Ultimate Videogame Topic 3: The Next Generation

[Natirasha]

Pokemon Discussion
Final Fantasy XIV Discussion
League of Legends Discussion
DOTA2 Discussion
Minecraft Discussion

For reference.

[Natirasha]

I found Twilight Princess to be my favorite 3D Zelda.

So, I bought the DLC Ace Attorney episode. Its better than the main game.

[Natirasha]

Yeah, but it, like, fixes a bunch of the problems with the main game. Its hilarious, lighthearted, you get more screentime with Fulbright/Blackquill, Pearl plays major part(versus her cameo in the main game), and its loaded with callbacks to the original series. Well worth six fifty.

[Natirasha]

also, can anyone explain to me what the appeal of gary's mod is?

I know people who play a mafia variant on it(Trouble In Terrorist Town). Otherwise, it's sorta like Minecraft in that "do random shit in a sandbox" way.

[Natirasha]

Dude, Beyond: Two Souls is fucking hilarious. I forget who's stream I was watching when he got to the end and you can choose which of the four endings and one of them is with the inconsequential baby chick. Then everything post-credits is just so much lol.

[Natirasha]

Yeah, DAO isn't really unique--it follows the 'Bioware flowchart' pretty much exactly and is mostly generic fantasyland, but its also really really well-written and an enjoyable tromp. The combat is kinda boring unless you like the old isometric style stuff(I don't), but you can turn it in easy and just breeze through. Its also the last good game Bioware made before EA really took them over.

[Natirasha]

I thought ME2 was good. I wish I could play ME3 without getting motion sick.

I just don't really like the direction Bioware went after DAO. Like, they make good games still, but they're just not for me.

[Natirasha]

At that price, it's a fantastic buy. Infinite's in my top 10 for favourite games I've played. Story on it's pretty great.

'lol'

Bioshock Infinite is a mess of a game that manages to be fun in spite of itself. $7.50 is about the perfect price for it.

[Natirasha]

I liked Bioshock 1 and 2, but Infinite just has so many issues in terms of every single mechanic and story element that it all comes together To make this huge, disjointed mess. But it's so disjointed that it turns itself around and manages to be fun again.

[Natirasha]

>liked bioshock 2
>hated infinite

Wuttt

Bioshock 2 was a really good game--it improved upon the original's mechanics and managed to sort of tell it's own story without fucking up the original's or getting too convoluted. It's environments overall were a lot more interesting than Bioshock 1's(although none of them really compared to Fort Frolic--probably the single best segment of an FPS game out there).

Infinite on the other hand is a glorious mess. It's like, it has this upgradable gun system, but discourages the continuous use of a weapon through scarcity of ammo. It has a bunch of superpowers that all do the same thing(seriously, before Undertow, every single vigor is "attack with projectile or set up a trap with said projectile") so it's interchangable. It has this absurd gear system that I swear was added, like, a month before launch--there is literally no in-game way of checking what gear you have on at any time and all of the gear is boring(the only one that was cool was, like, the 'ignites enemies upon landing' which is hilariously broken in any skyrail fight) AND subject to RNG to get the damn things in the first place. You have this NPC that follows you around, sitting there being invincible(despite the game having an early pop up saying 'Yo, you gotta protect her!") and randomly throwing power ups with at(fun fact: just leave one enemy alive whenever you need more ammo/hp, then go hide in a corner for like ten minutes!). Like, goddamn, it's been a decade since Resident Evil 4 and

this

is the best they can think of? What happened.

The worse part of all that mess is that the different systems don't interlock at all. There is no synergy between the upgrades and the guns(all the upgrades are variations of +X% damage or whatever), there is no synergy between plasmids and guns, the gear is useless and all-around not notable, the tear concept is just there doing boring things like 'bonus cover'. It's all just a mess.

That's not even getting into the protracted nature of combat in the game due to fact every enemy has like six times the amount of health they should have(the only exception being the Handimen, who have this stupid pathetic AI that makes them a non-factor).

