General Games Discussion

The nominees for GAME OF THE YEAR at #TheGameAwards are:

Alan Wake 2
Baldur’s Gate 3
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
Resident Evil 4
Super Mario Bros. Wonder
Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

️ Vote Now: https://t.co/ExP93r9Pcq

Streaming live December 7 pic.twitter.com/VhZCH3K5f8

— The Game Awards (@thegameawards) November 13, 2023

Starfield deservedly snubbed.

I hope AW2 wins but it's gonna be BD3.

Game meme awards.

Have zero interest in these, but would like game from Finland to win it.

How did Starfield not make it? I'm kinda out of the loop but I was under the impression that it was the most hyped game these days

Myesyats wrote:How did Starfield not make it? I'm kinda out of the loop but I was under the impression that it was the most hyped game these days

Cool to hate atm, just like it's cool to like BG3 despite it being just a Divinity Original Sin clone. SF is easily my goty, despite AW2.

Myesyats wrote:How did Starfield not make it? I'm kinda out of the loop but I was under the impression that it was the most hyped game these days

It was a 7/10 game, nowhere near GOTY level imo and there was so many 9 out 10 games this year.

Maybe Starfield would have had a chance at GOTY if it was released on 2022 but not this year.

#A23

Game: Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain:-
Year: 1996.
Genre: Action-Adventure.
Publisher: Crystal Dynamics.
Developer: Silicon Knights.




Everything about Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain can be explained by director Denis Dyack's desire to make "a game which adults would want to play". As a result, Silicon Knights made a game that deserves the M rating according to the ESRB, and in the process made something that it thinks is for adults.

In fact, Blood Omen was, at best, what edgy teenagers wanted to appear more adult, as there is nothing truly "mature" about the game. In their pursuit of making a game for adults, it appears that the developers not only loaded the game with wanton bloodlust and gore but also removed the "juvenile" concept of "fun" from the game altogether.

To top that off, the game has some excruciating loading times on the PS1. So much for busy adults wanting to play this game.

"The initiation of a new Aeon. When it becomes necessary to utter a word the whole planet must be bathed in blood..."

After a CGI opening that makes it clear that this isn't a game for kids, with death, blood, and gore aplenty, you are put into control of the game's protagonist, Kain who is immediately murdered and resurrected as a vampire.

Now undead and angry, Kain must wreak vengeance against his killers and their masters. You know that because Kain will constantly narrate his thoughts, expressing his wishes for vengeance in the most graphic and edgy ways possible. In fact, that style of narration extends to the entirety of the story, which is supposed to be presented in morally ambiguous ways. That's the aim, but not the result, which is that everyone is simply terrible, but to different degrees.

Sure, the world of Blood Omen is interesting, with the central lore about the Pillars of Nosgoth and their role in preserving the balance of the world shared between humans and vampires suggesting some hidden depth. Unfortunately, this story is not elaborated on much in the game, and beyond its muddy graphics and interesting world map, there is little to gather besides the narrative pauses of Kain.

Early in the game, villagers run from you on sight (since you are a vampire), but you later get the ability to disguise as a human. I thought that would be the point the game opens up and the story starts to shine. Instead, all villagers repeat the same color dialogue while giving a hint about what to do next. There is no personality to the villagers, just as there is no personality to the world other than its fervent desire to be edgy and cool.


"I didn't care if I was in heaven or hell. All I wanted was to kill my assassins. Sometimes, you get what you wish for"

The best way to describe Blood Omen as a game is that it is an unfun Legend of Zelda with an extra dose of lacking charm. It's a top-down Action-Adventure game in a poorly designed world, filled with poorly designed dungeons, where you fight poorly designed damage-sponge enemies in boring and unresponsive combat.

Shaking the basic combat and exploration is Kane's vampire abilities and weapons. For his adventuring needs, Kane has access to some forms that allow him to talk to humans, jump over short chasms, and fast travel. To more easily dispatch his enemies, Kane can either use some powerful magic spells through an MP gauge, or limited-use gadgets that you can find while exploring.

