Video game spotlight thread



  • @Magus said in Video game spotlight thread:

    @powerlord i don't know what to think of battleborn. It could be very good, and they seem to have put some story behind it, which is nice. But if it's anything like SMNC, with fps controls but moba stats... I'd never be able to play it.

    That's my biggest concern over Battleborn. I liked MNC, I didn't like SMNC.

    Overwatch seems really good, and if I had friends around to lan it with, I'd play it crazily.

    Well, I've been a member of various Team Fortress 2 gaming groups over the last 8 years. Which means I know a lot of people who were playing in the Overwatch open beta, so it wasn't uncommon for me to be playing in a group of 6 even if they weren't all people I personally knew.

    Overwatch is set to steal a lot of TF2's audience. A lot of this is due to the slowly degrading performance of TF2 as Valve continues to update it, combined with the fact that it's nearly 9 years old at this point. Overwatch is mechanically similar to TF2, but a bit more fast-paced and a bit more focused on abilities.



  • @blakeyrat Grump.

    An awful jumping puzzle in the level "The Argent Tower", followed by the game crashing with no error message is cooling me on the whole thing.



  • @blakeyrat And... it crashed again. Ugh.


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @blakeyrat said in Video game spotlight thread:

    Want to feel old?

    After this week, I don't need that to feel old, dude.


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @loopback0 said in Video game spotlight thread:

    It's good so far, definitely better than I remember Doom 3 being.

    I was just playing some Doom 3 today. Ugh. Everything is so dark, and you can't use a flashlight at the same time as a weapon--all the old complaints came flooding back.



  • @FrostCat said in Video game spotlight thread:

    @loopback0 said in Video game spotlight thread:

    It's good so far, definitely better than I remember Doom 3 being.

    I was just playing some Doom 3 today. Ugh. Everything is so dark, and you can't use a flashlight at the same time as a weapon--all the old complaints came flooding back.

    They changed this in the BFG Edition as well as changing lighting shaders in general.

    Then again, I only have the BFG Edition because it was half off during a sale, then knocked another $5 or so off because I had Doom 3 already. So, it only cost like $5.


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @powerlord said in Video game spotlight thread:

    They changed this in the BFG Edition as well as changing lighting shaders in general.

    Huh. I thought I had the BFG Edition, but I guess if I did, it would say that in Steam, so maybe not.



  • @FrostCat Yes, it definitely does tell you if it's the BFG Edition:

    0_1463367696996_doom3bfg.PNG

    Edit: I know I played through all the content in the BFG Edition including Doom 1 and 2, but 47 hours? Did I go afk when I had the title screen up or something?


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @powerlord Ok, I just regular Doom 3 and RoE. I'm certainly not going to buy it again.



  • @FrostCat So yeah, just install the Duct Tape mod for Doom 3 to fix the Flashlight issue.

    I edited this in to a previous answer, but I only have the BFG edition because it was on sale and, at the time, they also gave you a discount if Doom 3 was already in your library. That and some friends said something about wanting to play it multiplayer then we never did (whoops).



  • @blakeyrat The jumping puzzles are a bit shit, slows down what is otherwise a pretty damn good game.

    I like the fact there is buggar all plot, and the intro sequence is about 10 seconds long. I like the fact that the protagonist is filled with rage and just wants to beat the shite out of everything.



  • @lucas1 said in Video game spotlight thread:

    I like the fact there is buggar all plot, and the intro sequence is about 10 seconds long.

    There's a plot. Have you been playing while comatose? It's actually pretty (unintentionally?) funny.

    @lucas1 said in Video game spotlight thread:

    I like the fact that the protagonist is filled with rage and just wants to beat the shite out of everything.

    I'm not very far into the game, but based on how it started I'm calling it now: there's a reveal that you've been transformed into a demon.



  • @blakeyrat
    And then John was a zombie.


    Filed under: [Repercussions of Evil](http://www.peterchimaera.com/doom.html)


  • @blakeyrat Yes there is a plot, however it is is about as deep as the plot of Angry Birds. If it didn't exist, it wouldn't make any difference.



  • @lucas1 Look, if Half-Life 2 can use a setting as a plot and people rave and rave over it for years, then DOOM can do the same thing. Either a detailed setting with lots of background events going on is a plot or it ain't. The HL2 example seems to show that the gaming industry has whole-heartedly declared it is.

    I still kind of disagree with that (even decades later, people, no HL2 doesn't have a good plot, it has a good setting with a shitty plot!) but I've been outvoted. So at some point you're gonna have to cope with the 21st century reality here.

