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[inm8num2]

Casting. Same thing with movies and TV. You replace Walter White with anyone other than Bryan Cranston and I don't think it's nearly as good. You replace Jon Hamm in Mad Men with a overweight bald guy and the same thing happens.

The writing in those shows is a *little* better than in games, though.

While most forms of entertainment depend on viewer identification with characters, usually through visual methods, they have really strong writing behind them. But for most games, the identification with a cute young girl or a pretty young lady seems to be the sole defining aspect of the relationship, and the story goes from there.

And quite frankly, that's all it takes. I can't count the number of times where a reviewer says, "You will genuinely care about ____." They don't have a reason for it, though, and when you play these games it's clear that the relationship to these characters depends almost exclusively on shallow features.

So the comparison to BB or MM doesn't work because those characters are far more nuanced, complex, and developed than practically anything in a game.

 

[peanutbutterlatte]

There is a very large group of gamers who only dust off their PS3 for the big "event" titles like GTA V. And they do annoy me. Diversify you dumb fucker. There is more outside of Rockstar's supposed artistry.

 

[Nzyme32]

Consoles will become PCs to compete with Apple and Google as they move towards merging with the lounge and eat away at the consoles' market along with Steam Machines that gained notoriety from attracting customers with VR.

Following years involve merging with PC and Mobile functionality, but quantum computing becomes a thing and the world advances at a geometric rate.

Skynet is born.

World ends.

No Shenmue 3

 

[xn0]

I enjoyed Metal Gear Rising Revengeance more than any other game I played this year.

 

[Frolow]

I cannot stand Gone Home. I don't understand why it is as hyped up as it is.

/v/ shares the same opinion if that's any consolation.

 

[Unparalleled_Mediocrity]

I never finished Half Life 2 cos I got bored. It actually saddens me cos I can't get on all that great HL3 hype/banter. It's weird cos I love most video games I play, including older games that haven't aged well. One day I'll try again

 

[Hyperactivity]

Naughty Dog sucks these days and Uncharted is overrated while TLOU isn't for me.

They screwed up Jak. They aren't making Crash

I find it hilarious that they once thought story driven games were dumb.

LBP's jumping is fine for me.

Portal is Valve's god tier franchise, not Half-Life

The 3dsXL is quickly becoming one of the best consoles of all time.

With a few exceptions, Western developers typically don't know how to have awesome and non-generic music in their games.

Oh, here's a weird. not really controversial thing. Nintendo is like your family, they drive you insane but you can't help loving them

 

[Fallout-with-swords]

Mass Effect 2 is way overrated, choice carry over from the first one was not as spectacular as everyone made it out to be. I would compare it to TWD dead in someways. Just replacing characters that appear for a scene or two, or adding a few lines of dialog here and there. It was neat but the amount of hype in gathered for ME3 it wasn't a big surprise that people hated the ending, partly because of how little it took into account your choices from the past game. Also the real time cut scenes are janky/ framey as heck and the combat was nothing to write home about. Decent story, really good characters.

EDIT: And GTA IV was awesome, minus optional friend missions, way, way better story that V.

 

[shackdaddy836]

Oh, I have a couple controversial thoughts!

- I think Sony fans hype their games/hardware up way too much. I always get disappointed when I finally get around to playing their games. I see this a little bit with fans from other companies but it's mostly Sony fans that do it.

- PSN is a rip-off for me. Almost non of the free games available are any fun and you only keep them if you keep paying for PSN. It's better than XBL, but it's still complete crap.

- PS4 is a good console, but it's not perfect. That seems to be controversial on the internet for some reason...

- 3DS is way over-rated imo. I had/have way more fun playing the previous handhelds.

- Nintendo needs to get their shit together ASAP. I like Nintendo, but it pisses me off how incompetent they are (this is probably not that controversial)...

- MS needs to get out of gaming. They have done more damage than good.

- I really don't like most gamers. Most of them I talk to are creepy/arrogant dweebs that act smart but are dumb as dirt. I know stereotyping is bad but its hard not to when so many I interact with are like this. It also doesn't help that gamers are so immature too.

