"The world is woven so intricately!"
No, it's not. The lack of map allowed the developers to lazily string a series of environments together with doors that seemingly act as portals to distant parts of the game. It's a gameplay convenience, but completely jarring in its design.
With all the DLC installed, ME3 is actually one of the best games of the generation.
thats the problem with the game industry these days IP's never die
Dark Souls sucks.
"The world is woven so intricately!"
No, it's not. The lack of map allowed the developers to lazily string a series of environments together with doors that seemingly act as portals to distant parts of the game. It's a gameplay convenience, but completely jarring in its design.
"The story is what you make of it!"
You're absolutely right. That's mostly due to the fact that the game makes no effort to convey a narrative to you outside of its cryptic opening. That would be fine, but there's zero environmental storytelling going on either. Think of games like Half Life, BioShock, and Shadow of the Colossus. Those games manage to tell a story without cutscenes or strings of dialogue. Dark Souls has nothing interesting to say about its world other than its bloody and mean. There's nothing provoking there, plenty of games go for a gritty game environment, and have more to say about them. Not every game needs a concrete narrative, but when people hail the game for its interpretative tale, I have to roll my eyes.
"The gameplay! Incredible!"
Yeah, well, it's really difficult. You really have to brave the next steps into the wild, and never drop your guard. The survival aspects of the game are its biggest accomplishments. People love to beat the game and say how easy it is, they get that warm, 16-bit pat on the back like in the good old days. Really, though, there's a lot of fundamental issues with the gameplay that go unmentioned. The lock-on is poor, resulting in frustration in battles with more than two enemies, or an unfair demise. The menus are a total cipher, and doing simple comparisons of weapons takes more time than it should. This was OK in Demon's Souls, but even after a second crack the developers did nothing to clean up their menus. Additionally, the magic system is ineffective for the early portions of the game. The means of using that magic is less fun than just bashing away at an enemy, and many players will probably leave casting by the wayside as a result.
"GAF's GOTG!"
Oh, please. If this was a mainsteam release from Blizzard (or something like that) we'd be screaming about the half-assed writing, framerate issues, busted physics engine, and scattered clunky design choices.
Yeah. I mean, there's a lot to like, but I strongly feel the game has a lot of issues.
I have not read such a wrong statement on this board for a while.The lack of map allowed the developers to lazily string a series of environments together with doors that seemingly act as portals to distant parts of the game.
If I showed a Mario fan a screen cap from Bom-Om Battlefield he could label it. If I pointed to Marble Gardens, a Sonic 3 fan could label that, too. That's not an iconic design choice, those are video game levels.Only thing I can say here is Dark Souls is one of the few games where a person can identify exactly where something is in the game world, how to get there, and grok the layout by looking at a random screenshot from almost anywhere in the game.
That's why the design is praised, for hand-crafted locations that are iconic and comprehensible. I don't think that can be termed lazy. Its world is supposed to be one giant dungeon anyway, and not something like Skyrim where a few recognizable locals are spread across miles of field or forest.
*Buzzer sound*ummmm okay
Cutscenes in first person are still cutscenes and all those audio logs are dialogue
Ah, yes. And here come the entitled ones who have beaten the game. Another trigger that taints the perceived quality. I've spent some good time with the game. I made it to the two fat bosses, and have watched my buddy beat the rest of the game, including the expansion area. I have a fair sample.Sounds like someone got stuck in Undead Burg. It's called Prepare to Die Edition for a reason, bitch.
Xbox Live contributed to a step backwards in online gaming. People often write this off when I say it with the stupid line "Well it was much better than PSN!", yeah, but it being better than Sony's incoherent, underdeveloped and messy approach doesn't make my statement invalid.
Microsoft emphasise control over the network, they don't afford developers much freedom and thus we see a tightly controlled (mostly) peer to peer system that offers an experience worse than what I was having a decade ago on PC.
