Video Games...Discuss Them

[Morris Schæffer]

RDR has a critical lack of cool missions, miles and miles of terrain with little interesting to do. Yes, the scenery is majestic, one could be forgiven for thinking he's in a Malick film, but those are usually a mere two hours long. Still, the characters and authenticity of the setting are so good that I found RDR memorable all the same. A masterpiece? Not in the areas of exciting, branching missions, nor as a sandbox type of game, but it arguably does everything about it as well as feasibly possible, given the inevitable emptyness of its setting.

[Idioteque Stalker]

Just finished the "Halo 4" campaign on Legendary.

When you beat it on any other difficulty, the very last shot of the epilogue cinematic is Master Chief having his armor removed, and as the helmet comes off the screen cuts to black.

With Legendary, you get a brief glimpse of his face.

The most beautiful man to ever exist.

[Idioteque Stalker]

I bought Endless Space yesterday half-off. In many ways it's simply Civ in space, so it hasn't been nearly as difficult to learn as people say. About three hours in, military is the only thing I'm not really comfortable with. Compare that to Crusader Kings, for instance, which I played for like 10 hours and still didn't understand.

[Dukefrukem]

RDR is not a masterpiece. If anything its Rockstars 7th best game and definitely the most tedious.

[Neclord]

RDR is Rockstar's best exercise in their open world structure, IMO. This may be off on a tangent, but I've felt that, even with their weaknesses, RDR and LA Noire have been better, more interesting uses of the basic GTA framework than the last few installments of that franchise.

Hopped on that Uncharted 3 discount and ordered Deus Ex: HR along with it. I enjoy these deals.

[number8]

Shadow of Colossus is one of my favorite games of all time, I've played it several times over. I don't think I'd mind riding around empty beautiful plains doing nothing.

[number8]

RDR is Rockstar's best exercise in their open world structure, IMO. This may be off on a tangent, but I've felt that, even with their weaknesses, RDR and LA Noire have been better, more interesting uses of the basic GTA framework than the last few installments of that franchise.

They agree with you, since apparently they're copying the RDR model over to GTAV.

[Scar]

Shadow of Colossus is one of my favorite games of all time, I've played it several times over. I don't think I'd mind riding around empty beautiful plains doing nothing.

...Just watch out for mountain lions.

[

Show Spoiler

As long as you listen, you'll know they're coming. Same goes for any predator.

]

[megladon8]

Yeah I honestly never had much trouble at all with the mountain lions. They're strong for sure, but it's not like they were some crippling, game-ruiningly cheap enemy.

Like Scar said, listen for them. And if you see one in the distance, take it out from there.

[Scar]

I will say that grizzly bears sure do love company.

[bac0n]

Shadow of Colossus is one of my favorite games of all time, I've played it several times over. I don't think I'd mind riding around empty beautiful plains doing nothing.

Honestly that's my favorite thing to do in RDR - just chill out, cruise around, take in the scenery and the awesome Morricone-inspired soundtrack.

[megladon8]

In case I haven't mentioned yet, "Halo 4" is pretty awesome.

The balance in the weapons across the three species is phenomenal. While each race has a similar weapon set (a fully automatic assault rifle, a pistol, a shotgun, a precision rifle, a sniper rifle, a rocket launcher, and grenades) they all have their pros and cons with each level.

My favorite weapon type is the precision range rifle, of which there are four available:

The UNSC DMR is a single-shot precision rifle with a powerful scope, but a fairly slow rate of fire and a slow reload speed.

The UNSC Battle Rifle fires three-round bursts which pull up so if you're aiming for a headshot you often miss the second and/or third rounds. It's not as powerful as the DMR and also has a shorter range scope.

The Covenant Carbine fires single rounds that are moderately powerful but the scope has the shortest range of all the precision rifles. However, it can be fired quite rapidly by tapping the trigger.

The Promethean Light Rifle is the most powerful of all of the precision rifles, particularly against Covenant enemies. It has a scope about equivalent to that of the Battle Rifle, but has a fairly slow rate of fire and also a slow reload speed.

There's this kind of balance across every weapon set. There's no one race that has the best weapons across the board, and there's no one "God Weapon" that is unbeatable.

[megladon8]

I don't know if it's that I have been spoiled by the aural awesomeness of "Halo 4", but "Black Ops 2" has terrible sound.

However, the after just a few levels in the campaign it seems to be a pretty big step forward in the franchise. The graphics do look dated (again, maybe this is accentuated by the fact that I'm playing it right out of "Halo 4", which may be the best looking game on the 360), and the core shooting is identical, but they've made some interesting little modifications.

Perhaps the most intriguing addition is "Strike Force" missions, where you command a whole squadron, plus turrets and a Claw (a little mini-mech). They're basically siege missions, but they're VERY strategic - you can control every unit in the squad, and do it either individually or in groups. You do all of this through an overhead view similar to an RTS game, but then you can also zoom into the view of any unit and take control of them FPS style (whether it be a soldier, a turret or the Claw tank).

