General Games Discussion

put an hour into the code vein demo, glad I did

easy skip ffs

really reinforced the fact that atmosphere and world are hugely important aspects of the dark souls games when it comes to quality

code vein looks ugly and procedurally generated in comparison, also way too much anime cheese

thanks for spending that time

day never


Nioh beta in early november

hype, but also worried

not sure how I can cope without my omyo cheese build

Firenze wrote:put an hour into the code vein demo, glad I did

easy skip ffs

really reinforced the fact that atmosphere and world are hugely important aspects of the dark souls games when it comes to quality

code vein looks ugly and procedurally generated in comparison, also way too much anime cheese

The character creation looked like it was tailored for a 14 year old, emo chick

FIFA out in a few days, may get EA access and try it out

nvm, aint nobody got time for that

put an hour into breath of the wild, seems pretty good. Can see it getting stale over 60-80 hrs though.

Capture the Knight / Cape sur la nuit pic.twitter.com/yMFXMd4djU

— WB Games Montréal (@WBGamesMTL) September 23, 2019

LADSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Arkham Crisis i think. Based on the court of owls.

pls pls pls pls

RealGunner wrote:

Capture the Knight / Cape sur la nuit pic.twitter.com/yMFXMd4djU

— WB Games Montréal (@WBGamesMTL) September 23, 2019

LADSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Arkham Crisis i think. Based on the court of owls.

pls pls pls pls

Not sure on the name itself but it's definitely court of owls related, the devs have teased it multiple times.

Origins was fantastic so this will be the same. Hopefully a very limited Bat Mobile in this one.

Although i am not sure if the game will be released for this generation. Might be for next.

been playing candy crush and im on level 410 and tbh not only is it getting hard its realy pissing me off now.

Much better trailer than the first one.

#14

Game: Pokemon Conquest.
Year: 2012.
Genre: Tactical RPG.
Publisher: Nintendo.
Developer: Tecmo Koei.



First things first, I am changing my rating system to better rate different genres according to their own rules. It will still be from 50 quality points, but every title will start from 25 and earn/lose points according to criteria important to the titles and genres themselves.

In a marriage between one of the most well-known franchises in the world and a franchise that is so niche, that only a handful of its many iterations were ever localized west, Pokemon Conquest is a weird fusion indeed.

Of course, the Pokemon in the title betrays the first franchise in this fusion, but the Conquest moniker can come from anywhere. In this instance, the Koei Tecmo influence might clue you in about the involvement of the much-liked strategy franchise, Nobunaga's Ambition, which is set in the Sengoku era of Japanese history where several warlords vied for the conquest of Japan.

If you re surprised by such a spin-off then you are not alone. Basically, the result is a Tactical RPG where you control 6 Pokemon is a turn-based tactical battle. Against all odds, the gameplay works and the game justifies its existence well. Yet, beyond the basics of its premise, the game fails to reach the potential of its unlikely partnership, hurting what could have been a truly legendary game.

"So the legends were true. But legends can be overcome. With an army mighty enough..."

The central premise of the game's universe is that the Warlords of the Sengoku era somehow all exist in this fictional continent of Ransei, which is more like a Pokemon region than a historical place. In this world, these warriors have the ability to link with Pokemon and wage their wars utilizing these amazingly dangerous creatures. A legend goes around that whoever unites the land will uncover the legendary Pokemon God.

As one character-named Warlord, you basically work to unite the land to stop Lord Nobunaga from doing the same, as it is hinted he is up to evil things. In the process, you basically fight most of the famous warlords of the Sengoku era in their Samurai Warriors interpretation rather than the more historically accurate Nobunaga's Ambition design. The list includes famous warriors such as Ieyasu Tokugawa and Masamune Date among others.

Here is where the game's biggest misstep happens.

Nothing interesting happens between you and these characters, or between the characters themselves. Going from kingdom to kingdom, you get two or three lines from each warlord showcasing one dimension of their personality, and that's it. There is no story development, no dialogue beyond the initial exchanges, no plot to speak off.

Here are some of the most interesting people in Japanese history, and they have nothing to do in this Pokemon world. Consequently, the main story is a straightforward romp with no personality. This even more obvious in the sub-stories that you unlock at the end of the game, with each story featuring one Warlord but offering no meaningful story or narrative push.

More than anything, this is a huge opportunity missed for injecting much-needed personality to the game's narrative.

Missed Oppurtinity to Use the Characters: -3
Weak Story: -3

" I shall not tolerate anyone who attempts to stand in my way. Even if they are my own flesh and blood..."

Since this is a fusion of an RPG and a strategy game, the genre that has elements of both is clearly the Tactical RPG genre. Battles are set in an isometric grid-divided field with two opposing parties of 6 warrior-pokemon combinations. In each turn, the player can control the actions of all their units. Warriors provide passive bonuses to their pokemon as well as a one-time-use special ability. Each pokemon have a single attack of a single type.

Attacks vary from single target to area of effect moves, and the well-known Pokemon type advantage rules all apply here. Of course, this is pre-Fairy type, so the pokemon, Spiritomb is an annoying devil because he has no weaknesses. Bloody Hanzo.

With a variety of stages, each with their own unique twists, the battle system is almost always engaging, as long as your level is closely matched to your enemy. If that's not the case, then battles are either too easy or impossible to win, but in the main campaign, that is not much of a concern.

