Chit-Chat: Back to the Grind(stone)

[Brolaire]

I really don't understand the hype about Call of Duty at this point. I really enjoyed Call of Duty 4, which got me playing for about five years, but looking back that was the only game I objectively enjoyed. Everything else I played just to play with other people, up until Advanced Warfare (Kevin Spacey is gr8). That was fun enough I bought Black Ops III, which I thought was incredibly poorly designed, despite being the game I thought I would have loved. Multiplayer campaign sounded like a dream come true until I realized the story was some bizarre Heart of Darkness cyber rip off. I have absolutely zero interest in Infinite Warfare, even with the Modern Warfare remaster. It's really weird how enjoying one game (CoD 4) got me to put thousands of hours into a series that I actually don't like at all lol.

 

[JJ Styles]

Allow me to share a conversation i had with my friend. This will relate to a lot of things i need to take of my chest. Its not rage related. No NO no no no. Its more of something else related. A generation + economical gap issue between us young adults and
the younger generation of gamers

Spoiler:

Piece of the convo that i forgot to place in because of my Bronze-tier MS Paint skills

That's why that Chubzdoomer fellow picked the low-hanging fruit by making that Doom CoD parody that I'm sure you've watched.
:))

I realized that i forgot to censor some expletive language in the convo but it shouldn't be an issue. I just want you guys to know something.

Both my friend and I love shooters since we were little children. And while i prefered the classic 90's Doom esque ish shooters, he was more of the modern shooters kind of dude because he doesn't like the whole thing of these old school shooters being mazes, and i understand his context why. You can already tell that i was making fun of him with the angry oogly eyes face, but he has his reasons. He's one of those people who feels pretty bad that its cool and hip to make fun and talk sh*t about Call of Duty, and he's a fan of the series since the first game. He actually got offended and triggered when he saw Chubzdoomer's Doom CoD parody (What if Doom was a modern FPS)

Also, we never got PS3's until we were already at an age bracket where we should be considered as adults. Heck, he still doesn't have a PS3 since he couldn't, and his family is rather strict about their economical standing. Most of the younger people in this audience probably have PS4s XBONERS, and what not right now after they enjoyed their PStriples, their ZangiefBox360s and stuff, especially to those living on your developed First World countries compared to me and my friend there who are Filipinos, living in the Philippines, a developing country that doesn't really have an economy that is something to be like top-tier compared to the likes of Singapore and Malaysia, so when PS3s came out years ago, it was still expensive for us to buy one.

But both of us really feel like a lot of kids nowadays try to be hip and cool by liking 90's stuff so that they can make fun of people who like the current modern stuff :))))

 

[pkmin3033]

Well, I don't really have anything to say about shooters - on the whole, it's a genre I've never really been interested in outside of a few titles - but it is interesting you bringing up what I suppose is now "retro" to most people, and how not experiencing these things whilst they're popular shifts your perspective.

I was actually a retro gamer growing up, as I was always a generation behind. I didn't get a PS2 until 2006, and I think I got my N64 in 2001 or so, around the time of the Gamecube's release...which I got a couple of years later for Christmas. I got a PS3 in 2009. I couldn't afford a DS until the Lite came out, either.

It's only been the most recent generation where I've been buying consoles within a few months of their initial release, and I guess that's affected my perceptions a bit. I just don't think modern titles are all that...well, I wouldn't say good because I've played a lot of great titles, but exciting at least. They just don't drum up the same levels of excitement in me that older titles did, as there seems to be this shift towards emulating past success and making things as polished as possible, rather than trying something completely new. Even with promising Kickstarted titles like Yooka-Laylee and Bloodstained, they're aiming for throwbacks to previous successes; Banjo-Kazooie and the Metroidvania titles, respectively.