While these systems shake things up, you will get sick of them thanks to Blood Omen's key design flaw, which is its excruciating loading times. Every time you go into a dungeon, a village house, or the main menu, you will be greeted with seconds of blackness. More deadly and frequent is the shorter, but still notable, time the game loads when you go into your magic or transformation menu. There, what's supposed to be a snappy skill management system grounds the game to a halt.

If the game ran faster, you may be able to forgive its less-than-stellar mechanics and world design. However, with its technical limitation highlighting the weakness of its combat and level design, you are forced to contemplate how much fun you would have playing something else every time you are greeted with that black screen.

"Of all the methods I employ, this is perhaps the cruelest. Causing my victim's body to shrink on itself, crushing bones and rupturing organs til the pressure inside bursts the sack of fleshy skin, springing its contents for all to see"

In its pursuit of "adult" approval, Blood Omen naturally goes for a muted color palette for its world and a more realistic design approach to its characters and creatures. Both aspects work for what the game wants to look like, and thanks to its intelligent use of polygonal graphics, the game looks fine beyond its muted graphics, Silicon Graphics was known for its technical master in regards to graphics, as evidenced by the impressive (for the time) CGI scenes that punctuated key moments in the game.

Yet, it should be immediately apparent from any screenshot of the game that there is a glaring issue regarding the presentation.

There is a big freakin banner that takes nearly a third of the screen. This banner is supposed to be the information display, but it takes so much real estate from the screen that you wonder how its design was ever approved. Seriously, this by itself is a testament to the poor design of the game.

At this point, I half expected the game's soundtrack to be a half-cooked mess. Instead, it's a solid effort at creating atmospheric music. In many ways, it complements the style of the voice acting and  the world itself

In Conclusion:

If by making a game "which adults would want to play", Silicon Knight meant making a game devoid of joy and fun, then they have succeeded with flying colors. However, I don't think that the end product is something that most people would enjoy. This is a "mature" game in the eyes of edgy teenagers who want to grow up fast.

To be fair, something is interesting about the game's uber-edgy aesthetic and style, and I could see some people enjoy it despite its janky nature. Yet, one thing no one would enjoy is the game's excessive loading time.

That's where I implore you if you are still interested in playing this unfun game (which still wouldn't be fun even if it had instant loading), then play it on anything other than a PS1.

Final: 3/10

Pros:

• Kane's voice actor is really good
  
• An interesting host of vampire abilities
  
• Impressive CGI scenes for the time
  
• Solid and atmospheric graphics that didn't age poorly
  
  

Cons:

• A pathetic attempt at making a "mature" story ends up more juvenile than adult
  
• Little attempts at affective world-building or storytelling
  
• A boring Zelda clone
  
• Poor level and combat design
  
• A lot of loading time
  
• There is a freaking banner covering a third of the screen
  
  
  

"Tips"
1- Break barrels for some loot.
2- Press the action button next to dazed enemies to suck their life force.
3- Use the wolf form for faster walking speed.
4- Some gates open based on the moon/sun phase.
5- You slowly regain MP.


"Next Game"

This is probably my most controversial review, since Blood Omen is much appreciated by some people. I think it's flawed in almost every way, and doubly so on the PS1 with its excessive loading times.

The next game on the list is one I am positive I will enjoy, and that's Wild Arms. I played the remake on the PS2, but the original is different enough (and shorter) that I would like to experience it.

Stay Tuned

Mafia II definitive edition available on basic PSN

Hopefully it contains the DLCs i never played on PS3. What a fun game that was, amazing soundtrack, felt almost like a film but still lots of action. The only real problem was the driving which is the case for the entire Mafia series.

game awards tonight, should finally get a proper trailer and date for elden ring's expansion

hope you're all doing well and getting in some gaming where possible

Morrowind (OpenMW) looking awesome nowadays with normal maps, cloud and point light shaders.

Never played morrowind.... think that will change soon because I read it's akin to Gothic. Will have to replay Skyrim too, as I've never fully finished that game iirc. Perfect time now during these snowy winter evenings.

Myesyats wrote:Never played morrowind.... think that will change soon because I read it's akin to Gothic. Will have to replay Skyrim too, as I've never fully finished that game iirc. Perfect time now during these snowy winter evenings.

