The Video Game Thread - anything and everything...

[funboy1013xx]

anyone playing HUNT showdown? the game is friggin fantastic BUT you need to play with headphones! if you like FPS and western's check out game play footage. me and my room mate started playing this a couple weeks ago and it's a steep learning curve but when you get the basic's down your good to go. oh and it's a one life game! if you die you have to hire a new character... makes for some very interesting game play to say the least...

 

[Nth]

New in Depth Dying Light 2 preview

It's pretty much been confirmed that Chrono Cross Remastered from the Nvidia leaked games list is in development, giving hope that the other games listed in the list are also on the way, especially strategy game Final Fantasy Tactics

With the early Black Friday sales I've also managed to snag another handful of PS5 games at great prices, although still have yet to find a PS5. Don't imagine I'll be able to find one during the holiday season at all, but will pick up those games when the sales come.

 

[Sluis Van Shipyards]

I've bought a game here and there when there were sales this year, but unlike pretty much any other year, there's almost nothing that I really want to buy. I have a lot of wishlisted games on Steam, but nothing really makes me want to get one. I keep wanting to play my old favorite games!

 

[cboath]

Seems to me a lot of the time too much is invested in 'flash and bang' so to speak, but not nearly enough in content/story.

 

[Sluis Van Shipyards]

Well you can go wrong either way, IMO. I don't necessarily like those games that are all story, like some of the Telltale (I think) games and some of the games considered "walking simulators" where you're by yourself throughout the entire game. I like a good mix or story and action.

 

[Cephus]

Seems to me a lot of the time too much is invested in 'flash and bang' so to speak, but not nearly enough in content/story.

That's true of pretty much every media today. It's all flash and virtually zero substance.

 

[cboath]

Well you can go wrong either way, IMO. I don't necessarily like those games that are all story, like some of the Telltale (I think) games and some of the games considered "walking simulators" where you're by yourself throughout the entire game. I like a good mix or story and action.

I didn't mean they need to be all story, but they should have 'a' story that's compelling. For a number of things it seems the story is something that was cobbled together after they made a few good boss models and some gun models.

Or the concept comes together as 'we have a 100M budget and we need to get this game about in 16 months.....ideas?' The Dark Forces games were referenced above. Excellent games, top to bottom, with plenty of action and a good story line and to this day people still replay them repeatedly because they were that good and people still buy them off steam etc for the same reason. And yeah, maybe that was an abject rarity in the industry even then, but you don't find much in the last 10-15 years that rises to that level or even close really.

 

[Sluis Van Shipyards]

Yeah I've bought the Dark Forces game twice (original CD and then GOG version) then Jedi Knight 2/MOTS (original discs, bought the discs again, and then digital). I let my cousin's ex husband borrow my JK2/MOTS game and when they divorced he kept them. I still haven't found a good way to play Dark Forces with mouse/keyboard because the mouse looks and moves and I can't figure out how to get rid of the movement so I can just look/aim like a modern FPS.

 

[PoopaPapaPalps]

The last game I've bought was Metroid Dread and that was a blast.

With KotOR ported to Switch (poorly as some stated), I thought it time to revisit it for third time again on my PC (Steam version). I've gotten into throwing mods on the the game to get it up to snuff to today's standards (as much as can be done) and there's no going back for me now. With all the fan mods available out there, there is more than enough to put together a true remastered version of the first game. I have 15gb of mods installed, bumping the base game's paltry 3 to a respectable 18. It is nearly perfect (some minor bugs here and there), but it is as close to a perfect remastering of the game as I want and can get.

 

[HeartBlade]

I always felt story shouldnt be that important in video games. Nice to have if its a good one but the main selling point should be the gameplay and fun factor.

I do think Insomniac’s spiderman got this right. The story is good and the gameplay is great.

 

[Solo4114]

Finished my first playthru of Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous, which was a lot of fun. I've started a second one, but am taking a bit of a break from it here and there to play through the Assassin's Creed games. I'm currently on Brotherhood in the final memory sequence, finishing up some of the side missions. It's fun, but very....2010 in its design. Like, stuff we just accepted now I play and I'm like "Ugh. Why is this crap here?" I'm talking missions where you have to trail a dude for 10 minutes as he periodically turns around to spot you, or where narrative is delivered as you ride on horses from place to place. I get that this was "immersive," but jesus, just make it a cutscene and give me my time back.

Speaking of cutscenes, NONE of them are skipable. Which is another very "2010" thing.

 

[zapwizard]

I played Detroit Becoming Human this past weekend. It is more of a playable choose your own story movie than a game. But story is compelling and the graphics are so polished that you sometimes forget your playing a "game". The only catch is that the PC port controls get a little frustrating during the button mashing scenes. I think at one point I was having to hold Q, E, Space, and had to mash Shift while also pulling the mouse downwards in one even stroke. Fortunately the game doesn't force any stupid reloads if you don't perfectly mash the buttons, instead it just injures your character or has some other natural consequence for failing. There wasn't a single "You failed" style reload in the whole game.