There is nothing wrong with trying to recapture the magic of older games - it's what the fans want, and it sells games, and sales are all any publisher really cares about - but it does dampen enthusiasm somewhat, even if only just a little, because it's not a new experience. Growing up, playing the last big thing when the next big thing was just coming out, I missed a lot of the hype, so when I finally DID get around to them...well, I'd seen it before, and I just didn't get what the big deal was. I still don't. I don't really understand why people bash Call of Duty for being such a samey series...it's the same as any other shooter. This is probably why my favourite example of bad things, Square Enix, keeps trying to reinvent Final Fantasy with each game; they're trying to disguise the fact that they're using the same tired ATB system each time.

But I guess what I mean is that I suppose I can understand the attitude in part - even if I don't personally agree with it; people should be able to play and enjoy whatever the hell they please - and a part of me can also understand why games like FFVII and OOT hold up so well in the eyes of the fans even once you remove the nostalgia specs...things haven't really changed much since that time. It's like the industry arbitrarily decided that it had reached the Golden Age in the early 90s and now it's just not worth trying to be creative anymore. Well, except for Nintendo, who try to carve their market share out of over-innovating because they're always one step behind in hardware. The leap from 2D to 3D was the last big shift we had though, as it prompted deveopers to radically adjust their thinking to deal with this third dimension. But since then, nothing has really forced significant change, and as video games have become a much bigger thing and begun to appeal to a wider audience, it's become much more corporate and risk-averse. Again, this is not entirely a bad thing - localisation of titles has become much more prevalent, and there is a much greater variety of titles to choose from - but I think the industry has definitely lost a part of its spirit with this shifting dynamic, which has made it a lot harder to get really, truly excited. At least for me.

Sometimes I wonder if we'll ever see a completely new idea again, though. Games are still fun, and there is still creativity to be found in combat systems and story etc., but for the last couple of generations all developers have really been doing - even Nintendo; the Wii and DS were years ago now - is playing with concepts within clearly defined boundaries. Nothing has really pushed the boundaries of innovation. Nothing is new anymore. I suppose there is VR, but...well, honestly I put very little faith in VR at the moment. I think it'll need at least a decade of trial and error before it becomes a worthwhile experience.

 

[JJ Styles]

Before i go on with another lulzTLDR post, I'd like to advertise something:

Spoiler:

BLOOOOODDDD SPLASHIN! SPLASHIN IN THEIR BLOOOOOOODDDDDD!!! AND EVERYBODY'S INVITED! GRAB YOURSELF AN ENEMY MOOK, AND RIP IT OPEN LIKE A PORNO BOOK! WHOOOOOOO!!!!!!

For some reason, i feel like i wanna point out something that I never tried to state out... I remember especially last year (2015) where we had such an influx of retro style games to the point where it was so oversaturated with such. I didn't see the point immediately until i realized the demand for such. Was it that people were getting too sick of these games, especially PC games with very steep system requirements? Was it that people were getting kinda sick and tired of the Triple A's not offering enough "fun for the whole family", there's many theories behind it really, but i was just so fascinated with 2015's influx of retro-ish games. Not that I was ever against it, since it would benefit the likes of myself who play games with a 2009 toaster instead of a hot killer rig (its coming soon guys! When its there, expect more organ parties!)

I don't really mind the whole "recapturing of past success" thing since not only does it work, it helps modernize and revatalize what made it work in the first place, at least in an action game, where i feel like Action games need more revitalization. I know I've mentioned how Doom (From its classic roots to its 2016 game we have) is like one of the greatest things that mankind has ever gotten, FOR A hundred 700th time, and the whole reason why it works especially its 2016 game is that this kind of action in your shooter is something that we may never see again. Who knows? As much as I've biasedly said that the 90s esque manly badassery of first person shooters is coming back and its going to RIDE THE LIGHTNING WAVES, with Doom 2016 being the highlight of such, it could have gone a different way. People could have easily written of something as BADASS and MANLY as DOOM as a one-dimensional 90s-esque action game that can't compete with the likes of Battlefield, Call of Dudes, Halo, and other games that have far less Blood, Ultraviolence, Supermurder, Gore, blood curling adrenaline pumped Bloodbaths and fast paced action in exchange for "Narratives, Character development, Lore" and other superficial stuff that, in all honestly, I do not care ever especially when I'm supposed to be just there killing daemons, aliens, and possibly communist commies in the most savagely inhumane ways as possible, because when we play video games, WE ARE SAVAGE HELL SLAYERS! (Supposedly, the gaming media likes to think differently, because they are b*tches). Heck, I actually thought that trying to go back to the roots of what made First Person Shooters fun (and action games in general) was a big risk in today's Story-campaign based gaming culture of people preferring to have less of the delicious stuff and more of the stuff that people are used to since 2010 (Story, Narrative, Character development, Main characters with dialogue, "Being an art", Commentary about human society and culture, Hideo Kojima's writings) (I left out online multiplayer since that's something that I would want to talk about in a separate thread ^^)

