What Was The Last Game You Played?

[NotThePars]

7 minutes ago, Miguel Sanchez said:

The gameplay is marginally more satisfying. It's obviously better than the Uncharteds in that it doesn't have Nathan Drake in it, but that's the problem. There's nothing. There's a posh English woman saying Lara Croft a few times. That's it. 

I mind the opening being a bit gratuitous. 

[Miguel Sanchez]

On 02/05/2021 at 13:51, NotThePars said:

I mind the opening being a bit gratuitous. 

There was a comic produced to go along with the Tomb Raider reboot and set up the story/characters. I didn't believe until now that cultural appropriation was a thing. I feel personally attacked.

[BFTD]

Just started playing through the first Quake mission pack, Scourge of Armagon. Never played it before. I was expecting to find it old hat and a bit embarrassingly pish, but it's scratching an itch most delightfully. No wonder the retro Doom clone is experiencing a resurgence. Got my arse handed to me very quickly on Nightmare, but Hard is just fine.

Quake sequel/remake with modern tech please, id. This time with bosses. Thanks.

[SANTAN]

After struggling to get into it I'm fully hooked on Miles Morales. I don't really like Marvel patter so find the nepotism in the super hero/villain game to be quite disturbing on a why do people still live on Coronation Street scale but other than that it's just a really fun game. I think the combat is a bit spammy to begin with but after you've unlocked some decent abilities it can become very satisfying nailing a combo with all the varied power moves. 

I really enjoy just going about doing the random crime activities and gathering the collectable stuff. Apart from the voice notes, they're all done now but weren't exactly what I'd call fun. Has anyone here managed to get gold on all the skill games? I wasn't going to bother but after doing a few gold ones I'm inspired to do the rest if I can actually manage. 

Edited May 11, 2021 by Stormzy

[NotThePars]

I finished two big games recently: Disco Elysium Final Cut and Nier Replicant *Googles* Ver. 1.22474487139... (which I've read is the square root of 1.5). Gonna write something about Disco Elysium in a bit.

Nier Replicant ver 1.22: This is a remake of a real PS3 classic of the same name. There is a ton of weird history in the development history of the game's creator Yoko Taro. The Nier series follows from the timeline of another franchise on the PS2/3 called Drakengard which was an even more niche cult classic except the timeline Nier follows from is actually a joke ending where a dragon from a Draken game is teleported through dimensions and crashes into Tokyo which in this universe spawns a deadly disease which all but wipes out humanity. 

Anyway,

This is a remake of the PS3 game Nier Replicant which in Japan launched with a young prototypical anime boy as the protagonist. In the West, the game was revamped to make the lead character a gruff dad presumably because we are much more into dad stories especially since the impetus for the hero's quest is their sister/ daughter being sick with a strange disease. In terms of how much of the game is a remake, it probably falls nearest to the Resident Evil 2 & 3 revamps. Everyone is brought back to do new voice over work. The dad is gone (apart from DLC) and this time the west gets treated to brother Nier. The combat is updated to fit more in line with the combat in Nier Automata which is alright. I've heard the combat in the original is really bad whereas this broadly does what it wants you to do and can involve a bit of thinking to stay ahead of enemies and especially bosses. FInally, additional scenes are added in to one of the routes and a whole new ending is added at the end. Neither of these are particularly new though as I'm led to believe they were included in short stories released between the two Nier games.

This game has two main gripes, repetition and grinding. There is a ton of repetition that's built into the game's foundations up to and including the fact there are 5 endings in this game (3 of which follow the second half of the original route with additional scenes, perspectives, fights and additional endings in C and D). A lot of it feels like it should be boring, and it probably is to a lot of people. There's constant traversing back and forth to the same locations with side quests that seem like they exist purely to troll you as you travel from the village to the town to speak to one person at a time.

That feeds into the next gripe. The grinding. Everything has to be grinded for. So many missions involve collecting X amount of items. There's 10 fishing quests which involves catching a specific number of fish which are valuable commodities but immediately disappear from your inventory upon completion. If you want to level up one of the 33 weapons in the game (which are all required to be obtained for the game's C and D endings) you will have to live in the Junk Heap for hours upon hours to get the required items to upgrade the weapons. 

It's lucky then that the vibe and atmosphere in the game is great. The banter with Grimoire Weiss (excellently voiced by Liam O'Brien) and Nier keeps things ticking along. The music again is superb even if it doesn't hit the heights of Automata, imo. JRPG music is my shit but I'd struggle to find a series which seems to nail a specific tone in their soundtrack like Nier does. I just enjoyed being in this game's world even if that involved slaughtering goats for an hour to get 10 goat hides to... repair... a treasure map?

