility gave a real edge in the winding, close packed urban areas.

And then ya go to Italy, get much the same area and skills, but also new ones to accommodate the changing battlefield. They get guns? You get guns. Then you get to the conspiracy stuff and find out the Assassin vs Templar conflict during WW2 was fought by soldiers in the know. One Assassin even came right out and said the Assassin's were not a uniform, and would change their tactics to conform to the task of opposing the Templars, and not hold onto tradition for traditions sake.

So it really irks me when they go ahead and ignore all this by making Desmond a modern day rebirth of Ezio and Altair, and now adding this new guy. These are two situations where that kind of Assassin is NOT an asset, and it goes completely against the Creed. Making Desmond that kind of Assassin is absolutely bloody useless in a modern day setting, let alone near future. And considering the people he's going up against, a Megacorporation... even if they ran by todays security standards and technology, Desmond would be about as helpful as Jackie Chan taking down President Obama during a Red Level Terror Alert. I really think it would have been better like Hitman, ditch the recognizable uniform, conform strategy and skill sets to the time period, and shuffle the period more often.

Brandon

Quote from: Oniya on March 06, 2012, 10:27:49 AM
Actually, there were a number of tribes who joined the conflict on both sides:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Revolutionary_War#Native_Americans

(The little Oni is studying the Revolutionary War at the moment.  I'd upload her history book, but it won't fit through the router.)

Good to know, I have to admit my American history isnt nearly as good as it used to be so refreshers are always nice. Still I dont ever remember hearing of native american tribes being involved when I was in school. Im glad new info is getting out to the newer generations

Anyway, somehow I doubt that they are planning for Desmond's game. He's such an unlikable character that I feel like theyre going to be doing historical settings forever and never really get around to Desmond's story sort of like how Valve has constantly ignored the next half life game. Thats not neccessarily a bad thing though, I like the historical settings and it worked for the first two games.

The part that concerns me about this latest game is the inclusion of guns. Alright so the guns, historically speaking, are still pretty much crap but I have to wonder how theyre going to handle them. Usually guns would become extremely underpowered, needing an entire crate of bullets to take down on enemy (i.e. devil may cry) but in other games that take a realistic view guns become 1 hit kills on a body or head (i.e. Call of duty). My concern is the former will make them unattractive and take away some of the vulnerability they normally convey while the latter will be to sharp of a difficulty curve for most people
Brandon: What makes him tick? - My on's and off's - My open games thread - My Away Thread
Limits: I do not, under any circumstances play out scenes involving M/M, non-con, or toilet play

Oniya

Quote from: Brandon on March 06, 2012, 02:39:55 PM
Good to know, I have to admit my American history isnt nearly as good as it used to be so refreshers are always nice. Still I dont ever remember hearing of native american tribes being involved when I was in school. Im glad new info is getting out to the newer generations

It could be a location thing, too.  The Great Lakes region seems to be much more aware of the Native American contribution than, (in my case) the Greater DC area. 
"Language was invented for one reason, boys - to woo women.~*~*~Don't think it's all been done before
And in that endeavor, laziness will not do." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think we're never gonna win this war
Robin Williams-Dead Poets Society ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think your world's gonna fall apart
I do have a cause, though.  It's obscenity.  I'm for it.  - Tom Lehrer~*~All you need is your beautiful heart
O/O's Updated 5/11/21 - A/A's - Current Status! - Writing a novel - all draws for Fool of Fire up!
Requests updated March 17

Hemingway

You know what I dislike in a game? The sort of quest that sends you on an errand that you know even before you start is going to take a long time, and in that time, the story isn't going to be advanced at all. Many games have them, and I'm sure most people know what I'm talking about. It's like the Oblivion gates in, well, Oblivion. It's not absolutely necessary to close them all, but you'll have to go into some of them. It's tedious, and nothing is going to happen to advance the main story, nothing new will be revealed, nothing lost and nothing gained, while you go to them, one after the other.

Well, in my sheer desperation I've been playing some Kingdoms of Amalur, and this game is the mother of all that. At one point, the story basically branches into two, which is never a good sign. You have two main objectives, and they're basically on opposite sides of the world, so it's bad enough. Knowing that it's not going to be as simple as just going to that place makes it worse. What tops it all, though, is when you get there and they send you on a basically identical quest to look for things in distant parts of the world. It's like Inception meets boring quests that take up your time and add nothing to the story, or overall enjoyment of the game for that matter. No, jerks, we don't like those quests, and we certainly don't like them so much that you should put dull fetch quests inside dull fetch quests, so we can pointlessly travel across the map while we pointlessly travel across the map.