Then you get to the story, lol. The game manages to ruin most of it's most intimate moments through shitty game tropes

like when you go towards Comstock House and you think the story is moving towards a climax, but then you see a door that says 'MUST HAVE ELIZABETH TO LOCKPICK LOL', just ruining any dramatic tension that could happen due to being in an unfamiliar universe trying to save your daughter from an electro-rape machine

. The big reveals of the game(namely

YOU ARE COMSTOCK and ELIZABETH IS YOUR DAUGHTER IN ANOTHER UNIVERSE LOL

) are pure cheese. The supporting cast is pretty much non-existent(exception being the Luteces, who are the only interesting characters in the game). Then you get to the ending, which, like, is just dumb and doesn't fix anything. Or how about all those 'feels' moments throughout the game that are, quite frankly, laughably out of place(my favorite being

when you're in the slums and you see the kid & play him a song on the guitar--it was doubly funny because I had somehow aggro'd all the patrons in the bar so I murder what is likely his family, then give him a sentimental song--even if I hadn't, though, the whole scene is so out of place as to be comical

)?

But, the big joke is, it all works. Like, I was genuinely entertained through the whole thing, So, I can't fault the game too much, despite every bone in my body wanting to just absolutely hate this game.

[Natirasha]

Heavy Rain is like if Deadly Premonition had a budget and was made by westerners.

Except Deadly Premonition was an actually good game.

[Natirasha]

Games owned 205
Games not played 92 (45%)
Hours spent 5,057.4h
Account worth $2313.20

If you converted my TF2 and dota inventories, it'd prob hit ~5k.

[Natirasha]

I missed gumshoe in Dual Destinies (though Fulbright was pretty cool too)

Not gonna lie,

I was actually really sad when Full bright ended up being the villain. Like, I fucking loved that plot twist, but he was really cool and I think I liked him more than Gumshoe(Ema isn't even in the running).

[Natirasha]

AJ has a good case one, then goes downhill really fast.

AA5 is a lot more up-to-snuff and AAI is a very fun diversion, although Edgeworth as a protagonist doesn't work as well as Phoenix does.

[Natirasha]

DD I think is the best AA game on it's own. The overarching plot is awesome and subtle, the new characters actually have a good chemistry(Fulbright is a worthy Gumshoe replacement), and even the filler cases were fun(5-3 is my favorite filler case of all time).

I'm waiting for the full translation of AAI2 to play it, but I've heard it's much better than AAI.

[Natirasha]

Going back to Ace Attorney one last time, the first full release of the AAI2 translation has happened.

[Natirasha]

Honestly the last like year and a half of sales kinda sucked.

[Natirasha]

This is kinda a longshot, but is anyone going to Quakecon next week?

[Natirasha]

If I ever get my desktop setup again, I'd be interested.

[Natirasha]

Bought the new Humble Bundle, but I can't redeem KickBeat because I'm on a Mac, so first to click wins it!

(Steam is kinda necessary)

This was a good bundle. I've been playing Electronic Super Joy and Bit.Trip Runner quite a bit(well I beat the first b.t a while back). Electronic Super Joy in particular I'm baffled on how I missed picking up this whole time.

My only wish is that Crypt of the Necrodancer was in it, but oh well.

[Natirasha]

This demo is cool and all, but, really? Five characters?

Villager is cool though.

[Natirasha]

My only complaint with Rebirth is that Danny B's soundtrack was superior.

Although the chanting chorus when you start a new run is actually super chilling so props there.

I suck so much though.

[Natirasha]

rip biowar

[Natirasha]

It always amazes me how, in the four years since Dragon Age: Origins, they've only managed to make the game look and sound worse.

[Natirasha]

Ace Attorney, Mystery Dungeon Time/Darkness/Sky, Radiant Historia, The World Ends With You, Final Fantasy: 4 Heroes of Light

[Natirasha]

So, I was cleaning out my closet a few minutes ago and I found my stash of DS games. I guess I'll just post it here.