 

[Salih]

Naughty Dog make decent, ok-ish games. (based on Uncharted 1-3, The Last of Us)

Indie games suck 9 out of 10 times. They're not better than any other shitty game on mobile/smart phones.

Shadow of the Collosus is one of the most frustrating games i have ever played. ICO is just utter crap.

Zelda II is a great game.

I hate the gamecube controller.

Quality-wise Wii has a better game library than Xbox 360 or PS3.

Mass Effect 3 was an incredible game, great ending and Kai Leng was a cool character.

Metroid: Other M was fantastic and i liked the presentation of Samus.

I enjoyed Metal Gear Rising Revengeance more than any other game I played this year.

Nothing wrong with that.

 

[cartoon_soldier]

Steam is a POS. Allow me to buy games and then play them without using Steam.

 

[speculawyer]

Nintendo needs to throw in the towel and release their IP on the PS4 and XBone.

 

[Jersh]

I hated Bioshock Infinite. The gunplay was tedious, the story was riddled with plotholes, and Ken Levine lied about 1999 mode.
I think Arkham Asylum is a much better game than Arkham City.
Braid, Fez, and Gone Home are all shitty games to me.
Basically any game that tries to force emotion or a twist is awful to me.
My favorite Final Fantasy is FFX.

 

[KillerIsJed]

Halo 4 was a good game till MLG ruined it, as they do many games. The guns felt balanced, the multiplayer was fun and there was innovation. Was it the old Halo we know and loved? Not 100%, because change is good. They slipped in the best parts of some other games and it WORKED.

But of course the Battle Rifle wasn't OP and it didn't play exactly like old Halos, so the vocal minority cried and cried till they got their way and I hate the multiplayer now.

 

[imBask]

the MGS franchise is made of terrible gameplay mixed with cringeworthy cheesy storytelling.

 

[Pryce]

The writing in those shows is a *little* better than in games, though.

While most forms of entertainment depend on viewer identification with characters, usually through visual methods, they have really strong writing behind them. But for most games, the identification with a cute young girl or a pretty young lady seems to be the sole defining aspect of the relationship, and the story goes from there.

And quite frankly, that's all it takes. I can't count the number of times where a reviewer says, "You will genuinely care about ____." They don't have a reason for it, though, and when you play these games it's clear that the relationship to these characters depends almost exclusively on shallow features.

So the comparison to BB or MM doesn't work because those characters are far more nuanced, complex, and developed than practically anything in a game.

Well, yeah. I was saying that talking about removing Clem and talking about the writing after, the games main character, isn't very fair IMO.

 

[eighty(one)]

I actually really enjoy Call of Duty Black Ops Declassified on PSVita. The multiplayer is fun and the game surely feels authentically CoD in the gameplay department. It's missing the giant set pieces and that's fine with me.

I think Super Mario 3D World is inferior to Super Mario 3D Land. It looks better for sure, however, I'd rather wished Nintendo kept continuity and released the game (in some form) to 3DS instead. The game makes the platforming a lot more frustrating, because of the stereoscopic 3D being omitted from 3D World. It feels less special because of that omission.

I couldn't get into Dark Souls wholly. The game is atmospheric and worthy of praise; yet, far to difficult and I don't game for masochism.

3DS is becoming one of my favorite systems ever created: I love the stereoscopic 3D effect in gaming.

WiiU has been a vast disappointment. I far enjoy my Vita over Nintendo's home console, as of right now. I got a WiiU for my birthday in April and have most major games for it (I don't understand praise of the system at this point).

 

[inm8num2]

Well, yeah. I was saying that talking about removing Clem and talking about the writing after, the games main character, isn't very fair IMO.

You've completely missed the point.

I didn't say remove Clem. I said replace her with a fat ugly kid. Keep everything the same but change her physical appearance. Guaranteed that players don't care as much about her. It's a lazy method designers use to appeal to "feelz" and make the writing seem better than it is.

Bioshock Infinite and TLOU also do this - pair the hero with a pretty girl/woman, so that you "care" (or think you care) about the character. PoP 2008 also did this.

 

[N4Us]

Capcom probably had legitimately good reasons for cancelling MML3 and MMU, even if they did give weird public excuses about it.