What really bothers me about this atrocity of a game - aside from the ridiculously undeservedly good reviews it's gotten ( I think it's telling that its metascore is 84, while the user score is 5.9 ) - is that the story would actually be interesting, if these people had any idea whatsoever of what the word "pacing" even means. Or maybe they do, but only in the sense of "walking back and forth", so when someone told them, "guys, pacing is important", they thought a lot of walking back and forth would be a good thing.

I promised myself I would stop bashing this game, but holy cow, just as I thought it couldn't get any worse, it opens up a whole new chasm of suck. I complained about the extremely positive reviews Red Dead Redemption, a thoroughly mediocre game, got when it was released. But compared to this, RDR was a masterpiece. RDR at least only sent you on one enormous wild goose chase which the game would quite simply have been better without, but Kingdoms of Amalur is a wild goose chase. My only guess is that this is just a way of lowering our expectations so they can get away with making really bad games.

Sabby

KoA makes my head hurt xD You can change Fate... right, so what does that mean? Well, those bandits were Destined to die at a future point in a certain way, and all free will is merely an illusion, and every independent choice you make you were already Destined to make. Even if you know about Fate, and can get someone to tell you your Fate, any choice you make to spite your Fate was actually predetermined anyway.

So since you ripped these bandits Fates apart, you changed the way the world works and everything connected to those bandits Fate is no irreversibly changed. But... your Destined to be dead. So... them even approaching you at all is changing Fate. It does't matter if you kill them and eat their eternity or whatever, the simple fact of you being here has already changed history! What would happen if these guys engaged you in combat that was never intended for them and you ran away and left them breathing? Would they return to their Destined path? No.

Fuck it, just throw in some time travel while your at it.

Oniya

This rant looks oddly familiar.  I think I'm seeing some of that time travel you were talking about...  O_o
"Language was invented for one reason, boys - to woo women.~*~*~Don't think it's all been done before
And in that endeavor, laziness will not do." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think we're never gonna win this war
Robin Williams-Dead Poets Society ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think your world's gonna fall apart
I do have a cause, though.  It's obscenity.  I'm for it.  - Tom Lehrer~*~All you need is your beautiful heart
O/O's Updated 5/11/21 - A/A's - Current Status! - Writing a novel - all draws for Fool of Fire up!
Requests updated March 17

Sabby

...Please don't tell me there's Time Travel in Amalur x.x

Oniya

I have no idea - I was referring to the deja vu I got when I read your post.  I thought maybe I'd jumped forward or backwards myself.
"Language was invented for one reason, boys - to woo women.~*~*~Don't think it's all been done before
And in that endeavor, laziness will not do." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think we're never gonna win this war
Robin Williams-Dead Poets Society ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think your world's gonna fall apart
I do have a cause, though.  It's obscenity.  I'm for it.  - Tom Lehrer~*~All you need is your beautiful heart
O/O's Updated 5/11/21 - A/A's - Current Status! - Writing a novel - all draws for Fool of Fire up!
Requests updated March 17

Sabby


Brandon

Quote from: Oniya on March 06, 2012, 08:54:09 PM
This rant looks oddly familiar.  I think I'm seeing some of that time travel you were talking about...  O_o

Deja vu for me too, I swear you posted something almost exactly like that before Sabby
Brandon: What makes him tick? - My on's and off's - My open games thread - My Away Thread
Limits: I do not, under any circumstances play out scenes involving M/M, non-con, or toilet play

Sabby

I probably did the last time Assassin's Creed was brought up, just don't remember when... it's a huge peeve of mine with the series, and really has me convinced the team has no long term oversight whatsoever.

Sabby

To try and throw some positive vibes in, got Resistance 3, and it's actually pretty good.

Sabby


Timeless

Quote from: Geeklet on March 06, 2012, 01:31:36 PM
Trust me, you arent missing much of anything from the Desmond section of AC: Revelations. From a story perspective, Brotherhood and Revelations really didn't add much of anything to the overall arc, except for
Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide
Lucy secretly being a Templar. Even though its not something thats outright said, based on the Subject 16 sections, and what you do at the end of the game, its pretty well implied.