 

[PoopaPapaPalps]

Finished my first playthru of Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous, which was a lot of fun. I've started a second one, but am taking a bit of a break from it here and there to play through the Assassin's Creed games. I'm currently on Brotherhood in the final memory sequence, finishing up some of the side missions. It's fun, but very....2010 in its design. Like, stuff we just accepted now I play and I'm like "Ugh. Why is this crap here?" I'm talking missions where you have to trail a dude for 10 minutes as he periodically turns around to spot you, or where narrative is delivered as you ride on horses from place to place. I get that this was "immersive," but jesus, just make it a cutscene and give me my time back.

Speaking of cutscenes, NONE of them are skipable. Which is another very "2010" thing.

I really like the AC series up until the third "main-series" game, where it's set in the States during the Revolution. That one was genuinely terrible and nothing won me back until the fourth main series game and then everything after that lost me again.

The first is still my favorite even if it does feel a bit dated by now but all its fault, I still find it the most compelling. The first two games plus Brotherhood I consider to be the prime package; those are must-plays in the series and in that order. Brotherhood especially, since I feel it finishes the anticlimax of the second game.

With KotOR ported to Switch (poorly as some stated), I thought it time to revisit it for third time again on my PC (Steam version). I've gotten into throwing mods on the the game to get it up to snuff to today's standards (as much as can be done) and there's no going back for me now. With all the fan mods available out there, there is more than enough to put together a true remastered version of the first game. I have 15gb of mods installed, bumping the base game's paltry 3 to a respectable 18. It is nearly perfect (some minor bugs here and there), but it is as close to a perfect remastering of the game as I want and can get.

I'm quoting myself here because I was recently asked to list my mods to help with de-bugging and I put together my list of KotOR mods that, I feel, makes the best playing experience. The core game is still there but these help add some new life into it. For anyone interested in this sort of stuff at all, these are all compatible with the K1R restoration mod (with some minor bugs) and are all free to download on Deadlystream, as well as in-order for optimal install and play. The hardest install of the whole thing are the HD Menu mods for widescreen and the actual widescreen fix itself, but there are tutorials online that will guide you through it. After that, the rest is easy.

