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

[sethro109]

I'm still very skeptical about it. Them saying they wanted a more serious and grounded GTA while also saying they weren't going to "punch down" anymore has me nervous. GTA always made fun of everyone, and was always over the top. I hate that these modern day devs want to change that.

 

[The Merchant]

I'm still very skeptical about it. Them saying they wanted a more serious and grounded GTA while also saying they weren't going to "punch down" anymore has me nervous. GTA always made fun of everyone, and was always over the top. I hate that these modern day devs want to change that.

I'm sure they'll be laying the satire on thick per usual. I'm just excited about the concept of a Bonnie & Clyde story set in the GTA universe, especially within Vice City (my personal favorite GTA). I never even finished V's campaign because the story and protagonists never really clicked for me. They just felt so formulaic and unlikable.

 

[Ceremony]

GTA VI isn't going to be a satire of society the way you remember GTA games of your youth. The world of your youth no longer exists, and the world we have is beyond satire. The USA has had varying levels of senile moron in charge since V was released. Mass media has changed irreversibly with ease of access to the internet. Social media has destroyed long-form media, and completely warped the idea of what is normal, real life behaviour. The country jumped the shark on the gun control debate after Sandy Hook. You can't satire a society which is beyond parody.

The game will not be what anyone wants or expects it to be.

 

[Mooserton]

I love GTA IV and RDR2 which are a lot more serious in tone compared to V and RDR1 so I’d welcome a serious tone.

 

[expatriatedtexan]

I love GTA IV and RDR2 which are a lot more serious in tone compared to V and RDR1 so I’d welcome a serious tone.

Never played a GTA game, but am looking forward to getting into one. As I spent summers in south florida during the 70s and early 80s I am very much looking forward to seeing the world they create.

As for realism.. I'm actually expecting it to be just a bit more restrained than Saint's Row. I only played SR IV, but it was... definitely one of the games of all time.

 

[The Merchant]

After ~60 hours, toiling away in the endgame and dreading finishing the main story of Expedition 33, I finally saw it through to the end.

I can say without a shadow of a doubt that this is one of my favorite videogames of all-time.

 

[The Mars Volchenkov]

After ~60 hours, toiling away in the endgame and dreading finishing the main story of Expedition 33, I finally saw it through to the end.

I can say without a shadow of a doubt that this is one of my favorite videogames of all-time.

I’m 19 hours in and loving it. Rare to see games like this these days. Been working out to the soundtrack and even bought one of their official shirts.

Explaining those last two to my wife took a minute.

 

[sethro109]

After ~60 hours, toiling away in the endgame and dreading finishing the main story of Expedition 33, I finally saw it through to the end.

I can say without a shadow of a doubt that this is one of my favorite videogames of all-time.

I'm 50 hours in, and I think I over leveled myself doing all the side quests. Whenever I go do a story mission, I blow through everything. Still really fun though.

 

[The Merchant]

I’m 19 hours in and loving it. Rare to see games like this these days. Been working out to the soundtrack and even bought one of their official shirts.

Explaining those last two to my wife took a minute.

Oh man the soundtrack hits so ridiculously hard. My dogs have ended up being the biggest beneficiaries of it because every time I take them to the park I just want to wander around and vibe out to it. Crazy that they found some guy on SoundCloud and he goes on to make a debut soundtrack that is going to be an awards frontrunner. They found their lead writer on reddit, too. Such a cool story.

 

[The Merchant]

I'm 50 hours in, and I think I over leveled myself doing all the side quests. Whenever I go do a story mission, I blow through everything. Still really fun though.

Same thing happened to me, which was a little bit of a bummer when I did decide to finish up the main quest line. But the power scaling was so well-designed in the endgame that it felt like a natural progression both in terms of gameplay and story. I mean I'm around level 95 with my main squad and I'm still getting absolutely smoked by the "last" boss.

 

[expatriatedtexan]

Can I ask a question about Cyberpunk that would be very spoilery? It's regarding a specific ending.