Then again, I guess we can all blame the failure that was Duke Nukem Forever for gaming devs to lose trust in trying to go back to the 90's roots of action games. But we have come a long long way from that catastrophe do we ladies and dudes? ;)

To me at least, one great way that people can do, for now until some hot sweet new gaming ideas come out is to just do their best to modernize the magic of older games. Understand what made those older games so great, understand what current game engines we have, or each video game dev team has, and make good damn use of it. Shadow Warrior 2013 is another great example of a shooter from a classic gaming roots that has an excellent reboot (and I highly recommend EVERYONE to try it, its DAMN GOOD, especially since Shadow Warrior 2 is coming out soon) and for something that isn't a shooter, Yooka-Lalie is something I am so looking forward to because its a platformer. 3D PLATFORMER. something that I've wanted to come back in a glorious way.

Heck, if Advanced Warfare suddenly came up with ACTUAL LEVEL DESIGN and adrenaline fist pumping gameplay that would make the likes of Halo or even DOOM take some notice, where Activision + CoD dev teams finally realized that nobody likes the overly linear clown fiestas that CoD's campaigns have been for the past decade, and finally provide a CoD game that actually has beautiful level design, exploration, gun fights, fist fights, secrets, yellow-blue-red key hunting, arenas filled with enemy soldiers to murder, Boss fights against super soldiers and gargantuan mechs and such, my respect for the franchise can be at least revitalized a bit. BUT XIN, THAT WOULDNT BE A CALL OF DUTY GAME!? And I go like "F**K YOU THATS WHAT I'M TRYING TO POINT OUT SCRUB! *Mighty boot*"

As for a hot new gaming idea, I'm not entirely sure what people can come up with this time? A life simulator? Video games with PERMA PERMA DEATH (oh god), SUPERHOT 2 (actually SUPERHOT'S Time moves only when you move has gotten so popular that there are spinoffs of Super hot made by different developers, which is a nice thing), Undertale 3D with Unreal Engine 4? A FIRST PERSON SURVIVAL HORROR SET IN HELL ITSELF? More deconstructions of modern video games? Heck, Deconstructions of the modernization of the 90's esque games? I know the possibilities are so endless, endless as my endless rage.

maybe what I'm trying to say (to save for the rest of the readers with my incoherent rant) is that we just really want more refreshing titles since the last 2 years, and if that's the metagame that the industry would like to follow, I don't really mind. To me, as long as the game is good, its worth the price, its fun, and it offers something that i want, then its all well and good.

And I don't like being a gaming industry smark (like how i associate the modern gamer nowadays) in all honestly. I just want to kill faces!!

 

[pkmin3033]

Sorry, but I disagree there. I don't think the goal of developers should be to recapture past success. They should build on past success; refine the systems and constantly add to and look for ways to improve existing systems. Part of the reason nostalgia is such a driving force in the industry is because they don't do this. Maybe it's a question of semantics, but recapturing past success doesn't imply that there needs to be room for change and improvement beyond the marginal upgrade to performance that comes with improved processing power and more impressive graphics.