The Xbox 360 being the lead platform for many games, and the Xbox 360 and PS3 being many people's first real online gaming experience has conditioned people's expectations for games in such a way that they don't see many current online games as restrictive and a lesser experience. People don't expect control and customisation of their online gaming experience, they don't expect persistent communities around servers, instead they're used to this insular experience of jumping in and out of matches with a group of friends.
Something simple like being able to always visit certain servers set up by certain communities who want to play in a certain way really enhances the online experience and it keeps people playing for a longer time.
Xbox Live has had successes, but none of them in actual online gameplay. They were in the things around online gameplay. I credit Microsoft for that, but that isn't even the main part of online gaming.
I didn't bold Colossus*Buzzer sound*
The mise en scene of BioShock and Colossus tell stories by simply looking. For instance, a man passed out with bottles all around him. Or, the barren landscape suggesting a force is causing the soil to be malnourished.
FF VIII is the best FF.
If I showed a Mario fan a screen cap from Bom-Om Battlefield he could label it. If I pointed to Marble Gardens, a Sonic 3 fan could label that, too. That's not an iconic design choice, those are video game levels.
*Buzzer sound*
The mise en scene of BioShock and Colossus tell stories by simply looking. For instance, a man passed out with bottles all around him. Or, the barren landscape suggesting a force is causing the soil to be malnourished.
Ah, yes. And here come the entitled ones who have beaten the game. Another trigger that taints the perceived quality. I've spent some good time with the game. I made it to the two fat bosses, and have watched my buddy beat the rest of the game, including the expansion area. I have a fair sample.
I made it to the two fat bosses, and have watched my buddy beat the rest of the game, including the expansion area. I have a fair sample.
Dark Souls does none of that. Demon's Souls had some interesting things going for it. The scrawny undead were in the mines, slaving away, suggesting a kind of classe system.I didn't bold Colossus
And Dark Souls does all that too, so.
Keep your 'tude on the back burner. No need for it.So you made it to the biggest challenge in the game, realized you don't have the skill to beat it, get your buddy to beat it for you and then go complain about the game on GAF because it's the games fault, not yours. Have you tried The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim by chance?
I was a little late to the game, so the PvP community had really moved ahead of me. Backstabbing galore, and what not. Demon's Souls I caught a little earlier and had some good duels on. I never did tourny's or anything like that.I'm curious how you feel about the online component in Dark Souls.
So you made it to the biggest challenge in the game, realized you don't have the skill to beat it, get your buddy to beat it for you and then go complain about the game on GAF because it's the games fault, not yours. Have you tried The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim by chance?
Dark Souls sucks.
"The world is woven so intricately!"
No, it's not. The lack of map allowed the developers to lazily string a series of environments together with doors that seemingly act as portals to distant parts of the game. It's a gameplay convenience, but completely jarring in its design.
"The story is what you make of it!"
You're absolutely right. That's mostly due to the fact that the game makes no effort to convey a narrative to you outside of its cryptic opening. That would be fine, but there's zero environmental storytelling going on either. Think of games like Half Life, BioShock, and Shadow of the Colossus. Those games manage to tell a story without cutscenes or strings of dialogue. Dark Souls has nothing interesting to say about its world other than its bloody and mean. There's nothing provoking there, plenty of games go for a gritty game environment, and have more to say about them. Not every game needs a concrete narrative, but when people hail the game for its interpretative tale, I have to roll my eyes.
"The gameplay! Incredible!"
Yeah, well, it's really difficult. You really have to brave the next steps into the wild, and never drop your guard. The survival aspects of the game are its biggest accomplishments. People love to beat the game and say how easy it is, they get that warm, 16-bit pat on the back like in the good old days. Really, though, there's a lot of fundamental issues with the gameplay that go unmentioned. The lock-on is poor, resulting in frustration in battles with more than two enemies, or an unfair demise. The menus are a total cipher, and doing simple comparisons of weapons takes more time than it should. This was OK in Demon's Souls, but even after a second crack the developers did nothing to clean up their menus. Additionally, the magic system is ineffective for the early portions of the game. The means of using that magic is less fun than just bashing away at an enemy, and many players will probably leave casting by the wayside as a result.
