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Post by impulse on Mar 20, 2017 11:06:21 GMT -5
Ha! So many more hours into Zelda, I'm liking it more than I did. For good or ill, unlike many modern games it doesn't hold your hand much, just gets you started and pointed in the right direction, and then you're kind of on your own. More old school approach - not shocking from Nintendo, eh?  But i have more of a handle on things now and a clearer idea of what I can do to at least get started, so it doesn't quite feel so utterly open-ended and "WTH do I do and WTH do I go?" The camera is a little annoying at times, specifically when you're in combat or trying to climb, it could follow you a little more or be a little more automated, and a few UI things could be streamlined. Still very much liking it overall, though. |
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Post by lobsterjohnson on Mar 20, 2017 11:37:54 GMT -5
I just started a new save file in the first LEGO Marvel game. The missions can be kind of tedious, and the puns and jokes in the dialogue are awful, but I really love the huge selection of Marvel characters to play as, and the open world is pretty fun. This is one of the best superhero games, I think.
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Post by adamwarlock2099 on Mar 21, 2017 10:16:47 GMT -5
I still have yet to get BotW. I do plan on it ... just got wrapped up in other things. But it's starting to sound better and better.
I finished Tomb Raider (PS3) last night. Stayed up a little to late doing it. I enjoyed the game all the way through, though I took a long break early on thinking I wouldn't like it. I've still got some weapon upgrades and other skills to get done, to totally max myself out, so I decided for one more play-through. Though I may just buy a copy so my son's friend can get his back.
I thought the ending was a nice break, though it reminded me of Halo 4, but with a bit more satisfying battle. My son was watching me playing the last bit when Mathias' men are in samurai armour. I was kind of thinking these were going to be like real living dead samurai, not just his men in the armour. But still cool. My son kept telling me, "I told you to get the penetrating arrows so the armoured guys would be easier" lol. He had long beat the game before me. He uses the bow a lot in battle, and I use it more as a tool and back up weapon. Especially after getting the rifle. That was by far my favorite weapon. Especially as I started getting more upgrades for it. I got all but one, by the end of the game. And used that primary unless I ran out of ammunition. Also the handgun with silencer makes for nice long distance stealth kills when you don't want to engage in full on battle. Especially when you are seen and they got machine guns and sic wolves on you that are fast af.
Really great game. Anyone tell me if this is exclusive to only this TR game? It's the first and only one I have played. I'm not sure I really want to go back to polygon Lara on the PS1 or anything. But I didn't know if there was some more good TR in that generation of consoles that are fun to play. Or similar to this one.
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Post by lobsterjohnson on Mar 21, 2017 10:26:43 GMT -5
I still have yet to get BotW. I do plan on it ... just got wrapped up in other things. But it's starting to sound better and better. I finished Tomb Raider (PS3) last night. Stayed up a little to late doing it. I enjoyed the game all the way through, though I took a long break early on thinking I wouldn't like it. I've still got some weapon upgrades and other skills to get done, to totally max myself out, so I decided for one more play-through. Though I may just buy a copy so my son's friend can get his back. I thought the ending was a nice break, though it reminded me of Halo 4, but with a bit more satisfying battle. My son was watching me playing the last bit when Mathias' men are in samurai armour. I was kind of thinking these were going to be like real living dead samurai, not just his men in the armour. But still cool. My son kept telling me, "I told you to get the penetrating arrows so the armoured guys would be easier" lol. He had long beat the game before me. He uses the bow a lot in battle, and I use it more as a tool and back up weapon. Especially after getting the rifle. That was by far my favorite weapon. Especially as I started getting more upgrades for it. I got all but one, by the end of the game. And used that primary unless I ran out of ammunition. Also the handgun with silencer makes for nice long distance stealth kills when you don't want to engage in full on battle. Especially when you are seen and they got machine guns and sic wolves on you that are fast af. Really great game. Anyone tell me if this is exclusive to only this TR game? It's the first and only one I have played. I'm not sure I really want to go back to polygon Lara on the PS1 or anything. But I didn't know if there was some more good TR in that generation of consoles that are fun to play. Or similar to this one. There's a sequel called Rise of the Tomb Raider, I think (and a third one in development). It looked like it had pretty similar gameplay, but I haven't played enough of either one to say for sure. |
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Post by Dizzy D on Mar 21, 2017 11:32:38 GMT -5
Rise of Tomb Raider is very much the same, but for some reason I didn't enjoy it as much as the first one (I loved the tomb puzzles in 1 and the ones in 2 were not as interesting IIRC). The pre-reboot Tomb Raiders are different type of games, more focused on platforming and block puzzles.
