General Games Discussion

BREAKING: Bethesda's long-anticipated Starfield will launch November 11, 2022, on Xbox and PC! https://t.co/SXbO9cveo6 pic.twitter.com/mHPfSJkHsH

— GameSpot (@GameSpot) June 13, 2021

elder scrolls in 2026 then ffs

They shouldn't even talk about Elder Scrolls till it's ready like what's the benefit in teaser #56456

So Starfield ends up being exclusive to Xbox. Looks like ES6 will be too and most if not all future fallout games.

Age Of Empires IV dropping October 28 #XboxBethesda pic.twitter.com/N3YYHQdIWG

— Nibel (@Nibellion) June 13, 2021

best news ffs

When I heard there would be a Final Fantasy Souls like game revealed, I was hyped. Hype is dead after that reveal. Looked pure cringe. CHAOOOS.

It looked like a bad DMC more than Souls.

NGL in the MS conference i was most hyped about the Sea of Thieves stuff

i know this was flavour of the month at the beginning of the year, but just in case some of you missed out on it...

that Jimmy Neutron roast killed me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6036KGPIVtg

brb bout to go watch some Digimon and reminiscence over my young'un years

STALKER 2 releasing 28.4.22 https://store.steampowered.com/app/1643320/STALKER_2_Heart_of_Chernobyl/

Gameplay trailer:



Starfield and Stalker 2 already in place for next year, gaming isn't dead yet although 2021 seems to be the worst year ever.

Damn we on a roll, Covid ending and gaming is coming home.

ELEX II announced, Jax is back. Release possibly this year as it was shown in Steam page, before changed to soon.

Because Elex 2 is more Gothic 2 than Risen 2 . In concrete terms: It primarily continues the strengths of its predecessor instead of breaking with them. It expands instead of revolutionizing. You get a comparable open world, comparable fights, a comparable narrative style and - you guessed it - comparable open-mouth moments.

But before you confuse "conservative" with "boring": Elex 2 has cool new ideas, an exciting story starting point, new open world areas - and you can now fly with the jetpack! So don't float, just fly properly. Like Iron Man.

The rough outline: what is Elex 2?
The absolutely most important information first: Yes, there is a chainsaw broadsword again in Elex 2, yikes! Elex 2 plays a few years after its predecessor - and what is bad news for the inhabitants of the game world should again please fans. The world of Magalan still doesn't get the hang of leaving its own post-apocalyptic devastation behind. So a mix of dense fantasy forests, weathered skyscrapers and science fiction innovations is waiting for you. Here are the basic facts:

Story and quests

   You play again as Ex-Alb Jax, but there will be no savegame import from Elex 1. As in Gothic 2, you lose your skills and can decide again which path your non-nameless hero should take.
   Anyone who has played Elex 1 will know: A new threat hangs over the world. But nobody wants to believe Jax, which is why he fell out with the old factions and went into exile. In Elex 2, he returns from oblivion to convince people of his cause.
   According to Piranha Bytes, none of their games have had as many dialogues and storylines as Elex 2. By the end of the credits you are busy an average of 60 hours, 100 percent natures naturally need significantly longer - and the factions mean that there is always a high replay value.
   There will be more than three factions, but the parties still represent certain character classes or weapon types.
   It is still unclear how many factions are completely new. But we speculate that at least berserkers and outlaws will return.
   The companion system returns: Jax hires familiar and new companions to accompany him through the rugged wilderness. As part of the quest, there should be significantly more decisions and hard consequences.

Open world

   Elex 2 offers a new open world that consists partly of old and partly of new regions. The old areas have been changed drastically over the years and by the hearts of the world, but you also travel to completely new areas. So overall like in Gothic 2.
   Your jetpack not only allows you to float, but you can also jet through the landscape like Boba Fett. But only after a few upgrades.
   Children are now a part of the play world.
   The nights in Elex 2 are significantly darker than in the predecessor. But hey, now you've got a flashlight for that.

Further gameplay adjustments

   Little changes in the classes: You can play as a ranged fighter, magician, thug or a mishmash.
   Because you are now more agile in the air, there is also pure air combat against other flying opponents. So Jax can fight gargoyles at a height of 20 meters.
   The moral system has been revised: Instead of a cold value for Jax's emotional state, there is now "creation" and "destruction". Whoever kills defenseless sheep, for example, increases the destruction value. This new moral system is closely interlinked with the parliamentary groups - more on this below in the article.

Technically, you can see Elex 2's leap forward, even if you still can't expect the smoothness of a 1,500-person Ubisoft production, for example, in the animation.