• Spoiler: Warning: It's a lot

  Improved Dialogue Fix
  [*]K1R 1.2 (the whole thing)
  [*]Hi-Res Menus
  [*]HD Menu and Art
  [*]Main Menu Widescreen Fix
  [*]KotOR HUD Fix
  [*]Loadscreens and UI fixes
  [*]HD Icons
  [*]Very Nice Loadscreens (modded, personally)
  [*]HD Movies
  [*]DV's Revelation Cutscene Cinematic remake
  [*]Kotor Widescreen Fade Fix
  [*]Random HD UI Elements (Planets icons only)
  [*]JC's Vision Enhancement Mod (K1R compatible)
  [*]Animated Cantina Signs
  [*]Animated Ebon Hawk Screens
  [*]Animated Galaxy Map
  [*]Animated Swoop Screens TSL Port
  [*]Animated Manaan Signs
  [*]Bastila Romance Scriptfix by Markus Ramikin
  [*]Bek Control Room Restoration by N-Drew
  [*]Bendak Alternative Dialogue (No DS points for bounty)
  [*]BetterMaleFace04 by CatharLioness
  [*]Black Vulkar Base Engine Lab Bench fix
  [*]Control Panel for Kashyyk Shadowlands Forcefield
  [*]Darth Malak Appearance Fix
  [*]Darth Bandon Unique Appearance Mod
  [*]Diversified Jedi Captives (Star Forge Only)
  [*]Diversified Wounded Soldiers on Taris
  [*]Rakghoul Fiend Upgrades
  [*]Ebon Hawk Camera Fix
  [*]Endar Spire Hull Repairs
  [*]Female Armor Collar Fix
  [*]Hi Poly Tin Cans
  [*]Hi-Res Beam Effects by Darth Insidious
  [*]Weapons Models Overhaul
  [*]Weapons Models Overhaul Retexture Pack
  [*]High Quality Blasters
  [*]Weapons Base Stats Rebalance
  [*]K1 Party Model Fixes by RedRob41
  [*]JC's Blaster Visuals Enhancement
  [*]JC's Lightsaber Visual Effects
  [*]JC's Dense Aliens For K1 (TSL Alien Ports)
  [*]K1 Ported Alien VO Replacements
  [*]JC's Sound Effects for K1
  [*]Ultimate Sound Mods by Shem
  [*]JC's Security Spikes K1 Mod
  [*]K1 Party Leveler by JC2
  [*]K1 Fixed Feat Icons
  [*]Vanilla Masks Overhaul
  [*]Elder Droids Unique VO
  [*]Lightsaber Icons 2k19
  [*]Dodonna's Transmission Revisit
  [*]Movie Style Holograms for End Game
  [*]Movie Style Holograms for Twisted Rancor Trio Puzzle
  [*]Movie Style Rakatan Holograms
  [*]Placeable Specularity Tweaks (mods to Computers removed as it conflicts with the next mod)
  [*]Animated Panels and Placeables pack (files for computers removed and for doors on Endire Spire)
  [*]Ultimate Endar Spire 2.0 (textures only)
  [*]Ultimate Taris Upper City
  [*]High Quality Skyboxes II
  [*]High Quality Cockpit Skyboxes XL
  [*]HD Military Droid Carrier and Armed Freighter
  [*]Star Forge Door Fix
  [*]Remove Force Power Restrictions on Armor
  [*]Repeating Blaster Restoration
  [*]Republic Soldier Fix
  [*]Republic Soldier New Shade (for fix above)
  [*]Rodian Messenger Restoration
  [*]Senni Vek Restoration
  [*]Taris Dueling Ring Arena Adjustment
  [*]Taris Escape Sequence Adjustment
  [*]Taris Upper City Cantina Entrance Fix
  [*]Korriban/Manaan Music Fix by Kainzerous Prime
  [*]Unknown World Missing Lights Fix
  [*]Mysterious Music Box Mod for Unknown World mod by Leiluken
  [*]Workbench Upgrade Screen Camera Tweak
  [*]Balanced Pazzak
  [*]HD Pazzak Cards
  [*]Better Genoharadan Items
  [*]Bodies Stay
  [*]Classes, Powers, Feats, Skills Tweak
  [*]Force Powers Gain Fix (I like the FP gains here more)
  [*]Custom Starting Equipment
  [*]Cup of Caf and Oil Bath items
  [*]Custom Selkath Animations
  [*]Czerka Amor and Appearance Fix
  [*]Dantooine Training LS Fix
  [*]Description Fixes for K1
  [*]Desert Wraid and Shyrak Texture Fixes
  [*]Ebon Hawk K1 Fixes
  [*]Emperor Turnip's HD Hutts and Gizka
  [*]Emperor Turnip's HD Calo Nord
  [*]N-Drew Vrook and Zhar fix
  [*]N-Drew Ending Fix
  [*]Energy Fields Damage Fix
  [*]Infinite Shields Mod (which makes the last mod redundant but I like it all the same)
  [*]Infinite Droid Utilities
  [*]Improved Grenades by Jc2
  [*]Gaffi Stick Improvements
  [*]Gamorrean Battleaxe Icon fix
  [*]Imporved Korriban Loot
  [*]Korriban Academy Workbench addition
  [*]Leviathan Differentiated Dialogue
  [*]Male Sith Archaeologist Restoration
  [*]Mandalorian Assault Armor Restoration
  [*]HD Astro Droids by Dark Hope
  [*]HD Bastila (clothes) by Dark Hope
  [*]HD Canderous Ordo by Dark Hope
  [*]HD Carth Onasi by Dark Hope
  [*]HD Carth (clothes) by Dark Hope
  [*]HD Trask Ulgo (head only) by Dark Hope
  [*]HD Twilek Females by Dark Hope
  [*]HD Yuthura Ban by Dark Hope
  [*]HD Zalbaar by Dark Hope
  [*]HD Mission Vao Retexture by Quanon
  [*]HD Gamorrean Retexture by Quanon
  [*]HD Hk-47 Retexture by Quanon
  [*]HD Npc Portraits by NDix
  [*]HD Pc Portraits by NDix
  [*]Health Regeneration by MVacc224
  [*]Helena - Bastila's Mother Changes by Shem (clothes)
  [*]Helena Shan Improvement (head)
  [*]Helpful Items (Droid shop on Tatooine)
  [*]High Quality Space man (Iridonian on Manaan)
  [*]Human Xor Restoration
  [*]Juhani Cathar Head Enhancement
  [*]Carth's Republic Flight Suit Restored
  [*]Kandon Ark Fix
  [*]Knights of the Old Xbox (Raid and Hybrid Dark Jedi Fix)
  [*]K1 Armor Nitpicks by TK-664
  [*]K1 Misc Nitpicks by TK-664
  [*]K1 Lashowe and Shaleena Mouth Adjustment
  [*]K1 Twilek Heads (Original necks and Textures)
  [*]Invincible Lashowe Fix (file only)
  [*]Larger Text Fonts (Name and Menu only)
  [*]Manaan Merc Overhaul
  [*]Mandalorian Plot Item Fix
  [*]Manaan Quest Ending Fix
  [*]Sandpeople Disguise Drop Fix
  [*]Queedle Fix by NDrew
  [*]Quiet Tachs (Soundfiles only)
  [*]Republic Mod Armor Reskin
  [*]Restored T3M4/HK47 items from TSL mod
  [*]Star Map Revamp
  [*]Three-Tiered Jedi Robes by PirateofRohan
  [*]Reces' Upgrade-able Vanilla Robes
  [*]Tower of Hanoi Override (Tomb Pillar Puzzle) Mod
  [*]Trandoshan Rescale mod
  [*]Unique Jagi Mod (doesn't work beyond changing Rodians to Mandalorians)
  [*]Unique Zalbaar Items
  [*]Upgraded Implants by Pwener
  [*]Upgradable Korriban Sith Lightsaber
  [*]Wookie Warblade fix by RedRob41