"GAF's GOTG!"
Oh, please. If this was a mainsteam release from Blizzard (or something like that) we'd be screaming about the half-assed writing, framerate issues, busted physics engine, and scattered clunky design choices.
Yeah. I mean, there's a lot to like, but I strongly feel the game has a lot of issues.
Yeah, there is a whole lot that's great about the game. The enemy design (especially In Demon's) is ridiculously imposing and scary. The fundamental combat feels great, too. I just feel that there are problems never brought to discourse.Nice to see someone else not blinded by the 'hardcorzOMGsuperhardgamesistheBestest' view of an average game with some great ideas. I've finished both Souls games, and don't disagree with any of this. It is a 7.5 game. A good game at best. An OK one at worst.
People just seem to really love that it doesn't hold the players hand, and that is cool, partly. It doesn't excuse that the game is shallow as fuck though, and broken in design.
So you made it to the biggest challenge in the game, realized you don't have the skill to beat it, get your buddy to beat it for you and then go complain about the game on GAF because it's the games fault, not yours. Have you tried The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim by chance?
Dark Souls sucks.
"The world is woven so intricately!"
No, it's not. The lack of map allowed the developers to lazily string a series of environments together with doors that seemingly act as portals to distant parts of the game. It's a gameplay convenience, but completely jarring in its design.
"The story is what you make of it!"
You're absolutely right. That's mostly due to the fact that the game makes no effort to convey a narrative to you outside of its cryptic opening. That would be fine, but there's zero environmental storytelling going on either. Think of games like Half Life, BioShock, and Shadow of the Colossus. Those games manage to tell a story without cutscenes or strings of dialogue. Dark Souls has nothing interesting to say about its world other than its bloody and mean. There's nothing provoking there, plenty of games go for a gritty game environment, and have more to say about them. Not every game needs a concrete narrative, but when people hail the game for its interpretative tale, I have to roll my eyes.
"The gameplay! Incredible!"
Yeah, well, it's really difficult. You really have to brave the next steps into the wild, and never drop your guard. The survival aspects of the game are its biggest accomplishments. People love to beat the game and say how easy it is, they get that warm, 16-bit pat on the back like in the good old days. Really, though, there's a lot of fundamental issues with the gameplay that go unmentioned. The lock-on is poor, resulting in frustration in battles with more than two enemies, or an unfair demise. The menus are a total cipher, and doing simple comparisons of weapons takes more time than it should. This was OK in Demon's Souls, but even after a second crack the developers did nothing to clean up their menus. Additionally, the magic system is ineffective for the early portions of the game. The means of using that magic is less fun than just bashing away at an enemy, and many players will probably leave casting by the wayside as a result.
"GAF's GOTG!"
Oh, please. If this was a mainsteam release from Blizzard (or something like that) we'd be screaming about the half-assed writing, framerate issues, busted physics engine, and scattered clunky design choices.
Yeah. I mean, there's a lot to like, but I strongly feel the game has a lot of issues.
I think Snubbull is a very good and cute Pokemon design.
Oblivion had the best quests of any Elder Scrolls game.
I don't think that's an opinion though, I think that's a FACT put on the down low.
Thanks for making me puke all over my keyboard.Dark Souls sucks.
"The world is woven so intricately!"
No, it's not. The lack of map allowed the developers to lazily string a series of environments together with doors that seemingly act as portals to distant parts of the game. It's a gameplay convenience, but completely jarring in its design.
"The story is what you make of it!"
You're absolutely right. That's mostly due to the fact that the game makes no effort to convey a narrative to you outside of its cryptic opening. That would be fine, but there's zero environmental storytelling going on either. Think of games like Half Life, BioShock, and Shadow of the Colossus. Those games manage to tell a story without cutscenes or strings of dialogue. Dark Souls has nothing interesting to say about its world other than its bloody and mean. There's nothing provoking there, plenty of games go for a gritty game environment, and have more to say about them. Not every game needs a concrete narrative, but when people hail the game for its interpretative tale, I have to roll my eyes.