Where this game shines ultimately is in the narrative and the little stories of the people that populate this strange post-apocalypse. The red bag couple are fucking annoying but the conclusion to their story is touching. The lighthouse lady and her relationship with her missing husband and the town's influence on that has a great and heartbreaking payoff. Emil is an all-time sympathetic and fun sidekick. That's before I get into the central conflict which is essentially The Last of Us 2 without the annoying attempts at guilt-tripping the player. This is a game which has the same theme of violence begetting violence but this time it's caused by two actors who are fundamentally unable to relate or understand one another on top of a protagonist (understandably) selfishly dooming the world in his stereotypical anime boy saves his love from a doomed fate. There's also a ton of weird genre shifts and homages to other series. This game at one section devolves into a text adventure in one location while your first visit to Emil's mansion is structured incredibly clearly as a riff on Resident Evil and its fixed cameras and spooky hallways. That's before I get into the isometric laboratory, point and click moored ship and Ocarina of Time block puzzles. 

Ultimately this is an extremely Japanese PS3 game with a PS2 mentality. It's got all the game design decisions that plagued PS2 JRPG design but it feels on some level like Yoko Taro is attempting to make a commentary on the post-apocalypse of his world where everything is difficult, repetitive and a slog. Of course anything which needs repaired in this world is going to require inventive yet scarce and difficult to acquire materials. I've went back and read takes on this and Drakengard and it's so funny to read sincere defences of what sounds like awful game design, edgy and awful protagonists and jarring and off-putting soundtracks as intentional design choices because I both do and don't believe it with Yoko Taro. I don't know how else you explain someone who clearly understands philosophical concepts and weird and cool design choices while at the same time having women characters who are designed even more disturbingly horny than Hideo Kojima. I think what this game mostly resembles though is Neon Genesis Evangelion in how it's a cult classic that subverts the genres that it is slotted into. On one level it's an action RPG from Japan but it's doing tons of other things on top of that. It's even at that point where I read a review before I bought that criticised any attempts to lighten the tedium and after rolling my eyes then playing it I get it. It does feel like it's in service to what the game is trying to do. Or it could just be the case that games from this era were tedious.

I still think I'd recommend Nier Automata over this. That game's wider world and conflict is more interesting for me while the antagonists feel much more interestingly developed. I also think it suitably refines a lot of this game's issues which can be off-putting for a lot of people. It's also just more fun to play. I love this though. It's got so many potential problems but I can't stop thinking about it. There's a ton of shit going on that makes me understand why the people who played the original have shouted about it for over a decade now.

 

Edited May 11, 2021 by NotThePars

[Steve_Wilkos]

16 hours ago, NotThePars said:

Gonna write something about Disco Elysium in a bit.

Looking forward to it, chief.

[NotThePars]

Looking forward to it, chief.

How did you play your save? I went with a jaded left winger who couldn’t stop saying sorry and let everyone away with their crimes if I thought they were sound.

Tried to go down the ultra b*****d fashy cop and after an abortive start when I punched Cuno and shot Cunonesse I couldn’t stick with it as I was too depressed at upsetting Kim by being a racist.

[SANTAN]

I was just playing a game of drop in pro clubs on Fifa, for some reason everybody left at the start apart from me and 1 person on the opposition team. Usually people would probably just leave at that point but I started bringing my keeper out to let him get a goal and then he clocked on to the master play and started to do the same. Was beautiful, spent the whole game trying to get the stupid AI to give our players the ball to shoot from 40 yards out as the keepers constantly charged out from both ends unrepentantly. Finished 6-5 and we both got all the goals collectively and 10/10 ratings. I know it's technically teaming/boosting but it's just so god damn wholesome and spontaneous for such a toxic game. 

[Steve_Wilkos]

On 12/05/2021 at 16:11, NotThePars said:

How did you play your save? I went with a jaded left winger who couldn’t stop saying sorry and let everyone away with their crimes if I thought they were sound.

Tried to go down the ultra b*****d fashy cop and after an abortive start when I punched Cuno and shot Cunonesse I couldn’t stick with it as I was too depressed at upsetting Kim by being a racist.

 

Not too different from yourself. 

Spoiler

I was pretty much playing it as I would expect a normal RPG to play out. 

Being sympathetic, understanding, trying to solve the case as best I could, and, of course, pleasing my partner.

This meant that, like you, I was a "sorry cop" but took the moralist approach. But I never ended up even trying to sign karoke in my first playthrough so I am looking to resolve this inthe next playthrough. 

Having said that, like you, I am struggling to play through it as the superstar fash. I too am not all that comfortable about upsetting Big Kim with my views and, to be honest, I am not all that keen to go through some of the lengthier dialogue (like Measurehead's) again. 

Might have to give it a few weeks before returning. 

Edit to add: I also recruited Big Kim at the end, a very pleasing moment. 

Also @NotThePars, what did you make of the ending of the story? I found it slightly frustrating that it wasn't something you could either deduce or miss during the playthrough.

 

Edited May 14, 2021 by Steve_Wilkos

[NotThePars]

11 hours ago, Steve_Wilkos said:

Not too different from yourself. 

  Hide contents

I was pretty much playing it as I would expect a normal RPG to play out. 

Being sympathetic, understanding, trying to solve the case as best I could, and, of course, pleasing my partner.