Kind of, they released the same time to compete as the best 3D freeroam rpg. Somewhat different mechanics however. Where as Gothic was the first modern 3D-rpg with real freeroam, voice acting, no loading screens (couple), npc schedules, rudimentary physics etc. Morrowind only got voice acting lately with ElevenAI voice generation, which really has changed it and actually is very hard to distiguish from the real ones. With OpenMW (open source Morrowind engine) the loading screens are almost instant, and physics are about to be introduced to the engine.

Together with Baldur's Gate (not the fake one), I actually consider Gothic 2 NotR (vanilla) and modded Morrowind the three best ever games made. Just remember to use OpenMW engine and something like the Total Overhaul modding list. https://modding-openmw.com/lists/total-overhaul/
Because unlike Gothic 2 (with new shaders), original Morrowind isn't that good anymore. Morrowind also has the biggest and longest ongoing modding project that that has been going now 22 years, which tries to recreate the whole Morrowind mainland. Currently adding thousands of locations and over 600 guests.

Been playing Alan Wake 2, game gives serious True Detective season 1 vibes

Sad news, mother of modern 3D rpg closing doors.

Truly sad, I never experienced the atmosphere of G2NotR ever again in any game. When you travel to Jharkendar for the first time and spend hours in a completely different environment with the pirates and in the jungle with the bandits, then at some point 15 or 20 game hours later you return to Khorinis only to enter the valley of mines from Gothic 1 again with that epic background music. Experienced nothing like that ever again. Even my wife who knew nothing about gaming but "The Sims" fell in love with Gothic.

Though, in fairness, Elex 2 was really disappointing. Beginning was good, typical Gothic style, the closer you reached the end, the more ridiculous it got. The "love for detail" from typical PB games was simply not there anymore. Ridiculous and meaningless relationship between father and son, your "army" that you build up for 40 hours has no real function, the "infested headache sudden teleportation" mechanism and all the walls of text of self-talk Jax does towards the end to "explain stuff" on top of the outdated mechanics and graphics, which you can only ignore when the rest is on point... really really bad.

NotR is possibly the best game OAT. The graphics are pretty bad when your replay it nowadays but still the vibe is unmatched

The dubbing was legendary too

It's not that bad with texture packs and DX11 shaders.

Harmonica wrote:After a decade returned to Gothic 2 Notr and it's still probably the best rpg ever made. My 60 hour min-maxed Paladin before the end boss.


Gothic 1 is the mother of modern 3D openworld rpg, but in Gothic 2 they mastered it all and it's better in every way. It's amazing how this had modern mechanics in 2001. True 3D, true open world, no loadscreens (couple), primitive physics model, reactive fighting mechanics, daily NPC-routines ja c&c guests. Bethesda only got equal fighting mechanics in Oblivion 2006, daily routines in Skyrim 2011 and full voice acting in FO4 2015. Hopefully they can finally stream the whole game world in Starfield 2022. Only thing negative in Gothic 2 Notr I would say is, it's very hard game. It requires min-maxing and metaknowledge, but with that the end can get too easy.

Used Gothic 2 Gold Remaster textures, normal maps and DX11 shaders. 3070 ran the game smoothly 120fps 5120x1440.





Now I can try Archolos.

futbol wrote:Truly sad, I never experienced the atmosphere of G2NotR ever again in any game. When you travel to Jharkendar for the first time and spend hours in a completely different environment with the pirates and in the jungle with the bandits, then at some point 15 or 20 game hours later you return to Khorinis only to enter the valley of mines from Gothic 1 again with that epic background music. Experienced nothing like that ever again. Even my wife who knew nothing about gaming but "The Sims" fell in love with Gothic.

Though, in fairness, Elex 2 was really disappointing. Beginning was good, typical Gothic style, the closer you reached the end, the more ridiculous it got. The "love for detail" from typical PB games was simply not there anymore. Ridiculous and meaningless relationship between father and son, your "army" that you build up for 40 hours has no real function, the "infested headache sudden teleportation" mechanism and all the walls of text of self-talk Jax does towards the end to "explain stuff" on top of the outdated mechanics and graphics, which you can only ignore when the rest is on point... really really bad.