[edit... maybe a better way of doing this would be to ask how everyone's ending turned out... so let's go with that. If you played Cyberpunk 2077 what was your ending like? How did you character finish the tale?]

 

[Avsfan1921]

Oh man the soundtrack hits so ridiculously hard. My dogs have ended up being the biggest beneficiaries of it because every time I take them to the park I just want to wander around and vibe out to it. Crazy that they found some guy on SoundCloud and he goes on to make a debut soundtrack that is going to be an awards frontrunner. They found their lead writer on reddit, too. Such a cool story.

I’ve loved the game so far (watching it as opposed to playing, don’t have the time unfortunately) but I’m in the minority in that I think the games amazing but the soundtrack is ok and not great. Guess it’s just not my jam.

 

[sethro109]

Can I ask a question about Cyberpunk that would be very spoilery? It's regarding a specific ending.

[edit... maybe a better way of doing this would be to ask how everyone's ending turned out... so let's go with that. If you played Cyberpunk 2077 what was your ending like? How did you character finish the tale?]

I played through multiple times and got all the endings. When I first played I tried to go for the "true" ending, but I locked myself out of that ending by not having the right amount of friendship with Johnny. Back before they patched it, it was much harder to get. I ended up with too much friendship .

So my first playthrough I ended up.

Spoiler: ending I got

Having V sacrifice himself and giving the Body to Johnny.

 

[expatriatedtexan]

I played through multiple times and got all the endings. When I first played I tried to go for the "true" ending, but I locked myself out of that ending by not having the right amount of friendship with Johnny. Back before they patched it, it was much harder to get. I ended up with too much friendship .

So my first playthrough I ended up.

Spoiler: ending I got

Having V sacrifice himself and giving the Body to Johnny.

Spoiler: My Ending

Double suicide between Johnny and I.

I was not ready for that. Val and Johnny talking on top of building and Val says he thinks he got it figured out. Said I was going to ask Panam for help. Johnny questioned me and i had the option "Could also just put all this to rest". Had the option to toss the pills so I did and then after a little uninterrupted dialogue between Val and Johnny they look to the skyline and camera begins to show different parts of the city and then you hear a single gunshot ringout and the credits rolled.

The little videos that played while the credits rolled were heartbreaking at times. Took me the better part of the month to even want to play another game. That really stuck hard.

 

[sethro109]

Spoiler: My Ending

Double suicide between Johnny and I.

I was not ready for that. Val and Johnny talking on top of building and Val says he thinks he got it figured out. Said I was going to ask Panam for help. Johnny questioned me and i had the option "Could also just put all this to rest". Had the option to toss the pills so I did and then after a little uninterrupted dialogue between Val and Johnny they look to the skyline and camera begins to show different parts of the city and then you hear a single gunshot ringout and the credits rolled.

The little videos that played while the credits rolled were heartbreaking at times. Took me the better part of the month to even want to play another game. That really stuck hard.

I don't think there's a way to lock yourself into that ending. Why did you choose that one for your first play through? I thought Vik made it very clear what would happen there when he talked to you in the elevator.

 

[expatriatedtexan]

I don't think there's a way to lock yourself into that ending. Why did you choose that one for your first play through? I thought Vik made it very clear what would happen there when he talked to you in the elevator.

I must've missed some conversation que. I'll be honest, half the queue's in that game made no sense to me when listening to what my character actually said after me chosing the option.

I had the same problem a lot in Mass Effect. Heavy dialogue games loose a ton becaues of nuance. The options given rarely take into consideration things such as sarcasm. Most of these games end up getting played as a wild, close your eyes and just randomly select something.

For example, I tried to play Mass Effect like a commander who actually thought the world was about to end. Who didn't hae time to go chasing after everyone's stupid f***ing nephew in some outer-rim world. Folks kept giving me stupid quests and I'm like, do you not understand? Our very existence is being threatened and you want me to do what???? So I played it as a commander who had absolutely no time for tom foolery. That made me the most evil jackass in the universe. I swear half my crew was probably hoping for the Reapers to win by the end.