It seems to me those two games were just cash cows, so they could get more money on the franchise, and maybe introduce some cool new moves/weapons.

I'm anxious to see the next game, though. Now that they've switched time periods, and actually upped the sequel count (instead of just adding on to the previous game), I'm hoping there is actually some more story development, and things actually come closer to resolving. Also, the whole jumping through trees thing was way cool.

I'm seriously not surprised about the details there. Kinda made sense in a way why the alien god thingy did what they did. And I do agree with you totally that the two games are like cash cows in a way. They should had be done with Ezio but they still wanted to milk that arc. (Though I still adore Ezio as a character.)

In my honest opinion, I really think they shouldn't had included the Desmond part in the first place. The thing was that, yes, we know that it was Desmond's genetic memories we are going through and playing from Altair to Ezio and now this new Assassin (I even wonder what his name would be..). The game developers and such focused too much on the history backline and such, and made it impossible for us to feel connected to Desmond in any way. Actually, when I did play a small portion of Desmond's memories thingy, I could only think is like, "... duuuuude, you whine too much, my god."

I don't think Ubisoft needed to make this whole game to be so complicated with the alien gods thingies and then the such; understandable that they would have to explain in a way for certain things.. like..
Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide
the Apple of Eden and then the first civilization. I kinda went 'wtf' when I saw that part of the civilization. Did anybody also went wtf with Ezio dropping his weapons in the end of AC: Revelations? I feel like it's so out of his character when he just seems like he stopped being an assassin like that, after all the talk of saying he only knew his life as one.

But that's just me though. I would say that I feel rather passionate about this series, since this was the series that brought me into being kinda a gamer kind of person. And Sabby, you seriously pointed a lot of things that I have problem when it comes to Desmond in many ways. I also feel like its redundant especially when you think of the tall buildings and such? Yeah...

Sabby

Quote from: Timeless on March 07, 2012, 04:20:35 AM
But that's just me though. I would say that I feel rather passionate about this series, since this was the series that brought me into being kinda a gamer kind of person. And Sabby, you seriously pointed a lot of things that I have problem when it comes to Desmond in many ways. I also feel like its redundant especially when you think of the tall buildings and such? Yeah...

Yeah, plus think of how tough it is to break into anything these days, let alone a near future Megacorp. Buildings alone would be impenetrable, air tight within seconds of an alarm, and even if you got in, there's private security, armed to the teeth, and they have the technology to search wide areas with insane accuracy using emitter towers... That fancy running and sword play won't help you against a SWAT team, and it certainly won't help you outrun a device which can rifle through your fricken molecules if you come within miles of it. Altair, Ezio and their breed of Assassin simply aren't for this job, their skills and training were customized for the time they were needed and are useless outside of it.

And as if to slap the player with a braincell who thought of this, they give you Ezio's Hidden Blade. His actual Hidden Blade. The antique. And it's done in such a throwaway fashion xD "QUICK! Abstergo goons armed with batons for some reason, quick, Desmond, take this 500 year old spear gauntlet" "...you don't have a Glock, or a combat knife or something-" "THERE'S NO TIME! We have to drive to the most obvious hiding place ever because YOU ARE THE CHOSEN ONE!"

Not sure how helpful they'll be in the Revolutionary War though... I'm not good with my History >.< Were't a lot of the battles fought in big fields and urban areas weren't very established, or is that just the cherry picked Hollywood representation.

Brandon

#5145
Well lets change the subject a bit back to the second greatest game of all time. Or rather the reimagining of the second greatest game of all time: XCom Enemy Unknown. No not the crappy FPS, the good reimagining of XCom

XCOM: Enemy Unknown Deep Dive #1

I like some of the additions but the video lacks any vehicles which I think would be a requirement. I also like the anthill approach to the bases but would like to see that expanded more.

Although the 4 soldier limit is pretty terrible
Brandon: What makes him tick? - My on's and off's - My open games thread - My Away Thread
Limits: I do not, under any circumstances play out scenes involving M/M, non-con, or toilet play

Hemingway

Mass Effect 3.

Goodbye, world. I'll see you in a week.

Inkidu

Quote from: Brandon on March 07, 2012, 12:50:06 PM
Well lets change the subject a bit back to the second greatest game of all time. Or rather the reimagining of the second greatest game of all time: XCom Enemy Unknown. No not the crappy FPS, the good reimagining of XCom

XCOM: Enemy Unknown Deep Dive #1

I like some of the additions but the video lacks any vehicles which I think would be a requirement. I also like the anthill approach to the bases but would like to see that expanded more.