Yeah Elex 2 was the first game I didn't really care from PB. What really bothered me watching lets plays was the language really, it's just too vulgar for my taste.

I tried to play the first one recently but I gave up, became repetitive tbh.

But when I started playing it without any previous knowledge of it I had one of the biggest WTF's in my life, I was genuinely shocked.

I've probably been sidetracked for more than 20 hours by optional content in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth. There's an insane amount of it in this game, even for a Yakuza game

Traditional side quests, Pokemon parody, village sim, mini-games, Persona-like dungeon.. the optional content is a game in it's own right.

I have no clue who this guy is, but the comment and the rating cracked me up

Thimmy wrote:I've probably been sidetracked for more than 20 hours by optional content in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth. There's an insane amount of it in this game, even for a Yakuza game

Traditional side quests, Pokemon parody, village sim, mini-games, Persona-like dungeon.. the optional content is a game in it's own right.

I have no clue who this guy is, but the comment and the rating cracked me up

I'm playing it rn (animal crossing mode isn't for me personally, did the pokemon stuff) and yeah there's an insane amount of content but the story is dull and the pace is awful

I'm 30+ hrs in (chapter 9, bit over halfway through)..Hawaii is fun to explore but so far I can't see myself enjoying the story even as much as 7's (which I already thought was pretty meh)

still having fun with it

Firenze wrote:

Thimmy wrote:I've probably been sidetracked for more than 20 hours by optional content in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth. There's an insane amount of it in this game, even for a Yakuza game

Traditional side quests, Pokemon parody, village sim, mini-games, Persona-like dungeon.. the optional content is a game in it's own right.

I have no clue who this guy is, but the comment and the rating cracked me up

I'm playing it rn (animal crossing mode isn't for me personally, did the pokemon stuff) and yeah there's an insane amount of content but the story is dull and the pace is awful

I'm 30+ hrs in (chapter 9, bit over halfway through)..Hawaii is fun to explore but so far I can't see myself enjoying the story even as much as 7's (which I already thought was pretty meh)

still having fun with it

I feel the same way about it, so far. It reminds me more of Yakuza 7 than any of the other games in the series, and that one’s my least favorite Yakuza game to date. That game’s story really picked up towards the end of it, though. I’m hoping this one does the same thing because I haven’t really cared for the story up until now. I’ve mostly been doing side stuff, and there’s an overwhelming amount of it.

#A22(S)

Game: Wild Arms 2:-
Year: 1999, 2000.
Genre: JRPG.
Publisher: Sony.
Developer: Media.Vision, Contrail.




The first Wild Arms was a very good classic JRPG with a Wild West twist, and it must have been reasonably successful since this sequel was released three years later. With the release of the sequel, Wild Arms became a bonafide franchise, with many of the tropes established in the first game carried over and expanded upon here.

I originally played the game near its release but did not finish it due to my memory card getting twice corrupted, right when I reached the second disc, which must have been one hell of a coincidence. As such, I was fully expecting to absolutely love this game when I finally got the chance to finish it 24 years later. Yet, my rosy memories of the game had to contend with reality, and some serious flaws in the game kept it from being the unqualified masterpiece I thought it was as a kid.

Don't get me wrong, it still is a very good game, but I no longer think it is within the echelons of great PS1 RPGs.

"Yes, blood did get spilled. But, in an era of delusion, if someone doesn't stand up, even more blood will be shed"]

Like in the first game, you begin your adventure with a great anime opening sequence that showcases the main characters and the world of Filgaia, with excellent animation accompanied by an instrumental version of the main song: "You'll Never Be Alone". I didn't know that the song and its lyrics would be more than a cool opening sequence, but both music and theme turn out to be very important to the story, with even some lines of dialogue at the end closely mirroring the lyrics of the song.

Once the intro is over, as is now a trope of the series, you go over the introductory chapter of the game's three main characters. Unlike the first game, two more characters join the gang with an optional sixth character available in disc 2. While all characters get the chance to shine, the main character is undoubtedly Ashley Winchester, who is possessed by a demonic form early in the game; becoming extremely powerful as a result.