"The gameplay! Incredible!"
Yeah, well, it's really difficult. You really have to brave the next steps into the wild, and never drop your guard. The survival aspects of the game are its biggest accomplishments. People love to beat the game and say how easy it is, they get that warm, 16-bit pat on the back like in the good old days. Really, though, there's a lot of fundamental issues with the gameplay that go unmentioned. The lock-on is poor, resulting in frustration in battles with more than two enemies, or an unfair demise. The menus are a total cipher, and doing simple comparisons of weapons takes more time than it should. This was OK in Demon's Souls, but even after a second crack the developers did nothing to clean up their menus. Additionally, the magic system is ineffective for the early portions of the game. The means of using that magic is less fun than just bashing away at an enemy, and many players will probably leave casting by the wayside as a result.
"GAF's GOTG!"
Oh, please. If this was a mainsteam release from Blizzard (or something like that) we'd be screaming about the half-assed writing, framerate issues, busted physics engine, and scattered clunky design choices.
Yeah. I mean, there's a lot to like, but I strongly feel the game has a lot of issues.
With all the DLC installed, ME3 is actually one of the best games of the generation.
Dark Souls sucks.
"The world is woven so intricately!"
No, it's not. The lack of map allowed the developers to lazily string a series of environments together with doors that seemingly act as portals to distant parts of the game. It's a gameplay convenience, but completely jarring in its design.
"The story is what you make of it!"
You're absolutely right. That's mostly due to the fact that the game makes no effort to convey a narrative to you outside of its cryptic opening. That would be fine, but there's zero environmental storytelling going on either. Think of games like Half Life, BioShock, and Shadow of the Colossus. Those games manage to tell a story without cutscenes or strings of dialogue. Dark Souls has nothing interesting to say about its world other than its bloody and mean. There's nothing provoking there, plenty of games go for a gritty game environment, and have more to say about them. Not every game needs a concrete narrative, but when people hail the game for its interpretative tale, I have to roll my eyes.
"The gameplay! Incredible!"
Yeah, well, it's really difficult. You really have to brave the next steps into the wild, and never drop your guard. The survival aspects of the game are its biggest accomplishments. People love to beat the game and say how easy it is, they get that warm, 16-bit pat on the back like in the good old days. Really, though, there's a lot of fundamental issues with the gameplay that go unmentioned. The lock-on is poor, resulting in frustration in battles with more than two enemies, or an unfair demise. The menus are a total cipher, and doing simple comparisons of weapons takes more time than it should. This was OK in Demon's Souls, but even after a second crack the developers did nothing to clean up their menus. Additionally, the magic system is ineffective for the early portions of the game. The means of using that magic is less fun than just bashing away at an enemy, and many players will probably leave casting by the wayside as a result.
"GAF's GOTG!"
Oh, please. If this was a mainsteam release from Blizzard (or something like that) we'd be screaming about the half-assed writing, framerate issues, busted physics engine, and scattered clunky design choices.
Yeah. I mean, there's a lot to like, but I strongly feel the game has a lot of issues.
*Bioshock Infinite is a generic call of duty shooter with a plot twist much like how KOTOR was a boring rpg with a plot twist. Also KOTOR 2 was better.
*Xenogears has an overly stupid battle system, and the actual gameplay it's self isnt that great.
*I think most indie dev games are just boring flash games with a 10 dollar price tag.
*I Thought the Silent Hill HD collection on PS3 after the patch was pretty good.
I'm glad Microsoft are adding some kind of DRM to Xbox One as i think the pre-owned market is a cancer on this industry. The only person who gains from it are the retailer. The consumer is consistently ripped off with shitty trade-in prices and that needs to stop.
I will admit that part of my stance is based on the fact that these measures won't affect me (i don't buy pre-owned, i don't rent and i don't lend games to people) but i would rather see publishers and developers get the money than GameStop or GAME or Electronics Boutique.