What games are you currently playing?

[Malacite]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

I'm reserving judgment until at least next year's E3 when we finally see the new consoles.

If Sony and MS don't step their game up, I may just take a pass - though I rarely buy new consoles right away anyhow. For now, I'm happy with my 360 and PS3 but I really could use a better gaming PC. Too many of the parts I want are still too expensive for my liking however (SSD's and the nVidia 600-series chiefly. The 700 series are going to be ridiculous if the stats I've seen hold true, but they're also not due out until 2014.)


Currently going all-out mass effect but I wanna hop back on FFXIV and BF3 soon too lol.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

Nintendo showed thier hand, I think I can imagine Sony and MS assimilating the social media element, as they already tout Wii U Controller alternatives. We've seen the next gen engines from SE and Epic. What really needs to be known are reforms and improvements to matters we're aware of now.

Live needs to be free, embrace F2P games.
PSN needed better voice chat, PS Plus more improvement.
Actually, dump PS Plus, it sucks, too. "Free games," my ass.
Compatibility - particularly for DL games - needs to be a sure thing.
Nintendo and Sony need to dump how they license and authenticate games. Make a non-bullshit process.
Third parties need to get thier dicks out of DRM and online passes.
DLC needs to stop being mostly a sham.

Prettier graphics? Sequels? Fine, whatever. I just want a reason I should game on those consoles and not PCs. Making consoles as convienient as they used to be in prior generations would be a great incentive.

[Malacite]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

Live will never be free, MS is NOT going to give up that cash cow. Plus that revenue helps pay for improvements. They should, however, goddamned remove the adds already for Gold subscribers. They really need to find a way to address host lag as well - it really can destroy the fairness in some games. Making live run better overall should be a big focus. (same goes for PSN)

PSN does need better chat similar to what XBL has. And again, I don't know about outright axing PS Plus - but they definitely need to make it more compelling (not at the expense of the avg gamer). So far EA has been the only company to impress me as far as paying for extra services goes (BF3 Premium).

Fully agree on the licensing issues. Way too much redtape to get even PS1 games up for sale.
Again, I agree F DRM. I understand why they do it, but it ultimately hurts the consumer. Just face it, shit's going to get pirated - which is all the more reason to put out quality games. iTunes & the Apple Store are proof of this.
DLC's been getting progressively better, and there are better deals coming as well (again, BF3 Premium and also Halo 4's Limited Edition). Also, Sony actually puts a fair amount of DLC bundles at discounted rates for games on PSN - something MS doesn't do at all for god only knows why.

They have occasional discounts, but never any permanent bundle offers like PSN does. Honestly, with PSN being free, no stupid points nonsense, and generally having better deals Sony really just needs to push the PR better next time around (and bring the chat/party features up to par with XBL).

I honestly don't know how much better the graphics can get from here, something IM's brought up before. They should focus more on improving the online experience as well as getting better performance out of the consoles (More Memory, Storage, Faster Read/Write times. I would love it if Sony could get an SSD into the next PS but that would probably crank up the price too much)

[Icemage]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

Graphics will only get marginally better next time around on average, I think. It takes a lot of work to make a game look good at 1080p. What really, really needs to improve are frame-rates and screen tearing, and THAT is one thing I desperately want out of the next generation of hardware. I don't care if I'm playing at 1080p if I'm still getting 20 frames per second plus screen tearing. 1080p60fps needs to be the standard, not the exception.


Icemage

[Malacite]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

Like I said, they need to improve on the other performance factors instead of just better graphics (which they almost certainly will anyway, but I sincerely doubt it'll be the kind of jump that occurred with the last gen of tech)

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

Graphics will only get marginally better next time around on average, I think. It takes a lot of work to make a game look good at 1080p. What really, really needs to improve are frame-rates and screen tearing, and THAT is one thing I desperately want out of the next generation of hardware. I don't care if I'm playing at 1080p if I'm still getting 20 frames per second plus screen tearing. 1080p60fps needs to be the standard, not the exception.