I mean, look at Nintendo...pretty much every 3D Zelda title after Ocarina of Time IS Ocarina of Time. The differences are so minimal it's ridiculous. Nintendo are so willing to shake up their hardware for better or worse - or they were last gen, anyway - but they're so unwilling to tamper with their base formula that playing some titles in their long-running franchises now is like playing the one you started with.

Sure, if it ain't broke, then don't fix it, and maybe there's only so much you can do. But you can improve things without breaking them. I mean, look at the slow evolution of the ATB system from the earlier FF titles up to FFXII - this is part of why I love FFXII so much; it was a natural evolution of the ATB system into full-time combat that incorporated the ability to set up your own AI. It was the same ATB system, but it was enhanced and improved. This is the sort of thing developers should be doing with long-running series to make them fresh and exciting each time.

...I always seem to come back to Final Fantasy as my example these days. A better example still is Disgaea, which has done nothing but build upon and improve its systems since the first title, adding features that make them more accessible to newcomers, streamlining time-consuming processes, and so on. I feel Disgaea 5 was a slight step backwards in some ways, but it made reaching god-tier stats a much easier and painless affair.

The Atelier titles also completely shake up the alchemy system between games as well; each game you have to learn what you're doing all over again and, whilst the core mechanics remain the same, the way you go about it is different each time, and you have to adjust your thinking and your play style. There was nothing wrong with Meruru's intensive synthesis system at all, but Ayesha improved on it significantly and made it much easier...too easy, I would argue, but hey. Escha & Logy made the system a little easier to predict, and Shallie improved on that further. Sophie's changed it all up again.

So no, just recapturing past success is not good enough. A system is not perfected with a single title, no matter how well that title is received or how well it handles. There is always room for improvement, and developers should always be looking to improve on gameplay is noticeable, meaningful ways, rather than just through a purely aesthetic fashion.

In this cookie-cutter world we live in, it's the games that go above and beyond just replicating an old experience that attract the most attention, even if it's just a cult following.

 

[EC]

Halo Wars 2 beta starting on the 13th of June, through the 20th.

 

[machomuu]

...Goddammit Xin, what did you do?

 

[pkmin3033]

It's Precure Musou. The trailer will explode in a fantastic shower of pyrotechnics and glitter, mark my words. Not buying it. Nope.

All these grimdark Musou, I want something colourful again ;_;

 

[Sir Codin]

Change for the sake of change can sometimes be a fallacious line of thought.

Exhibit A: NEW COKE

 

[pkmin3033]

Change should always be for the sake of improvement, never for the sake of change. Something Nintendo seems to be incapable of grasping if some of their newer titles are anything to go by...

 

[Sir Codin]

Except sometimes there can be a cap on what can be improved. Sometimes you reach a point where there's not really much to add that would be significant.

And really, what may count as "improvement" to one person might end up being superfluous to another.

 

[pkmin3033]

But on the other hand, there is no such thing as the perfect game, and the attitude that things do not need to improve is what leads to stagnation and repetition. It's a difficult balance to strike - if it is even possible to strike a balance on these things - but in my opinion the industry is utterly mired in nostalgia and no significant improvements are being made where they could be made. It's all superflous change designed to get us to buy what is essentially the same game over and over, because developers care about one thing and one thing only: profit.

I'm not saying it's a bad thing, or that games like this can't be enjoyable. But I am saying that developers shouldn't rest on their laurels the way they tend to.

 

[machomuu]

Except sometimes there can be a cap on what can be improved. Sometimes you reach a point where there's not really much to add that would be significant.

And really, what may count as "improvement" to one person might end up being superfluous to another.

I don't particularly think that improvement can ever be capped so long as one can think of something better. Perfection's hard- impossible even, depending on how you look at it, but it can be worked towards indefinitely. The only "cap" I can really see is how far one's outlook is.

And, of course, subjectivity. But y'know, that goes without saying.

