OT: Video Game Talk (oh, also the Week before the All-Star Break Pre-Game Talk "archive")

[The Moops]

Well, yes and no. This is actually the sixth entry in the series (came out in 2022)! I played the original waaaay back in the day on my old Atari 1040ST and it was incredible. I've never played any of the other installments.

I also played another Lucasfilm game, Zak McCracken and the Alien Mindbenders, on the same machine around that time.

The best part so far is that the new Monkey Island, like the original, has a very long-winded (but hilarious) shoutout to Lucasfilm's most famous game, Loom.

Loom was too much for me as a kid. I should go back and try it again. Those old Lucasarts and Sierra click-and-point adventure games really defined my childhood though. Also my dad thought me how to pirate games (copy floppy disks) from the Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade game

 

[TruePowerSlave]

VRR is the technology that has simply not been taken advantage of yet and I think that is one of the biggest shames. Games could be designed to hit 60 fps most of the time, but allow drops into the 40s without being nearly as disruptive. Prior drops into the say 50-53 range was noticeable and sluggish, VRR corrects that drastically. With that the need to be stable goes away, at least to an extent.

I'd argue the difference is huge. A doubling of the frame rate requires double the compute needed to render at the same settings... and practically even more since you need head room. This is why we see the 30 fps modes have 1200p and more effects and the performance modes go to 847p or lower with a bunch of stuff dialed back. These boxes just don't have a ton of compute and were designed primarily to a price point. Sure they can do pretty much any 8th gen game at more than 1080p and 60fps, but when we get to games with 9th gen demands.... the power just isn't there.

Which gets back to the point where I think this chasing of graphics is hurting the industry more than helping. The customer demands are Hellblade 2 graphics in an open world with 60fps at 4k... and there isn't a consumer GPU that can pull that off, not even the RTX 4090. It sure isn't happening in a 4-600 box.

Its a poor decision from most devs imo. Just looking at sales figures tons of games that don't pursue the best possible graphics sell a lot, are cheaper to make and don't take as much dev time. The most popular console/handheld in the market Switch doesn't even have a single visually impressive game in its library and never will.

I get a mammoth company like Rockstar putting a ton of time on graphical fidelity. The smaller studios should focus on gameplay, performance and art direction first.

It takes 5+ years for any triple A title to even come out and that is being generous. The costs have risen to hundreds of millions. Its no wonder triple A games have become extremely safe and predictable, they have to make the money back and the safest bet is to make it mass market, take little to no risk with monetization all over it. Its no surprise that nearly all gameplay innovation comes from smaller devs, then the bigger teams copy those ideas. In the end its the consumers that suffer. Less games and the ones that do come out play it as safe as possible, meaning they often are bland as shit.

Something like Alan Wake 2 is a total exception to the current norm. A triple A title that dares to go bold and take risk constantly. Most are like Spiderman 2 or your regular Ubisoft game, safe as it gets with zero innovation + risk whatsoever.

 

[sethro109]

I was left pretty disappointed in FFVII Rebirth. The traversal, and combat just aren't that fun. Basic attacks do nothing and the game wants to revolve around spells and abilities, but even if you max your build to get your ATB gauge filled fast (this gauge needs to be filled in order to use items, abilities and spells) it's still a slow slog. I had the most fun playing as Yufi, and playing as Aerith is like pulling teeth. The story changes seems almost a moot point now that they decided to not change THE ONE THING fans actually wanted changed.

Spoiler: Spoiler

Also the censoring of the Aerith death scene, by not showing her get impaled made the whole sequence feel hollow

Also, also, all the mini games just made the game feel unnecessarily bloated.

Since this square game left me unsatisfied with the combat, I decided to replay Kingdom hearts 3. I love the combat in this game, and now that it's on PC, the mods have made it even better. And I'm still a huge sucker for the angsty, edgy teen story of Kingdom Hearts. There's a mod team that even completely made a tournament mode in Olympus. Something that was lacking from 3, something all the other games had.

 

[henchman21]

Its a poor decision from most devs imo. Just looking at sales figures tons of games that don't pursue the best possible graphics sell a lot, are cheaper to make and don't take as much dev time. The most popular console/handheld in the market Switch doesn't even have a single visually impressive game in its library and never will.