Icemage

There have been fairly few 1080p games, but I can't think of one that did have tearing. Then again, it was really just MGS4 and FFXIII I played on PS3 that had it at all. I don't think 60 FPS is everything. Nice, but not needed if a solid 30 does the job. Depends on the game.

DLC's been getting progressively better, and there are better deals coming as well (again, BF3 Premium and also Halo 4's Limited Edition).

Good DLC this gen can be counted on one hand.

I know you're going to dickride whatever DICE (or Blizzard) does, but the fact is you condemn Activision for doing the same thing you praise DICE for. EA does not do DLC well at all, period. Lair of the Shadow Broker was the best it ever got and even that wasn't worth the price of admission. DLC needs to be substantial content or completely cosmetic.

When you think about it, Nintendo has the easiest job in the world in getting DLC right. New SMB2 just needs eight worlds, then you can do DLC. That's a standard that's been set in stone for years and if Nintendo gives you like five worlds and makes you pay out for they rest they've fucked up. Galaxy started an eight world/eight secret world standard. People would notice if they backed out on the secret worlds and started doing the as paid DLC. In this case Nintendo being so traditional is their best asset.

Dawnguard for Skyrim is easily my #1 pick. I've gotten more milage out of that DLC than any other this generation. It expands the game world it exists in. Other DLC I've played often feels quite separate from the main game. Not all of its bad, but I don't think I would have paid up for New Vegas' Dead Money, Honest Hearts or Old world Blues by themselves. I certainly wouldn't have paid for DX Explosive Mission, but The Missing Link was solid.. Oblivion's Knights of the Nine was a crock, but Shivering Isles was actually pretty great. Everything for Fallout 3 seemed pretty meh.

No More Heroes Paradise? Konami took out shit from the Wii versions to sell it. Pretty fucked up. The port was pretty terrible to boot. I'd still rather play the Wii version.

That's just within the sphere if my interests and its rather hit-or-miss. Too much miss for my liking. Halo CE Anniversary doesn't even have some of that game's best maps in it on-disc or as DLC. What's the point of selling me map packs for what is supposed to be a remake?

[Malacite]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

Rockstar easily has the best record out of anyone as far as DLC goes, and I'm not defending all of EA, I was just citing 2 very good examples.

I don't know where you're getting the hypocrisy charge from either. If you're comparing CoD Elite with BF3 Premium, they aren't the same (not entirely anyway). They're similar services, but BF3 Premium gives you far more bang for the money (arguably), and doesn't arbitrarily fuck over 1 user base over the other 2 (yeah PS3 gets the DLC 1 week early, big whup - PC and PS3 owners have to wait at least 30 days for Elite thanks to Activision's deal with MS.)

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

Rockstar went from two good GTA expansions to nickel and dime with much of Red Dead Redemption sans Undead Nightmare to the Season pass. That's devolution at its finest.

If you can''t see the problem with BF3 shifting gears to a premium service six months after launch, I can't help you. But hey, let's just remember how long of a shelf life BF games have - 2 years. COD - Elite or not - gets more milage than that. Enjoy telling me how great DICE is when they shut down all that content you paid extra for to start you over with BF4.

BF4 is already outed, by the way.

[Malacite]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

What shift?

Nothing changed for normal BF players, all EA did was offer some cool new shinies and discounted DLC for anyone who wanted to pay up - what's wrong with that? You save a huge amount of money by getting premium on 5 DLC packs.

And that was a "mistake" lol - but I'm hoping we don't see BF4 until at least 2014. Even if they make a bad company 3 in to fill the gap, I'll likely skip that. BC is just weird (much as I loved BC2, I don't think I could take 1 more silly ass campaign)

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

CoD - MAP PACKS AND PREMIUM SERVICES ARE EVIL!
BF and Halo - MAP PACKS AND PREMIUM SERVICES ARE OKAY!