Put about 9 hours into Hollow Knight over the last week or so

love the aesthetic and art style, the 'Hallowest' may be one of the best settings in years

sadly the backtracking has started to get to me, makes dark souls bonfires look like theyre every other step by comparison

Kojima could be making an xbox exclusive game next. I might just buy an Xbox S at this rate

Has anyone on here bought the Scarlet Nexus game? I'm considering getting it, but in my PS4 Pro's current state, I'm not sure if It'll survive that game

I've heard about it, seems interesting but any time i play a reasonably new game my Pro sounds like a Plane leaving the Airport.

I'm playing it right now, actually. On PS4 Pro. Runs without any issues.

It's okay. Setting and story is everything you've seen before from these sorts of games, but the combat has some interesting things going for it. There's some basic hack n slash stuff mixed with using nearby objects as weapons, and you can chain the two together for combos. You've got some cool set-pieces, like hijacking a bus and riding it over enemies, or using a chandelier as a spinning top. Then you've got supplementary powers on top of that like invisibility, multiplying yourself, teleportation, and so on. Combat is basically mixing all your powers up to beat certain enemy types.

Unfortunately, the majority of cutscenes aren't animated, they re-use monster designs and you end up going through the same dungeons a few too many times. But it does look pretty, surprisingly enough.

Haven't finished it yet but it's coming in as a solid 6/7 out of 10 for me right now. Maybe pick it up on sale.

Jay29 wrote:I'm playing it right now, actually. On PS4 Pro. Runs without any issues.

It's okay. Setting and story is everything you've seen before from these sorts of games, but the combat has some interesting things going for it. There's some basic hack n slash stuff mixed with using nearby objects as weapons, and you can chain the two together for combos. You've got some cool set-pieces, like hijacking a bus and riding it over enemies, or using a chandelier as a spinning top. Then you've got supplementary powers on top of that like invisibility, multiplying yourself, teleportation, and so on. Combat is basically mixing all your powers up to beat certain enemy types.

Unfortunately, the majority of cutscenes aren't animated, they re-use monster designs and you end up going through the same dungeons a few too many times. But it does look pretty, surprisingly enough.

Haven't finished it yet but it's coming in as a solid 6/7 out of 10 for me right now. Maybe pick it up on sale.

Yeah, I played the demo, which is why I'm considering buying it. But my PS4 Pro has been struggling with lesser games lately. It actually crashed while I was playing a boss in the demo. I was just about to drag a trailer on top of the bosses' head when the console just gave me an overheat error, and turned itself off shortly after

Teleportation? I assume you picked the male character then? I picked the woman in the demo. I thought she was more fun to play as. She had different powers at her disposal, like lighting things on fire and slowing down time.

6-7/10 sounds awfully mediocre. The only game I'm anticipating right now, is the Samurai Warriors 5 release that will happen near the end of this month. I've missed playing a Dynasty Warriors- type game, and Samurai Warriors is my favorite in that genre of games. The last one I played was the spinoff game, Spirit of Sanada, which I thought was pretty good.

According to leaker Tom Henderson--who previously leaked Call of Duty and Battlefield 2042 details--GTA 6 will be set in a modern-day version of Vice City and will feature a Fornite-like evolving map.

Guess we'll have to wait a few years to find out... pic.twitter.com/yfI0RVk2T7

— GameSpot (@GameSpot) July 4, 2021

Vice City was basically Miami right?

day -1460

Judgement is available on PS Now, so I’ll finally play that game

I already decided against getting Scarlet Nexus. My PS4 Pro probably wouldn’t be able to run it well, and Jay’s early summary and impressions of the game didn’t sound very promising. This guy seems to really like it, though.

Thimmy wrote:The only game I'm anticipating right now, is the Samurai Warriors 5 release that will happen near the end of this month. I've missed playing a Dynasty Warriors- type game, and Samurai Warriors is my favorite in that genre of games. The last one I played was the spinoff game, Spirit of Sanada, which I thought was pretty good.

SW5 available on pre-order at 120$ on the ps store for a game which won't be that much different from the PS2 versions lol

I wait for a big time discount to try DW9 because critics have been widely negative. Fun fact my username is a tribute to Liu Bei whose my favorite character

I've been eyeing up Samurai Warriors 5

during the PS2 era I LIVED on the Dynasty Warriors game, split screen co-op greatness, but its meant that I've been burned out on the franchise for the last like 15 years lol

@Thimmy I hear pretty good things about Scarlet Nexus but it looked like something I could pick up for £15 in 3 months to play when bored.

#A60

Game: Legend of Mana:
Year: 1999. 2000.
Genre: Action RPG.
Publisher: Squaresoft.
Developer: Squaresoft.