I get a mammoth company like Rockstar putting a ton of time on graphical fidelity. The smaller studios should focus on gameplay, performance and art direction first.

It takes 5+ years for any triple A title to even come out and that is being generous. The costs have risen to hundreds of millions. Its no wonder triple A games have become extremely safe and predictable, they have to make the money back and the safest bet is to make it mass market, take little to no risk with monetization all over it. Its no surprise that nearly all gameplay innovation comes from smaller devs, then the bigger teams copy those ideas. In the end its the consumers that suffer. Less games and the ones that do come out play it as safe as possible, meaning they often are bland as shit.

Something like Alan Wake 2 is a total exception to the current norm. A triple A title that dares to go bold and take risk constantly. Most are like Spiderman 2 or your regular Ubisoft game, safe as it gets with zero innovation + risk whatsoever.

Yeah I generally think it is a mistake for the industry as a whole. My worry about CD Projekt Red is after the Cyberpunk mess they'll go to this extreme too. They may already be there with how long TW4 is taking to come out.

I generally like a lot of what Remedy is doing. I don't think their games are perfect by any stretch, but I enjoy them a lot.

 

[MacKaRant]

Yeah I generally think it is a mistake for the industry as a whole. My worry about CD Projekt Red is after the Cyberpunk mess they'll go to this extreme too. They may already be there with how long TW4 is taking to come out.

I've always been in the "I don't care about graphics as a selling point" camp. I can comfortably play a PS2-era game and enjoy myself as long as the gameplay is good. And because I grew up on NES and SNES, anything pixel art is fine with me too.

The game I've put the most hours into in 2024, Slay the Spire, has below average art, even for an indie game.

I generally like a lot of what Remedy is doing. I don't think their games are perfect by any stretch, but I enjoy them a lot.

Agree, and my favorite experience in this console generation so far has been Returnal, made by another Finnish company, Housemarque. Must be something in the water there.

 

[expatriatedtexan]

I was left pretty disappointed in FFVII Rebirth. The traversal, and combat just aren't that fun. Basic attacks do nothing and the game wants to revolve around spells and abilities, but even if you max your build to get your ATB gauge filled fast (this gauge needs to be filled in order to use items, abilities and spells) it's still a slow slog. I had the most fun playing as Yufi, and playing as Aerith is like pulling teeth. The story changes seems almost a moot point now that they decided to not change THE ONE THING fans actually wanted changed.

Spoiler: Spoiler

Also the censoring of the Aerith death scene, by not showing her get impaled made the whole sequence feel hollow

Also, also, all the mini games just made the game feel unnecessarily bloated.

Since this square game left me unsatisfied with the combat, I decided to replay Kingdom hearts 3. I love the combat in this game, and now that it's on PC, the mods have made it even better. And I'm still a huge sucker for the angsty, edgy teen story of Kingdom Hearts. There's a mod team that even completely made a tournament mode in Olympus. Something that was lacking from 3, something all the other games had.

I only played FFIX on the PS2. I did play the original Kindom Hearts and my wife loved the entire series so I'm pretty familiar with it and enjoyed both playing the first one and then kinda just watched her play through the others. I plan on picking them up from Steam once I get through my backlog. I'm still hoping for a FFIX remaster. For whatever reason, Vivi became one of my all-time favorite computer game characters. Even created an Asuran in GW2 that looked absolutely identical down to the colors of clothing, hat, gloves and weapon. Every time I play in WvW, folks keep targeting me instead of the enemies trying to get a better look. *LOL*

 

[henchman21]

I just can't get into modern FF. Try as I may, I hate how they've designed the games in the post PS2 (yeah that long ago) era. KH 1&2 were fantastic games. Still have yet to pick up 3.

 

[sethro109]

I just can't get into modern FF. Try as I may, I hate how they've designed the games in the post PS2 (yeah that long ago) era. KH 1&2 were fantastic games. Still have yet to pick up 3.

The main problem with 3 is the difficulty. Even on proud mode it's incredibly easy. Then if you play critical mode, the game is extremely hard. And if you think you'll be able to go from 2 to 3 while understanding the story, well you can't. At bare minimum you'll also need to play Birth by sleep and Dream drop distance to get a basic understanding of the story. 358/2 is also pretty important, but you don't have to play that one.