 

[abadguy]

I find SCE to be extremely overrated. Sony's first party is a lot better than it was in the PS1 and early PS2 days. They don't have any devs quite as shitty as say "989 studios" anymore,( boy did they ever fuck up the Twisted Metal franchise) but people talk the first party up like they are on the level of Sega in it's heyday or something.

The way i see their first party is:
One mediocre dev that makes a pretty to look at but ultimately mediocre FPS, a few devs that are fairly decent and Naughty Dog. 90% of the must have exclusives from Sony during the PS1 and 2 days were from 3rd parties, when these former exclusives started going multiplat is when Sony fans started really talking up the first party efforts, for obvious reasons.

When it comes to having an amazing first party stable, that put out great games and took actual risks with IPS, to this day no one has topped the old Sega and i doubt they ever will. They just had both the arcades and home consoles with games that were truly like nothing the competitors were putting out. Not to mention weird/experimental shit too, even when they made games with familiar gameplay they would their spin on it and make it their own. It truly sucks to see them as they are now. They still put out a few good titles but it's nothing like they used to be.

 

[gbrewski]

I'm completely unable to get into Persona 3 or 4, even though I'm a fan of JRPGs. I find the characters boring and way too anime-esque, and I hate that every woman in the game just falls in love with you and the dating sim elements are so easy and uninteresting. Building social links feels like a complete chore to me, and none of the events feel like payoffs of any kind because they're all such generic anime fare. Also, I find the battle system extremely boring and think the extra turn system is completely broken. Oh, and the dungeons suck.

...I think I might be alone in this opinion

I hated Bioshock Infinite. The gunplay was tedious, the story was riddled with plotholes, and Ken Levine lied about 1999 mode.

I agree.

 

[Hyperactivity]

I hate the gamecube controller.

Quality-wise Wii has a better game library than Xbox 360 or PS3.

I always feel as though people may consider this ridiculous, but aside from a couple of jrpgs, of which the majority are on the DS and Xenoblade is on the Wii, I don't feel as though I missed much.
Let's see
UMvC3
RDR Fallout (PC though)
Maybe original Bioshock
Mirrors Edge
Halo

probably a few others

I wouldn't have missed Xenoblade, Galaxy (2), DKCR, Okami (in ps3), Smash, the Gamecube library, for my life

 

[Assassin5twenty]

Borderlands is good,but an over-rated piece of shit.I also want to point out Gearbox is a shitty developer.

Ps:All the next-gen consoles are ass,and this was the worst jump to a new gen in gaming history.

 

[JSoup]

I hate the gamecube controller.

This. Just could never get used to that thing.

On the other hand, I love the N64 controller.

 

[spirity]

Care to explain what makes the magic system special?

Well, I'll take one facet of combat - mob splitting. In order to control the pulls, you need to pull singles. There's a number of techniques you learn that exploit the mechanics of aggro. One of them is feign death pulling, and I'll use the Necromancer class as an example

1) You cast Snare, a movement slowing spell that also has a DOT component on your target
2) Its in a pack, so it brings its friends and they charge at you
3) Just as they reach you, you cast Feign Death and fall to the ground
4) They all stop, turn around and walk back to their spawn point and 'reset' (they drop aggro)
5) The mob you hit with Snare is far enough from its spawn point (remember its movement speed has been halved so its about halfway between you and the other mobs now) so as not to chain aggro the other mobs, and when you stand up again, it continues on towards you, because that DOT component was still ticking preventing him from resetting

Thats it, you've separated the mob you want from the pack, and can take it out safely. You then rinse and repeat with the remaining mobs.

So thats one technique used in pulling - feign death. Another one is pet pulling, where you summon a low level pet, send him into the pack of mobs and immediately call him back to you after he hits the mob you want. The pack won't come after you as long as you pull the pet away before its killed (you need to buff your pet so it will survive) and as long as the pet is of a low enough level, that way it won't aggro the other mobs. But, the mob your pet hit will follow your pet back - to you. Again, you've pulled the mob away from the pack and you finish it, then rinse and repeat.