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Post by sunofdarkchild on Mar 21, 2017 13:27:53 GMT -5
Tomb Raider 2013 is my favorite game of it's type. Both the combat and even the set-pieces were more enjoyable to me than any of the Uncharted games. Being able to use a mouse and keyboard definitely helped, since I hate dual analog shooting. I also appreciated the exploration and Metroid-like progression. It suffers from one of the worst cases of ludo-narrative dissonance I've ever seen with how much Lara kills after having so hard a time killing the animal at the beginning. Haven't gotten around to Rise yet.
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Post by adamwarlock2099 on Mar 21, 2017 15:11:41 GMT -5
Tomb Raider 2013 is my favorite game of it's type. Both the combat and even the set-pieces were more enjoyable to me than any of the Uncharted games. Being able to use a mouse and keyboard definitely helped, since I hate dual analog shooting. I also appreciated the exploration and Metroid-like progression. It suffers from one of the worst cases of ludo-narrative dissonance I've ever seen with how much Lara kills after having so hard a time killing the animal at the beginning. Haven't gotten around to Rise yet. It's weird that you mention that, as I remember not wanting to have to do that at the time. And never killed an animal just for salvage points. But I wonder if that was why I initially didn't like it and was thinking about not finishing it. The violence was pretty blatant and the commentary that she was just so scared and hesitant to be as brutal as they were quickly faded when you going to strangling them with your bow string for a stealth kill to slamming your climbing axe into their neck so deeply you have to leverage your foot on their back to pull it out. Personally, the level of violence that progress in this game is it's one minus, for what you feel at the beginning of the game. And that stealth kills moved to something more brutal (and probably not really stealthy at all realistically) is one of my biggest complaints about it. If strangling them with your bow string worked before, why not now? Save dudes in helmets and armour, which I can see. But overall there is something fun and addicting about the game, so I tried to look past that. But unless I had to, I went from melee stealth kills to taking them out with my silenced handgun. Less gratuitous and more realistic. |
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Post by impulse on Mar 21, 2017 16:45:50 GMT -5
I don't that I've ever complained about a game have too much gratuitous violence,but that's me. |
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Post by Dizzy D on Mar 22, 2017 3:45:13 GMT -5
I don't that I've ever complained about a game have too much gratuitous violence,but that's me. The problem is not much that it's gratuitous, but that story and gameplay are really seperated in this game, so it doesn't fit. She goes from scared girl to "apex predator of headshot island". It's a minor complaint that fits with more video games though (the average video game protagonist has a body count that would shame any serial killer) It does give some fun if dark moments when the cultists who hunt her at various points in the game realise that they are not going to stop her. "She's still alive?" "She has a grenade launcher!" |
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Post by adamwarlock2099 on Mar 22, 2017 8:18:59 GMT -5
I don't that I've ever complained about a game have too much gratuitous violence,but that's me. The problem is not much that it's gratuitous, but that story and gameplay are really seperated in this game, so it doesn't fit. She goes from scared girl to "apex predator of headshot island". It's a minor complaint that fits with more video games though (the average video game protagonist has a body count that would shame any serial killer) It does give some fun if dark moments when the cultists who hunt her at various points in the game realise that they are not going to stop her. "She's still alive?" "She has a grenade launcher!" I just started another game last night, and when I was playing through the beginning where she's captured after the boat shipwrecks but escapes with her hands tied behind her back and you have to move from cover to cover. She hides in that shed or whatever and one of the thugs finds her and the connotation is he might assault her and she struggles with him, until he ends up killing him only out self preservation. She picks up his handgun, and then only moments later, finding a clip, she starts taking other dudes out with ease. I shot a 9mm handgun for the first time 2 years ago at 37 years old and struggles to hit the broad side of a barn, so to speak. So I agree they laid the apprehensiveness to kill and her initial confidence to survive on a little thick, for her to end up being the badass warrior she ends up being. Not that story is so important to me on an interactive game. But having this conversation and having had started a new game last night, I really noticed it more than I did on the first play through. |
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Post by impulse on Mar 22, 2017 10:07:18 GMT -5
Ah, cool, that makes more sense. This is going into no-prize territory, but maybe it's not that she's not capable of doing it, but she doesn't want to go there? It reminds me of one take I've seen on Batman where the reason he is so adamant about not killing, even the Joker, is that he knows once he opens Pandora's box there's no going back, and he's afraid of what he would be like. More likely just sloppy writing, but there's something.