Spoiler: picture

Solitaire, Brain Age and Bejeweled were both hand-offs from my grandma, and some of these games are not very good at all(Golden Sun, Phantasy Star, Sonic Chronicles by some definitions), but otherwise say I've fully enjoyed all these games. Meteos is a big hit people miss all the time and is a really fun puzzle game, Nostalgia is a JRPG with a lot of promise that had some glaring flaws, Castlevanias are all Metroidvanias at their most polished(although not the

best

Metroidvania, which goes to this game), Rune Factory is fun if you like waifu simulators.

[Natirasha]

Dark Dawn is like they took everything bad about the original Golden Suns(long unskippable boring dialogue, stupid protagonists), traveled back to 1989 and took all the worst things from JRPGs of the era(useless storylines, common points of no return) then decided to add in the typical anime bullshit of introducing THE FORGOTTEN FIFTH ELEMENT which pretty much doesn't make sense given the original storyline(or world, in the like 30 years since the end of the last Golden Sun, the entire world was rearranged to not look at all similar to the last game--come on, even Tales of Symphonia/Phantasia did this right and they were recursive canon!).

Did I mention the plot is incredibly stupid and downright insulting at points? And the characters likely all have extreme mental deficiencies(or are boring robots with three lines).

The game sucks, and I hate it. I was never the biggest fan of the original Golden Suns, but they actually had effort put into them and were enjoyable in some measures. This wasn't in the slightest. The game itself plays fine, but that just makes it worse(see: Sonic Chronicles, a game that has incredibly stilted gameplay that manages to make the tangled mess of a game enjoyable due to it's flaws).

[Natirasha]

Don't forget, fun is just a buzzword.

[Natirasha]

So maybe it's just me, but DAI doesn't actually seem like very much fun to play. I've played the first 7 hours, and I'm wondering how much longer I have to go before the game starts being enjoyable.

Welcome to new-age Bioware! Truthfully, unless you're a D&D nut, Bioware games have pretty much never been 'fun', but you still played them because the dialogue and story was good. And those aspects have been slowly going downhill since Mass Effect 2(I blame the original founders leaving the company, Hamburger Helper being chased out of the company by Reddit and Gaider having no one to keep him in check).

They really should just give it up and make the visual novels they want to make.

[Natirasha]

I don't like the plodding start-and-stop combat that Baldur's Gate, NWN, KOTOR and DA:O had(coincidentally, I also think that combat is the worst part of real D&D due to similar complaints), but I could absolutely understand people liking it.

Mass Effect was just boring tactical shooter gameplay I've seen done better elsewhere.

[Natirasha]

Anyone here been following Prismata? I found out about this game last week after one of my friends saw it on reddit and holy shit it's like the most fun, competitive game I've played in a long time. The jist of it is, depending on your perspective, it's either Starcraft except without a map and turn based, or Magic the Gathering without the RNG or decks. It's an alpha and a kickstarter project(both of which make me highly skeptical), but the product they already have out is really fun.

[Natirasha]

It has nothing on the wonderful performance of Dominique Pamplemousse!

Also I always found it weird how the Quinari went from crazy in the first game to, well, whatever they are in DA2-I.

[Natirasha]

Anyone here been following Prismata? I found out about this game last week after one of my friends saw it on reddit and holy shit it's like the most fun, competitive game I've played in a long time. The jist of it is, depending on your perspective, it's either Starcraft except without a map and turn based, or Magic the Gathering without the RNG or decks. It's an alpha and a kickstarter project(both of which make me highly skeptical), but the product they already have out is really fun.

At risk of sounding like a shill, the devs sent me two free alpha keys for being a 'valuable member of the community'(snicker).

If anyone wants to give it a shot, PM me!

EDIT: All out!

[Natirasha]

Get Metro Redux, it's on sale right now Reck and looks AMAZING~ in high def.

[Natirasha]

So someone gave me South Park: Stick of Truth for Christmas and I finished it last night.

10/10 game, best RPG I've played in a long time, absolutely hilarious.

[Natirasha]

What choices were there, really?

Spoiler:

I played through the game as a Thief--seemed pretty broken considering Bleeding stacked some ridiculous amount. In the day two quests, I sided with Kyle both times because, seriously, who would ever side with Cartman. I ended up with mostly-100% completion. I think I'm missing 1-2 friends and some of the hidden achievements--it was hilarious when I beat Kenny--I didn't know there was an achievement for beating him in the makeover outfit, then I got it and was like #hype. They really thought of everything.