There are other techniques and tricks dealing with combat, navigation, and general engine mechanics that were never an intended part of the games design, such as sit aggro, body pulling, fear kiting, quadding etc. You could very nearly write a book on EQ's emergent gameplay, and there was a surprising amount of depth to EQ that you only got to experience once you've been playing it for a while. I don't think the devs were ever really happy about a lot of it - some of the really exploitative stuff would land you a ban. But most of it was really just about being resourceful, at least that was my view, and I didn't see it as cheating. EQ was very time intensive, and a lot of these tricks came about by trying to save time.

 

[Mauricio_Magus]

Nintendo needs to throw in the towel and release their IP on the PS4 and XBone.

They'd just go handheld only before that.

 

[Assassin5twenty]

Nintendo needs to throw in the towel and release their IP on the PS4 and XBone.

I dont understand this thinking when they sell millions on their own hardware.This will never happen.One shitty console isnt going to do damage.

 

[Yagharek]

Naughty dog make bland games. Linear shooters, insipid stories, glitchy level geometry and platform jumping with training wheels on.

 

[spirity]

Borderlands is good,but an over-rated piece of shit

so which is it

 

[Assassin5twenty]

so which is it

It's an ok game,but the praise it gets makes it an overrated piece of shit.It's like Transformers winning an Oscar.It's good for what it is,but it's not Oscar worthy.

 

[Scrabble]

I don't consider people who only play Bro shooters and the occasional AAAA game like Halo, or GTAV to be gamers. IMO they should be labeled as people who play COD, or people who play GTAV. I don't know why, but this sudden realization really irritated me today. To give another example is like someone watching Tranformers and claiming to be film buffs.

Anyone feel the same way? Thinking back on the past decade I've met quite a few people who asked me what were my hobbies. When I responded that I played videogames, a lot of these people whether be coworkers, classmates, etc, would respond "hey I also 'love' videogames!" I then would hear how much hours they had played COD or Halo, and if I was into them. When these people heard me say that I didn't play those games, I was given that same look you were given in high school when people called you a nerd.

There are so many wonderful games in all platforms, that I actually find it disrespecting to call yourself a gamer, when you have such a limited taste, and/or are to afraid to go beyond your safe bets.

Don't get me wrong. I don't expect everyone to go play The Witcher, Dark Souls, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. but there are too many good games that I firmly believe have something great to say, experience, and that everyone should at least try. All I know is that Sports games, and Bro shooters are not it.

/rant

No, and it's this exclusionary "us vs them" mentality that so many "gamers" seem to have that drive me crazy. Your opinion or tastes aren't any better than anyone else's just because you've played a niche title that only you in your social circle are aware of.

I bet you also think your cool shit because you play the Witcher, while all those other peasants are too busy with their mainstream Mass Effect right?

 

[kubricks]

I never finished Half Life 2 cos I got bored. It actually saddens me cos I can't get on all that great HL3 hype/banter. It's weird cos I love most video games I play, including older games that haven't aged well. One day I'll try again

I dragged myself through HL2 to the end and still regret the time I spent on it.
The gunplay feels awful in every way (all the gun felt shit to use, including the gravity gun), story unengaging and unnecessarily complicated. HL1, even the expansion like OF, was a much better experience.

Needless to say I am not at all hype for the HL3.

 

[Glass Shark]

BioShock Infinite became a terrible game the moment you shot the first bullet.

 

[kubricks]

NSMB killed the 2D Mario franchise. I hate just about everything about it....

 

[RM8]

NSMB killed the 2D Mario franchise. I hate just about everything about it....

I don't think this is too controversial.

On the other hand, I think NSMB2 is my favorite 2D Mario ever. That's controversial even among people who like NSMB games

 

[TC McQueen]

Most indie games don't interest me because they're 2D, sidescrolling, retro styled, and/or not about anything I care about.

 

[Ellite25]

The Halo series isn't very good.

 

[boredandlazy]

Borderlands is good,but an over-rated piece of shit.I also want to point out Gearbox is a shitty developer.

Ps:All the next-gen consoles are ass,and this was the worst jump to a new gen in gaming history.

Don't come back.