That's all I'm seeing here. At this point you'd be find with MS going this route, even though Halo Waypoint has and will continue to do for free what those services have done for cash.

[Nandito]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

So I'm playing Fallout 1 and I stumble upon a random encounter. A blue Police Box in the middle of nowhere. I try getting closer; it starts making a weird noise and vanishes into thin air, leaving behind a Motion Sensor - which is hilarious because I was making my way to the trading Hub to buy one.

Can this game get any more awesome?

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

I just backhanded an orc bandit chief off the top of a tower as a werewolf in Skyrim. Its a pity I didn't see where he landed, because the fall probably killed him and bandit chiefs always have decent loot.

[DakAttack]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

I'm playing DayZ. I have no fucking clue what's going on. No tutorial, no explanation; the controls are horrid and the control settings are for the base game; the HUD is uninformative and the UI is equal parts confusing and nonsense. I found a hunting knife but couldn't equip it. I found a hatchet, and was able to equip it by unequipping(???) it. I was forced to reload it(???) before I was able to use it. I get zero feedback when using it; I have no idea if I'm hitting something or not. Zombies move around the world like roving packs of clowns, because they're able to crawl prone, crouch walk, normal walk, and run just as the player is, but they do it completely at random until they become aggressive. When they become aggressive, they run around, zig-zag, and can run right through you to the other side. This makes it difficult to kill anything. The doors randomly do and don't work, and their activators seem to appear at random. If there are multiple doors within a small space, you can't pick one or the other to open, even if you've got your face pressed up against the one you want to activate. Zombies can walk through them if they REALLY want it, while sometimes you can't walk through an open double-door.

The absolute worst part is bleeding. If you take a hit, you're bleeding, and you're going to continue to bleed until you die. Your screen will gradually become blurrier and blurrier. You'll randomly faint for various periods of time, AT WHICH POINT YOU CAN DO ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. You can't even hit Esc to bring up the damn menu. If you leave a game, when you rejoin you're unconscious for TWO MINUTES. If you die and click respawn, IT JUST ADDS ANOTHER DEATH TO YOUR STATS. If you click restart NOTHING HAPPENS.

[Malacite]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

DayZ is overrated. IMO it's just a fad that will pass, which is why I refuse to buy Arma II even on sale.

It has some cool concepts, but the implementation is just awful. There's actually a Zombie MMO being made right now btw. I'll be curious to see how that turns out... in the team time I'll be just fine waiting for The Last of Us.

[Icemage]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

Man, Rainbow Moon has got to be the most grind-tastic JRPG I've ever come across. I just hit level 25 after almost 40 hours of gameplay... and there's a trophy for hitting level 250 (and I saw a monster wandering around a locked area of a dungeon that was level 999 >_>). Seriously?

I used to think Cross Edge was the grindiest RPG ever, but it's got nothing on Rainbow Moon. Enemies give you 1 to "a few" Rainbow Pearls when you defeat them for the character that scores the killing blow (but none of the rest of your team), and it takes hundreds of Pearls to buy all your bonus upgrades each time you level up, for each character. I suspect that's why they sell DLC packs with 50000 pearls for each character, but even having bought those, I suspect I'm going to burn through them by the time I get to level 100 or so.

That said, the game is pretty fun. I just ran into a new enemy type called a Metal Golem that can run next to another enemy and fuse with them to add their stats together. This... can be quite annoying as you can go from hitting it for 100 damage per hit to 1 per hit, so you basically have to prioritize and kill them or any nearby monsters right at the beginning of every fight or they wipe the floors with you.

Also playing through Mortal Kombat on PS Vita. Whoever designed these sadistic tower challenges needs to DIAF. One of the challenges is to defeat *3* Shao Khans in a row (boss character with tons of super powerful moves and a lot of armored moves that ignore your attacks)... and you have to do it with 1 life bar, while playing Stryker (one of the worst characters in the game). Finally figured out a "somewhat" viable strategy and beat it with a combination of luck, good reflexes, and cheeseball tactics.


Icemage