[Natirasha]

Witch Hunt is not canon anymore, though

[Natirasha]

Huh? Yes it is. There are choices related to it in Dragon Age Keep.

I was unaware! I know one of the writers said during the leadup to DAI that Witch Hunt wasn't canon anymore because they wanted to bring Morrigan back.

Glad to see they found some way around that.

[Natirasha]

So, who all is playing the game of the year, Huniepop? I know I am!

[Natirasha]

LLtQ is pretty fun.

[Natirasha]

Playing with the Content mod makes KOTOR2 sweet.

[Natirasha]

The Director's Cut? Ok. If you have that, you can actually focus less on combat if you like as they updated the boss fights somewhat. If you don't have the director's cut, you need to put a bit more of your development points into combat abilities, since the boss fights focus more on that and less on the stealth/exploration aspects of upgrading.

Even without DX, you just invest in Typhoon and win boss fights(and cheat for the third one).

[Natirasha]

DXHR was sweet and one of the few games in recent years I actually thought was worth $60. I wish there was a new game in the style of Deus Ex/VtMB/Alpha Protocol, those games are just so fun.

[Natirasha]

Dokapon Kingdom is pretty much the best party game ever made and you def need to play it if you have friends.

[Natirasha]

Bravely Default has one big flaw(

there is one too many time loops

), but its a very solid JRPG otherwise.

Definitely recommend playing Final Fantasy V/Tactics/4 Heroes of Light if you like the job system in BD, because Bravely Default pretty much takes all it's cues from those games.

[Natirasha]

Picked up Valkyria Chronicles and Dark Dreams Don't Die so far. Also, made my friend buy Huniepop.

Definitely recommend.

[Natirasha]

Spoiler: My Terrible Taste

1 Deus Ex
2 Paper Mario: TYD
3 Tales of Symphonia
3 Cave Story
5 Phoenix Wright
5 Team Fortress 2
7 Fire Emblem: Awakening
8 Phoenix Wright: Trials
9 Zelda: Twilight Princess
9 Binding of Isaac Rebirth
9 Virtue's Last Reward
12 Dragon Age: Origins
13 World Ends with You
13 Star Wars: KOTOR
13 Final Fantasy IV
16 Civilization V
17 Pokemon Gold/Silver
18 Super Mario World
19 Half-Life
19 Warcraft III
19 BioShock
22 Persona 4
23 Pokemon Red/Blue
23 Metroid Prime
23 Zelda: Ocarina of Time
23 Suikoden II
23 Monster Hunter 4U
23 Okami
23 Xenoblade Chronicles
23 DK Country 2
23 Castlevania: SOTN
23 Zelda: A Link to the Past
23 Metal Gear Solid V
23 Perfect Dark
23 Dark Souls
23 Super Metroid
23 Super Mario Galaxy
23 Valkyria Chronicles
23 Super Mario RPG
23 The Witcher 3
23 Metal Gear Solid 2
23 Resident Evil
23 Fallout: New Vegas
23 BioShock Infinite
23 Paper Mario
23 Metal Gear Solid 3

You can tell my weeb/visual novel preference is showing with this, although my top pick is still probably the best game out there. The only outlier really is Paper Mario, which should be up in the top tiers--I like it more than TTYD. Otherwise, this list was pretty good honestly for being so mainstream, the only things I'd add are all really obscure(VtMB, Radiant Historia, An Untitled Story) or have reasons not to be considered for the list, be they "It's not a game"(Visual Novels) or "It's actually terrible"(Deadly Premonition, Huniepop, Sonic Adventure 2).

[Natirasha]

>visual novel preference
>where's 999

I've somehow sadly never played any Zero Escapes. It's on my list for some century to play through, right after

Little Busters

,

The Fruit of Grisaea

,

Rose Guns Days

and

Asphyxia

.

----

As to Mario RPGs, it goes for me.