Despite the stellar reputation and good commercial performance of the first three Mana games, all of which followed a similar formula and gameplay template, Square never returned to that style with the remaining games in the franchise. Instead, it experimented heavily with each game, creating something that is only connected by name.

The first title that started this trend was Legend of Mana o the PS1, which aimed not only to subvert the expectations on its series, but all expectations on RPGs in general. It deviates in nearly every way from the games of the past and those of its own era for better or worse.

Unfortunately, other than the decision to go with extremely beautiful hand-drawn 2D graphics instead of the prevalent polygonal style of the day, every other deviation doesn't lead to a better experience.


"Remember me! Need me! I can provide you with everything! I am Love! Find me, and walk beside me"

The first and arguably most significant departure the game takes is in how it chooses to tell its story. Set in a world destroyed by the burning of the great Mana tree and the subsequent conflicts over the remaining scarce resources, the here is tasked with recreating the world and reviving the Mana tree.

Except, that's what I think the hero is tasked with, because there is no explanation to what you are doing and why you are doing it.

Basically, you start at a region in the map, and you are armed with an "artifact" in which you plop into place and create your home. Another "artifact" is then given to you, and that one makes a town. The entire game has you gaining these "artifacts" which you can then place in varying order. Both the order of placement and the locations have some effects that are poorly explained, but that's not what's important. What's important is what that does to the structure of the game.

Every location you put on the map has its own sets of characters and related stories, which in any other game would be considered "side-quests". Here, these side-quests, which can be tackled in chaotic and non-linear order are the bulk of the given story. This means that depending on how you put your "artifacts", and the amount of backtracking you do to check on older ones, you reveal more or less of the story.

This non-linear story style would be seriously terrible if the sections of the story you reveal aren't that good, which is thankfully not the case here. At its best, the story in Legend of Mana is like a collection of loosely related and sparsely told fairy tales. These are given life thanks to a colorful and interesting cast of characters that are helped by expertly localized dialogue.

While this does spare the game's narrative from being a completely negative aspect of the game, this doesn't mean that game's story doesn't suffer from its segmented nature and lack of guiding arc. That's most evident when you are trying to reveal more of the story by revisiting places you have been to without any hints or guidance.

This leaves you with the equally bad options of being lost in the game's story or having to consult a guide.


"We can't get to the top without the flame of hope in our hearts"

I think that Legend of Mana's non-linear story and disjointed progression would be less of an issue if the gameplay was consistently engaging and fun, which, unfortunately, isn't. Like any RPG, the gameplay is divided into two parts: the actual combat and the preparation that supports it

Following the series's style of action RPG gameplay, the combat is real-time action-focused. Where the previous games had a top-down style that isn't very different from The Legend of Zelda, this one is closer to brawlers with its side-scrolling action with multiple lanes.

Your character can move freely around the battlefield, but they can only attack enemies in their lane. The basic attack can be combined with heavy attacks, and there are multiple skills that can help you evade attacks or move you into better positions. As you attack, you fill a meter which allowed you to use powerful special. moves. Supporting you in battle is one CPU-controlled ally and a monster pet.

In theory, the battle system has a lot of promise. However, it's too slow and sluggish and ends up being repetitive and boring. This is especially obvious with how easy the game usually is (until you reach some inexplicable difficulty spikes). After several dungeons, I was just flat-out bored by the extremely repetitive nature of combat.

The feeling of boredom is compounded by feeling a definite lack of progression. Your allies are random and cannot be customized, while your pets may become under-leveled due to the obtuse leveling mechanic (unless you get a certain rare item, the pets must physically gather experience shards from defeated enemies, but the AI is stupid and doesn't get them before they vanish).

"Items may bring new beginnings. Cherish what you encounter in life"

Admittedly, maybe the sense of character stagnation is due to my own lack of engagement with the game's two ain preparation systems: the monster raising and the equipment crafting. However, in my defense, I didn't plan to get a degree in alchemy when I started playing this game.

Seriously, the sub-systems in this game are so involved and convoluted that I feel they require a degree of some kind to be mastered. There are tons of items you can use in crafting and rating monsters, each with its own effects and combinations. Successfully doing anything requires several rounds of expensive trial and error if you don't grasp the "theory" of these systems.

Fans of the game have figured out ways to completely break it, crafting extremely powerful weapons early, and reducing the little challenge the game has. Of course, this is its own kind of fun, but that's not the kind I'm looking for.

Instead, I am left grappling with an obtuse and needlessly convoluted system that I barely want to engage with. Luckily, thanks to the forgiving nature of the game, I rarely need to at all. Ironically, thanks to how the game unfolds, you may play more than half the game without ever unlocking any of these systems at all.