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Post by adamwarlock2099 on Mar 22, 2017 10:40:28 GMT -5
Yeah it's more like an afterthought with the conversation that is going on now. I guess, as Dizzy said, that could be true of a lot of video games where the protagonist is an everyday person thrown into a life or death struggle. I guess that's part of the price we pay for more realistic games, in that now you have dialogue, and graphics good enough to read facial expression and come to your own conclusions about how the character you control feels in certain situations. The interaction is more than just with the hands, it's in the mind now. Whereas I look back at older games and it's hard to connection to something that doesn't even remotely resemble human. It's more the challenge/joy of actual overcoming the obstacles from a objective view.
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Post by lobsterjohnson on Mar 22, 2017 11:00:15 GMT -5
It reminds me of one take I've seen on Batman where the reason he is so adamant about not killing, even the Joker, is that he knows once he opens Pandora's box there's no going back, and he's afraid of what he would be like. More likely just sloppy writing, but there's something. When I first read that I thought it was kind of silly, but now I think it's kind of interesting. If Batman decides the Joker deserves to die, how are Scarecrow, Bane, etc. any different? I'm sure Frank Castle and Batman would have an interesting conversation about this. |
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Post by impulse on Mar 22, 2017 14:07:01 GMT -5
I'm sure Frank Castle and Batman would have an interesting conversation about this. It's funny you put it that way. In past discussions I've had about it, a key point was how similar Batman and the Punisher are. Batman is just one decision away from becoming the Punisher tenfold. Imagine the Punisher with Batman's mind and resources. That would be an amazing Elseworlds story. |
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Post by Dizzy D on Mar 24, 2017 4:17:26 GMT -5
The problem is not much that it's gratuitous, but that story and gameplay are really seperated in this game, so it doesn't fit. She goes from scared girl to "apex predator of headshot island". It's a minor complaint that fits with more video games though (the average video game protagonist has a body count that would shame any serial killer) It does give some fun if dark moments when the cultists who hunt her at various points in the game realise that they are not going to stop her. "She's still alive?" "She has a grenade launcher!" I just started another game last night, and when I was playing through the beginning where she's captured after the boat shipwrecks but escapes with her hands tied behind her back and you have to move from cover to cover. She hides in that shed or whatever and one of the thugs finds her and the connotation is he might assault her and she struggles with him, until he ends up killing him only out self preservation. She picks up his handgun, and then only moments later, finding a clip, she starts taking other dudes out with ease. I shot a 9mm handgun for the first time 2 years ago at 37 years old and struggles to hit the broad side of a barn, so to speak. So I agree they laid the apprehensiveness to kill and her initial confidence to survive on a little thick, for her to end up being the badass warrior she ends up being. Not that story is so important to me on an interactive game. But having this conversation and having had started a new game last night, I really noticed it more than I did on the first play through. Her proficiency with firearms wasn't a problem to me, obviously Lara had a lot of training in various survival skills even before she ends up on the island. Her mentor was the kind of person to train her how to use a gun after all. Knowing how to shoot a gun and knowing how to shoot a human are two very different things though, but the game goes very quickly over that. But it's one deer and one human and after that she just completely switches it off. I did like the Rise of TR trailers where they had Lara with a therapist to talk about these things, but that never went anywhere (understandable, it's an action game after all, so getting too deep into the effects of killing, even in self-defense, is not really the part of it (we do have games like SpecOps, but then again, that was the point of SpecOps). Still, as I said minor points in a great game. There are so many parts that are done so well. Getting to the top of the radio tower is one of my favourite moments in the game. |
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But i have more of a handle on things now and a clearer idea of what I can do to at least get started, so it doesn't quite feel so utterly open-ended and "WTH do I do and WTH do I go?" The camera is a little annoying at times, specifically when you're in combat or trying to climb, it could follow you a little more or be a little more automated, and a few UI things could be streamlined. Still very much liking it overall, though. 