Paper Mario TTYD
Paper Mario
Mario & Luigi SSS
--
Bowser's Inside Story
SMRPG
--
Super Paper Mario
Dream Team
--
Partners in Time
--
Random Flash Games
--
Super Smash Bros 3DS run-around-and-get-powerups mode playing as Mario
--
dressing up as mario and running around in your backyard
--
Sonic the Hedgehog: Battle
--
Modding Fallout or Skyrim to have Mario replace the character model
--
Using Mario stickers to roleplay
--
Paper Mario: Sticker Star


To this day, Sticker Star is still the single worst game I have ever played. In part because of the disappointment with the Paper Mario name, but also in part because the game is so ridiculously hodgepodged together and all the mechanics make zero sense and have no real purpose for being in the game at all except to appease Miyamoto.

EDIT: Here is a way-too-long response post I wrote about Paper Mario: Sticker Star 2 and a half years ago.

Spoiler:

Alright, I think Sticker Star is a well-made game that suffers from not having a soul.
First off, I will say that I am fine with the battle system, the world map and lack of partners--if they wanted to try it that way, that's cool. I played through Riviera: The Promised Land, which had a similar system for battling and dear god this is much more managable than Riviera's item system. The graphics and sound I completely agree with--this is the most beautiful game of the year(and anyone who plays this without the 3d is missing out), and the best-sounding one also.
However, the thing that kills me is how white-washed the game is, and how paradoxical it makes the game feel. Need I say that this is the game that actively punishes you for battling. You can talk about how the game stresses efficiency and effectiveness, but when the best strategy is to walk right past them or, if you're somehow dragged into battle, that running is the most cost-efficient option is a complete failure. Bosses felt cheapened because you could run from them, and they were just large mooks--none of them ever felt, you know, like bosses. Let's take the first boss fight of the first Paper Mario and Sticker Star--they're pretty similar. First off, the Koopa Bros taunt you throughout the chapter, popping up in Toad Town to hinder your progress and generally bumbling around to mess with you. In Sticker Star, the chapter is just walking through the field, setting you up to fight Bowser JR, then what? You get to this big castle(which, I should mention, consists of all of 5 rooms), and bam! This random fucking Goomba horde. There is nothing about the boss that makes him interesting. He doesn't say anything interesting. He is just a random mook. While the Koopa Bros had mook qualities, it sets them up to be an antagonist, doesn't play bait-and-switch with an actually interesting antagonist, and proceed to be funny. The boss fights themselves also both introduce new ways of fighting, but where the Shiny Goomba's puzzle elements and abilities simply are "hey, did you find this sticker and bring it?", the Koopa Bros involved destroying the Bowser Mech, then figuring out how to knock them out of their stack for maximum damage--a far more interesting task than casting one spell and winning. I could repeat this point for all of the bosses in Sticker Star--they're glorified puzzles.
However, that is the game's one redeeming grace gameplay-wise: the puzzles are inventive and great. I was genuinely stumped for a while at some parts(Drybake Stadium, fuck you), and you seriously have to put some lateral thinking skills to use. The levels that push the puzzle-solving part of the game are consistently the best levels(the Enigmansion comes to mind). My only problem is that the game often leads you on, allowing you to solve puzzles and find all these secret paths which you think are optional. Needless to find out, nearly every single one is not optional and is necessary for the completion of the game. While some might find this a good thing, I felt like it cheapened all these experiences where I find something I think is secret, but really wasn't.
However, viewing it as an adventure game brings in a different set of problems. Adventure games run off their ability to have a clear, consistent reason for playing. Professor Layton, Phoenix Wright, Walking Dead, they all have good stories and dialogue. Paper Mario has none of that. I mean, the decision to make Bowser completely mute, then not have him doing anything at all is dumb. In previous Paper Marios(and Mario & Luigi, for that matter), Bowser had an identity--a sort of bumbling idiot who, when he put his mind to it, could get shit done. Even when he was the primary antagonist in Paper Mario 1, he was likable and generally painted as sympathetic. This game goes against all of that characterization, putting him more in-line with the NSMB games than the series he's actually in.
The other characters don't fare any better. Kamek is reduced to, like, two scenes, and does the same joke both times. It was funny once. Bowser Jr is the other villain to get any lines, and he is just a boring fuck. Then we come to the final main character(who isn't mute)--Kersti. And she's the least likable of the bunch. Here's a transcript of most scenes between Kersti and a villain.
Bowser Jr: Ha ha ha ha! You'll never beat us, Mario.
Kersti: Oooh, I hate you so much!
Bowser Jr: See our power? Watch as I remove this part of the environment for you to go chase down!
Kersti: You jerk! Watch as I make a sassy comment, this is characterization!
Bowser Jr: I'm outta here! Smell ya later!
Kersti: I hate that guy! Better go find that part.
Let's just say that when the character's defining moment is calling someone a hipster that you've failed in your humor. In general, she serves as the game's navigation fairy, but her hints are next to worthless most of the time, so very similar to Navi I didn't care an inkling for her. Which, when she ends up sacrificing herself to beat Bowser, I found it ridiculous Mario cared enough about her to bring her back.
The dev team said that, since they couldn't introduce many new characters, they made the toads the star of the show. Here's a hint: they didn't. If anything, the older game's toads had more personality--between all the punny names(Tayce T. the cook, Fice T. guard of the woods, Vanna T. game show assistant) and they're general quirky lines, they had more distinguished personality, more lines of dialogue, and--what I find most hilarious--they weren't pallette swaps of each other. Seriously, almost every toad in PMSS has the same sprite. For a game that relies on toads that much, it's a shame.
In all, I was left wanting more. The game is technically fine, and the puzzles carried me through to the end of the game, but the game just had no soul. It's such a shame, too, because in a few moments you can see the old Paper Mario through the cracks--Enigmansion, as mentioned before, is probably the single best level in the game, Sniffit or Whiffit, too, brought back memories of the older games, or when you got the Goat sticker, but those are fleeting moments and, if anything, make me bemoan Sticker Star's fate all the more.