This meant that, like you, I was a "sorry cop" but took the moralist approach. But I never ended up even trying to sign karoke in my first playthrough so I am looking to resolve this inthe next playthrough. 

Having said that, like you, I am struggling to play through it as the superstar fash. I too am not all that comfortable about upsetting Big Kim with my views and, to be honest, I am not all that keen to go through some of the lengthier dialogue (like Measurehead's) again. 

Might have to give it a few weeks before returning. 

Edit to add: I also recruited Big Kim at the end, a very pleasing moment. 

Also @NotThePars, what did you make of the ending of the story? I found it slightly frustrating that it wasn't something you could either deduce or miss during the playthrough.

 

Aye I played the opening like 4 times at this point and took a break so I can go through it a bit fresh again. I do like how much is shut off by your stats even when you know what to do. Keeps it fresh.

Spoiler

You jammy b*****d with that recruitment. I totally fucked it and had to take Cuno to the island at the end. I didn't have high enough Esprit de Corps either to get the lowdown on what almost definitely happened to Kim. Harry just assumes he's fine as everyone tells him Kim is fine. Cuno stepped up in fairness to him and I recruited him at the end.

Which part of the ending? I indulged the married couple throughout the game and the payoff for that was extraordinary. Was practically cheering when the giant stick insect showed up at the end.

 

[BFTD]

Gunman Taco Truck, again.

I swear to Christ that I will make it to Winnipeg by the end of this weekend, and John Romero will be MY bitch.

[dumpweed]

Return of the Obra Dinn.

 

Quite interesting

[Steve_Wilkos]

10 hours ago, NotThePars said:

Aye I played the opening like 4 times at this point and took a break so I can go through it a bit fresh again. I do like how much is shut off by your stats even when you know what to do. Keeps it fresh.

  Reveal hidden contents

You jammy b*****d with that recruitment. I totally fucked it and had to take Cuno to the island at the end. I didn't have high enough Esprit de Corps either to get the lowdown on what almost definitely happened to Kim. Harry just assumes he's fine as everyone tells him Kim is fine. Cuno stepped up in fairness to him and I recruited him at the end.

Which part of the ending? I indulged the married couple throughout the game and the payoff for that was extraordinary. Was practically cheering when the giant stick insect showed up at the end.

 

Spoiler

I too indulged the old couple, and the stick insect appearing was a mouth wide-open moment for me.

Re the ending, I was meaning that it was some guy, who is never referenced at all throughout the game (as far as I am aware), on an island you cannot access until the end of the game. I was almost expecting an LA Noire type thing where you are given the option to arrest someone once you have enough evidence. 

 

[Stellaboz]

Today I started again the trilogy of the ages. Hint, I'll be keeping the genophage.

[NotThePars]

2 hours ago, Steve_Wilkos said:

  Hide contents

I too indulged the old couple, and the stick insect appearing was a mouth wide-open moment for me.

Re the ending, I was meaning that it was some guy, who is never referenced at all throughout the game (as far as I am aware), on an island you cannot access until the end of the game. I was almost expecting an LA Noire type thing where you are given the option to arrest someone once you have enough evidence. 

 

Spoiler

Ah yeah, I get you. I like it on a conceptual moment for sure. That the killer was a range of factors from the Pale to the history of Revachol etc etc but aye it was a bit disappointing that it was someone introduced at the last minute. Especially when it all continues unravelling throughout the story and virtually everyone is shown to be at it in some way from Titus secretly being a good guy (imo) to your colleagues turning up and spying on you openly to the mercs (although I didn't find two of them???) being camouflaged like the Scab leader.

 

[SANTAN]

Just played some drop in pro clubs, managed to get into a 2 match long beef with another player. 

I was ST and we lost 5-3 (I got 1 goal and 2 assists) and he turned on the mic and had a go at the striker, loaded up the next game and turned my mic on and told everyone he was a shitebag, had a wee verbal disagreement in the pre game lobby then my team won 3-1 with me scoring 2, was beautiful. 

Edited May 21, 2021 by Stormzy

[DA Baracus]

On 15/05/2021 at 21:22, Stellaboz said:

Today I started again the trilogy of the ages. Hint, I'll be keeping the genophage.

You fucking monster!

But then you always did love Mordin! 

[Stellaboz]

You fucking monster!
But then you always did love Mordin! 

I'm a sucker for a singing Salarian!

I just killed off Kaiden last week. Naturally. Again. Had totally forgotten how much of a racist Ashley is though.

[DA Baracus]

7 minutes ago, Stellaboz said:

I'm a sucker for a singing Salarian!

I just killed off Kaiden last week. Naturally. Again. Had totally forgotten how much of a racist Ashley is though.

Kaiden is always the right choice. An absolute nobody always greeting cos he killed someone who was being a dick. A wee vacuum of charisma.

Ashley does start out as a bit of a space racist but she comes around. Also, POW!

[NotThePars]

I can't imagine keeping the genophage. Monstrous. Wrex is also a top lad.