I am also REALLY digging the franchise's first forray into all-out futuristic sci-fi territory.

[Morris Schæffer]

Just trekking over vast expanses in RDR certainly has its charms, but I'm more the kind of guy who wants something in return gameplay-wise. In Shadow of the Colossus, I couldn't wait to get to the next colossus because I knew the environment wouldn't yield anything interesting. Same with GTA V's mount Chiliad. It's great that you've got an entire mountain range to explore, and I will do so for sure, but I'm hoping there'll be things to discover besides the wildlife.

[megladon8]

Just trekking over vast expanses in RDR certainly has its charms, but I'm more the kind of guy who wants something in return gameplay-wise. In Shadow of the Colossus, I couldn't wait to get to the next colossus because I knew the environment wouldn't yield anything interesting. Same with GTA V's mount Chiliad. It's great that you've got an entire mountain range to explore, and I will do so for sure, but I'm hoping there'll be things to discover besides the wildlife.

This is part of why I ended up stopping with "Just Cause 2" (as opposed to putting in like 100+ hours as I did with "Skyrim").

Blowing stuff up was a lot of fun...but after 30 hours of it, I started to find it a bit tedious, especially since there really wasn't anything new to find. The same cookie cutter bases and soldiers strewn across the map - no new vehicles or weapons to unlock or master, no "skills" or modifiers. Just keep blowing stuff up, that's all the game has to give you after the story is complete.

I mean, I had an absolute blast with it (not every game captures my attention for more than 30 hours), but I didn't have that drive to "complete" it like I do with some other games.

[Morris Schæffer]

I can definitely understand that Meg. I put 114 hours into Just Cause 2, I've never played a game for that long, not even close. But I always felt a surge of excitement, a feeling that something unexpected could happen, that I'd encounter a base a little different from the others. And I was mesmerized by every single one of its 4,568,951 explosions. :lol:

[Dukefrukem]

I'm officially playing through every Halo so I can combat Meg's utopian experience.

[megladon8]

I'm officially playing through every Halo so I can combat Meg's utopian experience.

'Cause that's not trolling!

[Dukefrukem]

"The frame-rate variance is such that the PS3 game feels generally smoother, while the 360 release feels like an entirely different game in the more demanding levels. Bearing in mind the commonalities in hardware design between Wii U and Xbox 360, we can't help but feel somewhat disappointed that Black Ops 2 under-performs so noticeably."

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/di...wii-u-face-off

[D_Davis]

Seriously Duke, if you're going to spend the next few years pointing out every little flaw in the Wii U, I'm going to put you on my ignore list.

This isn't Gamefaqs.

[Morris Schæffer]

Seriously Duke, if you're going to spend the next few years pointing out every little flaw in the Wii U, I'm going to put you on my ignore list.

This isn't Gamefaqs.

It's an interesting article. Why shouldn't a new platform be scrutinized closely? Obviously, it doesn't have to be a dealbreaker, and it may very well have to do with lack of coding experience with a new platform, but these kinds of analyses always pop up with the release of new hardware. I remember competing Nvidia and ATI cars going up against each other in the past and the articles were choc full of graphs and figures. If eurogamer posted the article, and they're not Gamefaqs either, then why can't Duke?

[megladon8]

It's an interesting article. Why shouldn't a new platform be scrutinized closely? Obviously, it doesn't have to be a dealbreaker, and it may very well have to do with lack of coding experience with a new platform, but these kinds of analyses always pop up with the release of new hardware. I remember competing Nvidia and ATI cars going up against each other in the past and the articles were choc full of graphs and figures. If eurogamer posted the article, and they're not Gamefaqs either, then why can't Duke?

It's because Duke is posting this stuff in a "in yo face! Look who's right!" way after the argument a few days ago.

It's the intent.

[Dukefrukem]

Seriously Duke, if you're going to spend the next few years pointing out every little flaw in the Wii U, I'm going to put you on my ignore list.

This isn't Gamefaqs.

I'm just backing up my post with facts to prove I'm not pulling them out of the thin air. You Meg and EWO all accuse me of being a fanboy but I'm just reporting on what I read.

You even said it yourself:

I think discussing the technical merits of those things is valid. So long as don't devolve to Gamefaqs-level system wars crap.

This is a valid review of the WiiU. I didn't even address it to you and I don't even know what goes on over at GameFaqs but if it's anything like my post of an excerpt of a review, it must be a nice place to discuss games.

[Dukefrukem]

It's because Duke is posting this stuff in a "in yo face! Look who's right!" way after the argument a few days ago.

It's the intent.

You can take it however you want, the fact remains, it's an unbiased review of the system. Nothing more, nothing less.

[Ezee E]

No comments were listed to say, "In your face."

I'm curious why Duke spends a lot of time looking up these reviews, but it certainly isn't anything beyond posting excerpts from movie critics and their early opinions of a movie.