Other than Ash, there is Lilka; who is a ditzy mage following the footsteps of her much more talented sister, and Brad Evans; the "hero" of a fallen rebel army who is branded a criminal and hunted at the beginning of the game. Eventually, the party is joined by Tim- a kid with the magical ability to commune with the planet's Guardians- and the serious mercenary-type Kanon.

This group of diverse characters forms, under the leadership of the mysterious Lord Irvin Veleria, the international group ARMS, which is responsible for protecting the planet from the threat of an emerging terrorist organization. The conflict between ARMS and the terrorists of Odessa is the highlight of the game's story, especially since it is here that the game has some interesting things to say about the nature of politics and nationhood.

Once you go into disc 2, the story takes a nosedive thanks to the emergence of a galactic-level threat, which lacks the personality and immediacy of Odessa and is presented in gibberish pseudo-scientific techno-babble that is more distracting than enlightening. Yet, I have a sneaking suspicion that I only feel this way due to the extremely poor localization of the game.

Yes, this is one of those PS1 games which had a noticeably bad localization effort. Nearly all the hallmarks of such shoddy work are here. Missatributed dialogue, stunted words, literal but not streamlined translation, poor choice of words, grammatical errors, and a litany of other mistakes that honestly make it difficult to reflect accurately on the strength of the story.

Still, despite the way the game jumps the shark at the second disc and its terrible localization, I enjoyed the story and was invested in these characters. The central themes of "heroism" and the message that "You'll Never Walk Alone" shone through clearly, and the strength of such a diverse cast shielded me from the worst effects of the game's "dialogue".

"Bonds made in battlefield are the strongest"

Just like its predecessor, Wild Arms 2's combat is a typical turn-based battle system with little to no complications. The sequel has two major differences though: Firstly, you can replace any character with one in the reserve party at the beginning of your turn. Secondly, the MP system is entirely gone and is fully replaced with the Force Points (FP) system.

The FP system was present in the first game, where it governed your character's "Force" abilities, but it is greatly revamped here. Each battle starts with FPs based on your character levels, and you gain more points by attacking and getting attacked. Once you accumulate enough points, you can trigger your character's special abilities, from Ashley's and Brad's ARMs to Lilka's magic. Doing this does not use your accumulated FP, nor does it raise it. You only consume FP by using the powerful "Force" abilities each character has.

One thing you may have noticed with this system is that Magic can now only be used in battle, which means healing outside of battle can only be done with items. Also, due to how FPs are not consumed when using special abilities, this means that the more powerful special attacks, from stronger ARMs to crowd-controlling magic abilities are expensive and require a few turns to build up.

However, that doesn't mean random battles become a slog, as their difficulty usually tracks with your level, and as your level increases, so do the options available to you at the beginning of the battle. If anything, the game is too easy most of the time, even against the multitude of bosses you will face.

Besides the abilities that make each character unique, there are "Personal Skills" that you could increase as you level up. Of the 25 or so "Personal Skills" a few should be invested in early, and these absolutely break the early game from a difficulty point of view.

Yet, if you are craving a challenge, you could go for the masochistic experience with the game's many optional bosses.

"No matter what you do, I believe in you and will be waiting for you to come back"

Outside of combat, the franchise's penchant for puzzles in dungeons is fully on display. With five main characters, each with their own "Tools" to tackle the dungeon puzzles, it allowed the developers to craft better and bigger puzzles than they did before.

Indeed, if the dungeons in the first game were a proof of concept, then the dungeons here are that concept fully realized. Many dungeons have multiple levels of puzzles, with some even adding in a text puzzle to solve (which is an unintended difficulty thanks to the terrible localization).

Different from the first game is an extended focus on exploration. With a fully 3D map and multiple ways of travel, you are encouraged to roam around the world looking to complete an extensive bestiary as well as engage in some cool optional quests. Most of those quests involve some optional dungeons with a Guardian item within or those uber-powerful optional bosses I mentioned, but one quest has you recruit the secret sixth character.

With multiple systems to deal with, since each character has a different upgrade system for their special abilities, a lot of optional content, and fun gameplay elements both inside and outside combat, Wild Arms 2 is engaging throughout the game.