 

[SPDIF]

No, and it's this exclusionary "us vs them" mentality that so many "gamers" seem to have that drive me crazy. Your opinion or tastes aren't any better than anyone else's just because you've played a niche title that only you in your social circle are aware of.

.

 

[Gusto]

Smash bros is for kids in their mid 20s that suck at real fighters.

 

[peanutbutterlatte]

Smash bros is for kids in their mid 20s that suck at real fighters.

Real fighters are for kids that wasted their college money on arcades and hold the false belief there's any skill whatsoever in button bashers.

 

[RM8]

I play SSB and SSFIV, KOF *shrugs*

Ps:All the next-gen consoles are ass,and this was the worst jump to a new gen in gaming history.

I agree with this. I had never been this non-hyped for a new generation of consoles. Just wait and see, these launch-window games will be relegated to launch goggles material in no time.

 

[TomShoe]

I never buy indie games even though I talk about them so much because I'm a fan of the PS4.

Smash Bros. and Mario Kart 8 are the only games worth buying a Wii U for.

 

[qq more]

i like video games and the diversity of them (｡◕‿◕&#65377

 

[kubricks]

I don't think this is too controversial.

Is it not?
I really have a problem on the "zoom-in" and general style of assets.... the gameplay feels like a huge torn down from SM3/SMW, I also hate the wall jumping, and the star coin collection system.

And where is the sense of wonder? The world felt so generic and confined.

 

[rbenchley]

I hate isometric RPGs. I hate the fixed camera angles. I hate the fact that characters on screen are the size of postage stamps. When I play RPGs, i want them to be first person or third person with a behind the shoulder camera, so I can experience some immersion. I want to be able to directly control my characters with WASD or a controller, instead of click to move with a mouse. I'm really glad that there's a wave of Kickstarted isometric RPGs coming out for underserved fans, but they do nothing for me personally.

 

[qq more]

Is it not?
I really have a problem on the "zoom-in" and general style of assets.... the gameplay feels like a huge torn down from SM3/SMW, I also hate the wall jumping, and the star coin collection system.

And where is the sense of wonder? The world felt so generic and confined.

NSMB gets a lot of hate and love.

To be honest, I feel neutral towards the series, I enjoy them but I feel they have overstayed their welcome and we seriously need creative 2D Marios again. I especially agree that the worlds are so dang generic, even if the level design were well built in general.

 

[jcracken]

A couple more because why not.

1. Bioshock Infinite was a great game despite its awful combat.

2. Nintendo IPs outside of Mario and maybe Pokemon are pretty worthless to the mainstream.

3. Halo 4 was pretty amazing.

4. Mouse and Keyboard are terrible gaming controls for anything except games where you want insane amounts of precision, and any game that you want that in misses the point and probably isn't a fun game.

5. People are hypocritical for bashing the Xbox One into infinity for not only caring about games and nothing else and then discount the fact that the X1 has more and better games than PS4.

6. What little I've played of Zoo Tycoon makes me want to play more.

7. Dishonored had amazing gameplay.

8. I'm excited for Thief.

9. The first Xbox was the most underrated console there is. People bitch about consoles being weak, and they are, but the OG Xbox was literally a PC in a box and was the most innovative and groundbreaking console ever, from the online functionality to good exclusives to having some of the best controllers ever to being able to play your own music while playing games before anybody thought of doing that.

10. The 360 was a step down from the OG Xbox.

11. Activision is a worse company than EA.

12. Both next gen consoles are fucked. They have laptop level CPU's and midrange GPU's and plan to last 10 years. APU's are great in some instances but not in gaming consoles.

13. I feel that Steam OS could've been groundbreaking if they had launched it two or three years ago when everybody wanted next gen but weren't getting it.

14. Watch_Dogs is starting to look boring to me.

15. I don't get the hype behind Destiny, it looks kind of boring after a while.

16. MMOs are broken by design.

 

[Levyne]

The PS1 Final Fantasy games are some of the least entertaining for me. I'd rather play a Snes or Ps2 entry instead.

 

[Carpe Diem]

all nintendo games basically with 2k basketball and pro evolution soccer games fifa is crap it only looks pretty but is a load of crap when it comes to gameplay