Unfortunately, despite the game being ripe for other activities to do other than combat and preparing for combat, there is little else to do in the Legend of Mana world. This is a shame since it would have been nice to engage more with the game's quirky characters. At least, I wished there was more to the world-building part of the game.

"He ha the blood of a demon in him, and he posses absolute power. He will become the king of both worlds"

Despite my best attempts at enjoying the game, I am simply sad that I just couldn't. I am sad because this is a game that was obviously crafted with a lot of love and talent behind it. Just a cursory look at the game's brilliant graphics and unique artistic design is enough to prove that.

Seriously, the game's choice for going with 2D hand-drawn backgrounds and sprites justifies itself with a vengeance. This is a beautiful-looking game. The backgrounds are gorgeous, conveying such a lush tapestry of colors and images that could be some of the best graphics (if not THE best) on the PS1.

This is supported by some truly unique and revolutionary sprite-work that conveys the unique design of the Legend of Mana world. Each of the game's many named NPCs features its own hugely imaginative design, from a sentient teapot to a centaur bard.

In fact, I would say that the game's graphics didn't need any work for the remastered version of the game, because it still looks s damn good on the PS1's original hardware.

Not to be undone by the graphics, the soundtrack is also excellent. In fact, this is one of Yoko Shimomura's own personal favorite soundtracks, and it isn't difficult to understand why. From an absolutely gorgeous title track, the game opens with an interesting Swedish vocal song, and the soundtrack rarely dips in quality at all.

The game's tracks convey the unique world of the game successfully, and they add a mysterious and soulful quality to the game's narrative when it needs to, and moments of excitement when the action calls for it. In fact, it makes it a little bit difficult to choose some favorite tracks like I usually like to, so I am just going to mention the "Title Theme" which is typical to Shimomura, and "To the Sea" which is more energetic and may remind you of her later Mario & Luigi soundtracks.

Unfortunately, one minor criticism of the soundtrack is due to the game's random sequencing. It may cause some tracks to repeat a tad too often, and it may sometimes lead to an incorrect build-up of musical dram. It's like listening to a symphony randomly spliced together.

But it still sounds great in front of some amazing graphics.

In Conclusion:

Mostly, I feel a bit disappointed that I didn't like The Legend of Mana as much as I hoped I would. Right of the bat, I knew that the game's non-linear narrative and style would need a lot of work through its gameplay to win me over.

Unfortunately, that ended up being the game's weakest part, since I could forgive its disjointed story but could never forgive its boring gameplay and combat.

Sadly, the game's weaknesses absolutely betrayed the major strengths in graphics and sound that it had. If it had the gameplay and story that it deserved, I am sure that this would have been one of the best games on the PS1.

Final: 6/10

Pros:

• Brilliant graphics
  
• Excellent soundtrack
  
• Great and unique character design
  
• Some interesting stories
  

Cons:

• The basic combat is just too boring
  
• The non-linear story progression is confusing
  
• Lacks a sense of progression
  
• Confusing and super-involved sub-systems
  

"Tips"
1-Always talk to the little cactus vase next to your bed after each mission.
2-Find the item that distributes experience points evenly and always equip it.
3-Check the books in your house for some useful information.
4-Use different attack commands to unlock different ones.
5-using different commands also unlock different moves.
6-Using different weapons upgrade your character differently.
7-Maybe use a guide to figure out what you need to do.
8-Maybe ignore all the superfluous stuff around the game to enjoy it more.

"Next Game"

I really wanted to like this game. It's just too damn gorgeous not to love, but it simply was too boring to play, and that's never a good thing. Maybe if I played it when I was younger, I would have just been absorbed in its beautiful world and sounds, but not today.

The next game on the addendum list is another "cult classic" that doesn't feature in Retro Sanctuary's streamlined top 100 PS1 games list. Kartia: The World of Fate is an RPG made by Atlus, who were yet to be widely known in the West as they are now, and it is supposedly a really good game. Here is hoping for a hidden gem.

Stay Tuned

@Firenze Finished Nier Replicant (properly finished it, seen all endings including E).

While Automata had the vastly superior gameplay, this one had the better story and characters in my eyes. All the backtracking and fetch sidequests were the worst, other than that pretty good game. The second playthrough which gave more context to the villains was much better done than Automata's but there was nothing like Automata's epic playthrough C and finishing sequence.

Anyway my GOTY is by far Resident Evil Village. Am I the only one in GL who played it?

I haven't played any new games since Ghosts.

Don't really want to play PS4 versions of games and even if i did my PS4 sounds like a plane taking off.