---

https://gematsu.com/2016/06/spike-chunsoft-teasing-999-steam-release

I'm so goddamn happy to hear this. I know so many people who haven't been able to get into the series because of its DS exclusivity and the lack of any digital means to get it other than the nicer looking- albeit puzzle-less and worse- iPhone version.

999 now, VLR soon. This is a damn fine year for Zero Escape. And Spike Chunsoft, for that matter.

 

[pkmin3033]

I suppose my excuses for trying this series asides from a general lack of interest are starting to run out. Well, actually now a general lack of interest is pretty much my only reason, haha.

I'll call it a good year when I see the information on that new Danganronpa title and a solid release date for said title, though. I'd like another title similar to Ultra Despair Girls, too...I actually enjoyed that more than I did the VNs. Oddly.

 

[EC]

Nice bit of Rocket League DLC announced today. Can't believe it's almost been a year since release.

 

[Sir Codin]

Welp, it's Dark Souls 1 Reset weekend, where everyone in the DS community encourages everyone to drop what they're doing and go play Dark Souls 1 in an effort to try and recapture the feeling of Dark Souls 1's online community when it was ONLY Dark Souls 1 that was on the market.

In celebration of this and showcase my newfound fanboyism of Berserk, I present my Dark Souls 1 GUTS cosplay build:

https://www.mugenmonkey.com/darksouls/504381

Specifically, this is Guts during the Golden Age arc. His still has his original left arm, doesn't use a crossbow or the other Demon-slaying weapons he uses in the other manga arcs, and uses a smaller sword (that's still larger than most people can handle)

Greatsword (in Dark Souls 1 it looks like the Greatsword he uses in the Golden Age arc)

Caestus (for parrying, Guts NEVER used a shield but would sometimes deflect blows with his gauntlets/fake arm)

Balder Armor w/ Boots of the Explorer (Golden Age Guts attire, all of it looks similar to that)

VIT 70
END 40
STR 50
DEX 10

 

[pkmin3033]

I wonder if we'll ever get Dark Souls remastered for the PS4...I'm fairly surprised that hasn't been announced, actually. It'd make sense to have all three on the current generation, given their popularity...Demon's Souls, too. Although if they DID re-release Demon's Souls on the PS4 I would not be buying it. So many bad memories of Flamelurker...

Also, I wish the Steam Sale would hurry up and start. I want FFVIII and I want it NOW, but I'm trying to wait for the inevitable sale so I don't kick myself for buying it too soon. But I am itching to play it again. I might have to re-buy it on the Vita at this rate...which would actually be better for me because I prefer games on my handhelds, but eh.

 

[JJ Styles]

My favorite part about any game ever:

PLAYING DRESS UP.

check out my beast champion R6V2 counter-terrorist warrior who's ready to tactically eliminate some terrorist B*tches by shooting their a**holes with lead, and sticking grenades into their head cavities.

And considering what has happened lately, (Check out Round Table. I posted some news), i think i'm not in the mood for now. Maybe i should just play something peaceful..

 

[pkmin3033]

Character customisation is always fun! I typically spent at least half an hour designing my player character when given the opportunity...well, when there are enough options available. I like being a mini white-haired heterochromatic warrior, unoriginal as it may be! In Dark Souls III I even managed to make my character look blind in one eye with scar placement; it was awesome.

Sometimes it's nice to take a break from the intense grind of what you usually play, too. Atelier titles are my way of relaxing in between more complex JRPGs (although the synthesis system is tricky enough sometimes...) and stage-based Warriors titles are great for frustration. It's not good to play the same thing over and over, which is why I like to expand my horizons.

News sucks, though. 22 is far too young to go.

 

[Judge Mandolore Shepard]

Yeah, character customization in video games is quite fun. I recall when I was doing my third playthrough of Saints Row The Third, I customized my character to have a zombie voice. As for the first time I played The Elder Scrolls Online, I recall I made my Altmer (High Elf) male have an eyepatch since he was blind in one eye. Course then there was my first male Commander Shepard, who had a scar near one eye and it went across an eyebrow, in the first Mass Effect.