"When we meet such grave danger, nothing should keep us apart. I wonder when it was I forgot that true strength comes from joining together?"

Released early in the PS1's lifecycle, the first Wild Arms had the good luck to depend heavily on classical sprite graphics outside of battles. Released 3 years later, Wild Arms 2 could have fallen into the trap of leaning too far into polygonal graphics that wouldn't stand the test of time.

Thankfully, that's not the case here. Character models outside of battle still retain a charming sprite look that is a bit taller and more detailed than the first game, and the 3D world is simply designed so that it doesn't show its age.

As with the first game, the graphics are fully 3D when going into battle, and these have been massively improved over the first game, even if they do show their age. Yet, you can be sure that it is due to these polygonal graphics that developers managed to cram in so many unique-looking monsters and bosses in the game. Sure, not all of them are well-designed, but variety has its merits.

Finally, let's discuss the game's soundtrack by Michiko Naruke, which is another soundtrack that is inspired by Spaghetti Western music, but also with the series's focus on a retrofuturistic setting. While most of my memories of the game were of excellent tracks such as the two opening songs, "Field-Wandering", and "Battle-Knight Blazer", I forgot that the soundtrack has a lot of duds. Rather, to be more accurate, one of the game's worst tracks is also one of its most frequent; "Battle- VS Mid-Boss" plays against all non-special bosses and it is an atrocious track.

It is a shame that the game's soundtrack isn't as uniformly brilliant as the first game.

In Conclusion:

Finally finishing this game 24 years later, I understand why I fell in love with it the first time I played it, but I am also apprehensive of some flaws that I couldn't see at the time. The story is cool at first, especially thanks to a strong cast of characters, but it is let down by some seriously bad localization job. The gameplay is simple but fun both inside and outside of combat, but it is very easy to remove any challenge from the game. The graphics and music are great, except when the polygons get too jagged and a bad tune repeats one time too many.

Yet, the game is filled with the unique style of the Wild Arms franchise in nearly everything it does. That unique style is the reason I still remember the first time I played the game, and the first time I saw that opening movie and knew, despite the instrumental version having no lyrics, that I will never be alone.

Final: 8/10

Pros:

• A good story with some solid themes
  
• Very good growth for the main party
  
• Some brilliant scene direction
  
• Solid turn-based battle system
  
• The Action-Adventure gameplay in the dungeons
  
• Brilliant opening movies
  
• Good combination of sprite work and 3D graphics
  
• A seriously expansive bestiary
  
  
  
  

Cons:

• Atrocious localization effort
  
• A confusing second act made more confusing by shoddy dialogue
  
• Lack of challenge outside of a few bosses and the extremely tough optional bosses
  
• Obtuse solution to some puzzles
  
• Jagged 3D graphics in some cases
  
• The soundtrack is weaker than the first game
  
  
  

"Tips"
1- Don't use healing gems in dungeons unless you need them later.
2- When buying equipment, prioritize the defense of Lilka and Tim.
3- The best Personal Skills are UP HP, and then UP Physical/Magical Defense.
4- Up Parameter is a good secondary Personal Skill to unlock.
5- To increase the difficulty, don't equip the latest equipment.
6- There is no need to upgrade the accuracy of Brad's ARMS.
7- Pay attention to enemies that can help you grind for gold.
8- Pay attention to items you can steal.
9- Unlock the bestiary album by finding the curious village.
10- Destroy boss parts for more gold and exp.
11- You can change equipment in battle.
12- Use the pickpocket action on bosses and enemies for restorative items.
13- When the exclamation point turns green, it means a new enemy will appear.


"Next Game"

I was afraid that Wild Arms 2 wouldn't live up to my memory of it, but despite its obvious shortcomings, it did do that. I enjoyed it greatly and I am happy to have finished it after all of that time.

Next, I am going to play another Resident Evil inspire game, Galerians, which I think has a total of FOUR DISCS. That's a lot of space for a supposedly short game, so I expect a lot of cinematics. Hopefully, the game is good as well.

Stay Tuned

I started Mass Effect trilogy

Haven't done much so far, just one mission and then reading the codex. It looks cool, gives me Kotor vibes.