 

[Pokecheque]

Loom was too much for me as a kid. I should go back and try it again. Those old Lucasarts and Sierra click-and-point adventure games really defined my childhood though. Also my dad thought me how to pirate games (copy floppy disks) from the Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade game

Finished Return to Monkey Island. Meh...they went for a crazy-ass meta ending (obviously we still don't know what the secret is, and we never will) that kinda left me cold.

Apparently there's a Loom download on the Internet Archive. I might have to check it out.

 

[TruePowerSlave]

Finished Return to Monkey Island. Meh...they went for a crazy-ass meta ending (obviously we still don't know what the secret is, and we never will) that kinda left me cold.

Laughed my ass off at how absurd the ending is. Didn't mind it, I doubt you could make a serious reveal on what the "secret" is without it being disappointing.

Fun game, but nowhere near The Curse of Monkey Island or other classics of the genre. Grim Fandango is the peak for me and nothing has come close since.

 

[S E P H]

@McMetal Holy smokes bruv, I am not sure if you are a big Fear Factory fan, but their new lead singer is freaking amazing. This band could be making a resurgence.

 

[henchman21]

@McMetal Holy smokes bruv, I am not sure if you are a big Fear Factory fan, but their new lead singer is freaking amazing. This band could be making a resurgence.

Please god no. No. NNOOOOOOO!

 

[McMetal]

@McMetal Holy smokes bruv, I am not sure if you are a big Fear Factory fan, but their new lead singer is freaking amazing. This band could be making a resurgence.

Fear Factory's "Demanufacture" was the first CD I ever bought. Been a fan from the very beginning, and they're still one of my favorites!

I was crushed when Burton quit though, and doubly so because of the bullshit circumstances behind it. It's going to be incredibly hard to replace him, I'm not sure if it's ever going to feel like the same band again. I'll reserve my judgement for when they finally release some new songs.

 

[S E P H]

Fear Factory's "Demanufacture" was the first CD I ever bought. Been a fan from the very beginning, and they're still one of my favorites!

I was crushed when Burton quit though, and doubly so because of the bullshit circumstances behind it. It's going to be incredibly hard to replace him, I'm not sure if it's ever going to feel like the same band again. I'll reserve my judgement for when they finally release some new songs.

I realized this is the wrong thread, but there's a 2024 concert on YouTube and the new singer is amazing man.

 

[UncleRisto]

Please god no. No. NNOOOOOOO!

Get your old Coal Chamber shirt out.

 

[henchman21]

Get your old Coal Chamber shirt out.

 

[UncleRisto]

Marilyn Manson has new singles out, by the way, while we're talking about 90's music and not video games.

 

[henchman21]

Marilyn Manson has new singles out, by the way, while we're talking about 90's music and not video games.

Next you'll be telling us that In Flames is still relevant.

 

[UncleRisto]

Next you'll be telling us that In Flames is still relevant.

It is to us.

 

[sethro109]

Marilyn Manson has new singles out, by the way, while we're talking about 90's music and (Redacted) video games.

So we're talking about Brutal Legend. Nice.

 

[S E P H]

Get your old Coal Chamber shirt out.

Ah man, that's another good band. I haven't listened to them in ages'.

 

[UncleRisto]

So we're talking about Brutal Legend. Nice.
View attachment 901432

Guitar Hero II had a hell of a soundtrack. It even had Butthole Surfers.

 

[henchman21]

Remember they tired to bring back Rock Band for the PS4 XO? Simpler times

 

[UncleRisto]

Remember they tired to bring back Rock Band for the PS4 XO? Simpler times

I played a lot of the first couple Rock Bands at my friend's house, but I much preferred the Guitar Hero angle of it being pretty much just guitar and silly Metalocalypse art style. Oh well. That really was a simpler time on console.

 

[McMetal]

Get your old Coal Chamber shirt out.

I realized this is the wrong thread, but there's a 2024 concert on YouTube and the new singer is amazing man.

Well, FF is touring the US and coming to Denver at the end of September, so I'll probably be getting an up close look at him when that happens.

And no joke, Coal Chamber is also on the bill. Nu-metal is back, baby!