[Natirasha]

Fire Emblem: Fates is the best thing Intelligent Systems has put out since at least Path of Radiance, possibly even longer. It fixed literally every problem I had with Awakening's gameplay, and the story is so ridiculously nonsensical I swear it's secretly a parody(at least, Conquest, still haven't gotten to the other one).

Most importantly, the waifus are a way better in this one. While we're missing out on any breakout hits like Tharja, the cast as a whole is more interesting. Now if I could actually get my gay romance on and not have to play a dude...

(I chose Peri for Conquest waifu, her and strict-pacifist Corrin are best couple)

[Natirasha]

I'm really jealous you got the SE.

[Natirasha]

Yeah it was, although I'm not sure how sold I am on the idea of silver weapons murdering your stats like they do.

I'm on Birthright now. Conquest ended up getting really gimmicky around chapter ~20 and I just sort of lost interest in continuing. I've also read that Conquest Endgame is literally the worst chapter in all of Fire Emblem, so there's that. I already miss my batshit murderous waifu, though. I don't think anyone in Hoshido can really stand up to Peri when it comes to wife-ing(although Setsuna is trying really hard).

[Natirasha]

My review of

Huniecam Studios

, the sequel to 2015's Game of the Year,

Huniepop

: Go look at Adventure Time porn while playing Cookie Clicker and you have played

Huniecam Studios

.

Final Rating: 5/7, 'I bought this game'.

[Natirasha]

How dare you insult AT time porn like that. Some of the art for Bubbline it is actually good >:

Hey, I ain't insulting any show that has an F/F ship as it's most popular ship. I'm just saying, doing that and playing Cookie Clicker is about the experience you'd get from Huniecam Studios.

[Natirasha]

I keep telling people that Sonic '06 is a great game, but it's no use!

It's an experience everyone needs to experience once, at the very least.

[Natirasha]

Ladykiller in a Bind is the best game I've played since Huniepop, but also it has some absolutely abysmal design decisions on a mechanics level that REALLY REALLY piss me off. I'm not playing a VN to play I Wanna Be the Guy, Christine Love.