 

[Darth Fetty]

Like, stuff we just accepted now I play and I'm like "Ugh. Why is this crap here?" I'm talking missions where you have to trail a dude for 10 minutes as he periodically turns around to spot you

Speaking of cutscenes, NONE of them are skipable. Which is another very "2010" thing.

To be fair, I hated these two things back then too... Didn't mind the dialogue on horses till the person you're supposed to follow on horseback would get stuck behind a rock or get attacked by a guard.

But I love ACII, Brotherhood, and Revelations otherwise. The story, locations, and especially the soundtrack are wonderful. I'll still listen to the ACII soundtrack at work once in a while till this day.

 

[Solo4114]

To be fair, I hated these two things back then too... Didn't mind the dialogue on horses till the person you're supposed to follow on horseback would get stuck behind a rock or get attacked by a guard.

But I love ACII, Brotherhood, and Revelations otherwise. The story, locations, and especially the soundtrack are wonderful. I'll still listen to the ACII soundtrack at work once in a while till this day.

Yeah, the pathing would make stuff really annoying at times. I forgive it, but it's still annoying.

I enjoy the game overall. I'm not bothering with the MP aspect (since I assume it's dead anyway), but the rest of it is a lot of fun as an expansion and continuation of the AC2 story. I'm not going for 100% completion, either nor 100% sync because who has the time? I want to move on to other AC games and see how the series changes.

I'm a little reluctant to move on to Revelations, debating instead to jump to ACIII (since I have the remastered version), mostly because I'm ready for a real change of pace and change of characters. Ezio is fine and all, but, like, can we please move on? It'll be 3 huge games with him when all is said and done, and I'd like to meet some other characters. Still, I've heard the story itself is really good, so I may give it a go after all and just try to blast thru it (skip things like collectibles and achievements, which I really don't care much about these days).

I really like the AC series up until the third "main-series" game, where it's set in the States during the Revolution. That one was genuinely terrible and nothing won me back until the fourth main series game and then everything after that lost me again.

The first is still my favorite even if it does feel a bit dated by now but all its fault, I still find it the most compelling. The first two games plus Brotherhood I consider to be the prime package; those are must-plays in the series and in that order. Brotherhood especially, since I feel it finishes the anticlimax of the second game.

I'm curious about the revolutionary war one, honestly. It'll be such a change of environment that I'm wondering how they pull it off. If it really sucks, I'll just skip to the next game in the series, which I've heard is absolutely one of the top 4 of the whole run.

 

[PoopaPapaPalps]

I'm curious about the revolutionary war one, honestly. It'll be such a change of environment that I'm wondering how they pull it off. If it really sucks, I'll just skip to the next game in the series, which I've heard is absolutely one of the top 4 of the whole run.

After running through ancient metropolises and then all of sudden finding yourself on 2-3 story colonial houses or very specific trees the entirety of the game, it's honestly all not that interesting. They also just bum rush through the whole story they set up in the first two games and it all feels very lazy. I say skip it and catch clips on Youtube to catch you up. I've not played it since it came out and it was a real buggy mess then. I remember the immediate patch that came out that fixed a timed chase on a wharf that started you off next to an exploding barrel of gun powder that the whole thing off. If you're inclined, check it out but I say skip all that nonsense and get to the fourth game, Black Flag. Great characters and story that actually reminded me why I played and enjoyed these games in the first place.

 

[HeartBlade]

I only played the Ezio trilogy but found brotherhood to be the best. Great combat with the ability to combo and be aggressive and the kills are quick although getting 100% really sucks.

Maybe its because they wanted to convey that Ezio is an old man now but he becomes much slower in revelations. Forgot about the traversal since its been a while but I remember when killing someone, Ezio takes a long time to actually finish them off which wasnt fun.

 

[jusdrewit]

Picked up Cyberpunk for $9 on black Friday. So far it's great, no glitches and runs super smooth on my Series X.

 

[Nth]

Warhammer 40K Space Marine 2 announced. Glad to see it return. It was originally intended to be a trilogy under THQ, but they went under by the time the first game was finished.

 

[masterjedi322]