Although the 4 soldier limit is pretty terrible
I love the lower squad cap! Anyone can go in there with twenty people two tanks and the proverbial pear tree resident and brutishly sweep a map. In fact, the prevailing strategy I've seen and, sadly, begun to adopt. I leave one guy with the car and tell my men victory or death. Mostly rookies die, and when rookies die they cost a lot less than the tank or skyranger they brought with them.

Four (six seems to be the most) makes each loss hit harder, each mistake hits home. People are just as prone to dying. Not even cover will save you (as the video shows, if I think it's the one I think it is). Lose one person and you're down 25% of your combat effectiveness. Not only that but rookies are classless. When they get their first level up they get a class. So losing your sniper becomes all the harder unless you want to farm for a sniper (which would be a labor intensive and time consuming process) you're stuck with whatever comes up next. It forces the player to field new tactics (on the tactical level with the loss) and on the strategic level.

Also realize that you're getting a lot more universal bonuses, perks, and skills for each troop as opposed to the set of stats per trooper of the original X-Com. I don't think it's inferior, but I think it's a tradeoff.

I do think that this new game adds more to the strategic map. The funding council often makes requests and doesn't just cut the check at the end of the month.

Also: Playing ME3.
If you're searching the lines for a point, well you've probably missed it; there was never anything there in the first place.

Brandon

Most XCom players design their soldiers for certain duties. Usually this means a team of 6-8 with 1-2 recon, 1-2 Psi operatives, 1 heavy assault, and 2-3 average soldiers used to hold points or watch entrances/exits. The problem with such a small team means that people cant specialize. Every soldier has to be built to be versatile instead of leaving 1/3 of your team to handle it.

It takes away a valid option from players who dont want to build their team in a certain way which isnt good for a game like XCom. You always want to give more options, not take them away. Seems like you would call that bad game design Inkidu
Brandon: What makes him tick? - My on's and off's - My open games thread - My Away Thread
Limits: I do not, under any circumstances play out scenes involving M/M, non-con, or toilet play

Inkidu

Quote from: Brandon on March 07, 2012, 08:27:07 PM
Most XCom players design their soldiers for certain duties. Usually this means a team of 6-8 with 1-2 recon, 1-2 Psi operatives, 1 heavy assault, and 2-3 average soldiers used to hold points or watch entrances/exits. The problem with such a small team means that people cant specialize. Every soldier has to be built to be versatile instead of leaving 1/3 of your team to handle it.

It takes away a valid option from players who dont want to build their team in a certain way which isnt good for a game like XCom. You always want to give more options, not take them away. Seems like you would call that bad game design Inkidu
Or the developers want people to not find that exact same load out and use it for the whole game. That's why they're doing it. No, seriously, that's why they're doing it. Once you nail down that formula it becomes a cake walk. However, in real life you're not always going to get what you want, and you have to make due with what you're dealt. I call it great game design if you actually like a challenge.

That whole can't specialize thing is just flawed from the get go when you're talking about the new game, because guess what? They're already specialized. If they get their first level up you know what they do and if they don't make it you just hire another. However, the troops each have their own profession. The only thing the developers are taking away is the ability to get the soldier you want when you want him or her.

Honestly, if you're good you should never lose them so it equals out to the same thing anyway. Besides, with such a small cap you're going to build up a pool. Officers are going to go off the the training school, people are going to die, and other are going to suffer wounds. With such a small number of troops to field you can't just go in with 13 instead of 14. You've got to have someone stop the gap.

I think it's challenging and smart design. I never thought X-Com was about you having total and complete freedom. I would think that would be boring. No, the joy of X-Com for me is knowing that there are consequences  for my actions. I like the freedom, but I like being at the mercy of the hand I'm dealt. Freedom isn't the world I use to describe X-Com. Responsibility is. Sure luck plays a part, but I'm responsible for who I field and how, where they go, who they shoot. Every nation I save or forsake. That's X-Com's appeal for me. I don't want to be able to hire just another replacement. If I end up losing my heavy and getting another sniper I know my whole battlefield doctrine is going to change
If you're searching the lines for a point, well you've probably missed it; there was never anything there in the first place.