As you battle, you can level-up your Pokemon. Be careful though, as you may lose a previously useful move type and get a type already covered by another pokemon. A rule of thumb is that a pokemon of two types usually switches the type of their attack when they evolve.

Due to the variety of pokemon and stages, I think the battle system is consistently engaging, and the collection angle of getting more pokemon and more warriors, as well as trying to link warrior to their favored pokemon is all pleasantly addictive.

Good Battle System: +3
Addicitve Collection Loop: +2

"So less arguing and more batteling. All right!?"

If you are wondering if the grand strategy elements of Nobunaga's Ambition is at all present, then you may be disappointed a little with the final product. The main campaign is divided into several cities, each controlled by a warlord. As you conquer more cities, you may think you can develop them, or attempt to defend them from other warlords.

In the main campaign, the computer would rarely attack, and you cannot develop your cities.

While this may initially be disappointing, it turns out to be for the best. You see, once you finish the main campaign you unlock several episodes, which end up unlocking several episodes as well. In those episodes, the rule of the game slightly change.

In these episodes, you can develop your cities, which make it easier to level-up your army and steamroll through the AI. That is unless the AI ate through half of the map and became an unstoppable force.

Honestly, this game mode is not so bad, but it would have detracted from the focus main campaign and the great battle system.

What should have been the case is for this mode to be available from the start for those willing to engage with it early on. Also, when it comes to these many episodes, it appears as if its just the same game with a different main character. They provide very little extra story or characterization and are just content for the sake of more content.

A lot of conten: +3
Most of it is inconsequential:-2
Grand Strategy Game Mode is not Bad: +1[i]

"The short life of man is nothing compared to the age of this world. It but a fleeting dream, an illusion..."

It is not difficult to make a [i]Pokemon game look good. Their iconic designs are well-known and there is at least a decade's worth of influence to take from.

As such, it is no surprise that the game looks great. The pokemon look great both in their 2D art and the in-battle sprites are very good (although some do not represent their 2D design well). One thing that is disappointing is the limited number of designs for the Warriors. Each Warlord (The famous historical characters) have their own unique and colorful design. However, the generic warriors, or which there around 200 of them, all share maybe ten or fourteen designs.

On the soundscape, the tracks are a nice fusion of modern and Japanese influence. However, I don't hear any remixes of that style with some of the more famous Pokemon tunes. That's not a bad soundtrack, but there are missed opportunities. Of course, the pokemon sounds are all the well-known screeches that we started hearing since the late '90s.

Very Good Graphics: +3
Cool Sprites: +2

In Conclusion:

For an idea that probably shouldn't work, Pokemon Conquest is a great game. It is a proof of a concept that could work and works really well. The battle system is great, and there is a lot of potential here.

Maybe because it was such a weird concept, it distracted Koei fro developing the game's narrative or utilizing the amazing potential of its characters. It also distracted Koei fro putting more substance to the game, with a lot of repetitive tasks and a hope that addictive collection loop will distract the player long enough.

By the end of my time with the game, I simply realized that while the main battles I fought were fun, about 60% of my time in the game was doing repetitive mundane tasks with no pay-off. This could be a stepping stone to a much greater game, and I hope that proves to be the case (although that seems unlikely now).

Final: 31/50

"Tips"
1- Keep your energy high for best performance.
2- When Pokemon evolve, they may actually switch the type of their attack, so be careful.
3- Make sure to link different types of Pokemon to your warlord and to Oichi.
4- Each warrior has their own best Pokemon link.
5- In the episodes, you can upgrade mines and wild areas for more gold and better Pokemon respectively.
6- To upgrade Warlords, basically have them link with their favored Pokemon at 60% or more.

Stay Tuned

Just had a revelation as i was looking at my psn profile.

I have only completed 1 game this year lol.

Was it the Dark Souls remaster or Sekiro: Shadows die Twice? I thought you played both of those.

2 for me.

Metro Exodus and Devil May Cry V.

0 for me

This isn't an IQ contest, Firenze

I have been on a CRPG craze since December, Divinity, PoE, Planescape etc

I have gotten Nvidia Shield and set it up with my PC, i have come to the realization that i just cant game on PC traditionally. Not after working 8hrs a day in front of a computer.

I just slouch on the couch with my ROCCAT SOVA (keyboard and mouse) and gamestream using Nvidia Shield. Its actually insane, there's 0 lag even for an online game like Gears 5. The computer does all the legwork and the Shield streams it.

Thimmy wrote:Was it the Dark Souls remaster or Sekiro: Shadows die Twice? I thought you played both of those.

Sekiro. DS remaster was last year


I finished 5 games last year and started 8.

Are you proud of yourself?

Don't know about that, but it doesn't even include the time when the game was released, time before Steam or when playing EET-mod. Up there with my most played games with Gothic 2 and Morrowind.

Damn watched this video and now I need to start Elex again. I wonder if there's any good combat/difficulty mods out there, that would make it feel less yanky and less op in the end of the game?

For those of you who haven't played God of War, GTA V, the Bioshock series, Bloodborne or Prey - they're all available on PS Now and you can activate your 1-week trial period if you haven't used the service, yet. They also cut their subscription price to about  £10 per month starting October 1st. That said, you'll probably want to play or have access to those games for longer than a week, and I can't guarantee that you'll enjoy the rest of the library, which is largely composed of PS1-3 titles.

Here's the full list of games:

https://www.playstation.com/en-us/explore/playstation-now/games/