    In any case:

    It's not my fault you were all idiot dumb head stupid dumb moron stupid!!!!!

    @lucas1 said in Video game spotlight thread:

    If it didn't exist, it wouldn't make any difference.

    This is clearly not true. I'm much more interested in seeing the UAC's next crazy motto about power their facility literally from actual literal hell than I am seeing whatever boring skeleton-headed monster id has coming next. Because those mottos are fucking hilarious.



  • So, the game Zero Escape 3: Zero Time Dilemma is about to come out on 3DS/Vita/Steam.

    While I look forward to the game, Spike Chunsoft and the game's producer Kotaro Uchokoshi posted these tweets this morning:

    https://twitter.com/SpikeChunsoft_e/status/741167032591372289

    The video in Spike Chunsoft's post is the opening video to the first game in the same series... Zero Escape: 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors. However, the video is at a much higher quality than the DS could produce. This video was also not present in the "novel" version that came out on iOS with all the gameplay sections removed.

    While I liked the second game in the series better than the first, the first still has its charm. And since it's very hard to find these days, an updated re-release would be very welcome, particularly if it could add the flowchart from the iOS version without removing the gameplay sections like the iOS version did.

    Also, when Spike Chunsoft ported Danganronpa to Steam, the sequel came shortly afterward...



  • [METAGAL](http://store.steampowered.com/app/467850/)

    So, I really wanted to like this game, and for the most part, I did. I was intending to do a positive spotlight post on it before playing more of it tonight, and I'm a bit glad I didn't so I wouldn't be coming back with a follow-up of "never mind, this game isn't that great" post.

    It's a Megaman clone. Very obvious from the screenshots and description, and when playing it, it feels like a honest attempt at being a Megaman clone while still changing some things to make it a little distinct.

    • Has stage select, and you absorb a boss' power when you beat it. If you have the right power from a previous boss, it does "extra" damage to specific bosses. Problem is, the game only has 8 levels, and only the first 4 can be done in any order. The final set of levels unlock one at a time after finishing the first 4 (though you can go back and replay any of the last 4 levels for "no reason" since there's no additional powerups in them).
    • Shooting is always in 3 round bursts instead of a shot per press. This seems negative, but you get used to it and you can get a powerup that lets you fire a second birst before the first burst is gone.
    • Weapon powers are always "secondary" and they recharge. Of them, only one weapon doesn't use the full bar each shot. You can get a powerup that makes it recharge faster, and you start with one weapon power (though it's neutral as far as boss weaknesses go, and actually is mostly useless weapon power).
    • Unlimited lives. There's no "game overs" to make you restart a level. If you die, you go back to a checkpoint, and there's always 3 checkpoints in a level (with the last right before a boss). And, if you don't want to go back to a checkpoint, if you get a "gear" item, you can use it to revive at the beginning of the screen where you died (except against bosses, using the gear still pushes you back to the checkpoint and wastes it).

    Seems like it'd be a good deal, right? Definitely seemed better than MIghty No. 9 (which I've played and beat and am fairly disappointed by, but that's a different post I might never make), but there are a few big problems:

    • The story. It plays out in the beginning so bad. There's no backstory before the plot, which is a geeky inventor and 3 of his android daughter inventions mixed in with soldiers from the evil General Creeper, who says he's capturing him to force him to make weapons while also taking the daughters to make them into soldiers (they're the bosses of the first 4 levels). A 4th daughter shows up to help the inventor and her sisters by taking out the soldiers, then a 5th daughter shows up, siding with the bad guy to defeat the 4th daughter and force them all into captivity. Then, when you actually start the game, you get another cutscene with the 6th daughter, who you play as, who is contacted by the inventor, told the situation, and is transformed into a soldier to go fight. The first cutscene is rushed and a bit of a clusterfuck, especially considering the story twist of "one of the inventor's creations has turned on him" but spoil it in the introduction, and the second cutscene made me cringe because the character you play as goes, effectively, "we have a powerup station LOL COOL!"
    • If you are going to have vertical scrolling, bottomless pits should be easy to tell from legitimate drops, or should only exist in sections without said vertical scrolling. There's a few spots where it vertically scrolls but the only thing below is death, and there's no wall bouncing to recover from those falls.
    • The lack of Energy Tanks. Granted, this seems like a somewhat minor thing in a game that has health pickups, health drops from enemies and unlimited lives, but the big problem point for it is in boss fights, particularly the final boss fight. Speaking of...
    • The final boss fight. Number of problems with this one:
      1. Before you even start it, you get a "cutscene" where you go to rescue the inventor, but fall into a trap and start the boss fight. Not a big deal if you see it once, but it happens every time, and you can't "skip" it, you can only skip the 2nd half of the conversation when you're in the actual boss chamber.
      2. It's a multi-part boss fight. Defeat the first form and it transitions to a second form. Problem is, the first form is hard. You can't hurt it with any conventional fire, you have to wait for the boss to drop an attack that you can hit with one specific weapon to force it back on the boss and hurt it. Problems with that are, the weapon you use is not a straight firing, you throw out two land mines, the attack the boss does is a bouncing ball which can bounce over the mines you throw, sometimes the bouncing ball just ignores that it hits a mine (or that you hit it with a mine) so it doesn't go up, the boss has to be over the ball when it gets hit since it flies up, and the ball can be destroyed both if you take too long or if you bounce on your own mines and "scroll it off screen".
      3. The first form has 3 attacks. The bouncing ball, a "stand between the thrusters" sweep, and machine gun fire from the sides. The ball and thrusters are alternated as "special attacks", while the machine guns are just the rest of the time on an interval. Problem is, sometimes the machine guns fire while it is setting up the special attacks (which includes when you're in position to be between the thrusters, so you can't dodge), or will fire back to back if it apparently misses the interval when it should fire (either because of a special attack or because you managed to do damage).
      4. You can't heal during the fight (no Energy Tank system) and you don't get any healing after phase 1. You have to get to a point where you can do phase 1 perfect to have a hope on phase 2.
      5. Phase 2, the boss is effectively an Evil Iron Man, and you don't get enough practice before dying and restarting to phase 1. And what would seem like a good use of the "revive" feature to let you skip phase 1? Doesn't exist. Using the revive is no different than restarting at the checkpoint, except you lose one of your "gears" to revive.

    Honestly, besides the end boss, it was a pretty neat (if fairly obviously rough around the edges) Megaman clone, which I would've recommended (and only has a base price of $4 and was 20% off during the Steam sale), but the final boss part alone has soured the game to me. I honestly don't think I could recommend it due to the massive difficulty spike that is the final boss. I understand that the last fight in the game should be the hardest, but it spikes far harder than it should.


    h3 tags show up very differently between preview and post, so I'm going up one, and I think I'm going to switch to either another "Megaman clone" or try out Stardew Valley. Choices, choices...



  • @ChaosTheEternal that sounds worse than mn9 to me, where at least rey mode was awesome.



  • @Magus I had more things I disliked about Mighty No. 9 than METAGAL, but I haven't tried the Ray DLC yet. I might give it a whirl sometime soon (and possibly stream it like I was when I played MN9).



  • @ChaosTheEternal Just beware that it's... hard. A lot of what people complain about in that game is the constant quick deaths, which they see as being a departure from Megaman (HA! I don't think they've played Megaman games tbh, after all Quickman must not exist amirite?) - Rey makes that worse, because during boss fights in particular, you will be at critical health. Pretty much the whole time. It also makes Countershade's level harder, but in a way I found interesting: you can strategically leave enemies alive so you have things to absorb on your next run through an area. I actually liked that better.

    Interestingly, the best power and easiest boss as Rey is, unexpectedly, Avi.



  • @Magus said in Video game spotlight thread:

    Quickman

    One of the two worst parts of the most overrated Megaman game (not my videos but they are points I agree with).

    I don't recall many other levels in the series that were so heavily reliant on instant death sections (or definitely as many in one game as there was in MN9), though it has been awhile since I last played any of the Megaman games.

    @Magus said in Video game spotlight thread:

    it's... hard

    I went through the game without using the energy tanks until the final boss. A bit annoying that they give you an unskippable tutorial but they don't cover your, in general, "only healing option" during it. I also went through the whole game without the one button switch for boss weapons, but that might be a bit more on me (I didn't bother viewing any of the "grid o tutorial" tutorials, and the options screen had an oh so helpful tab of "????" that it'd skip over, and I'd only looked at the options screen before beating any of the bosses).



  • @ChaosTheEternal A lot of people also complain that the boss powers were useless, but apart from the stupid earth guy, I used all of them a few times. I mean, Battalion's weapon is insane, and beats the last boss's final form effortlessly (As Rey, I used Pyro's instead), but for several bosses, ice is crazily good - even if the electric one is just a slightly worse version of that. I used Countershade's ability for most of the game. If I'd noticed how Avi's worked, I probably would have used that too.

    The thing with those abilities is that the fact that they recharge automatically or from using them well makes them much more usable in general. In Megaman, they felt like a precious resource and I never wanted to use them in levels, unless they solved a particular challenge. In MN9, I frequently just ran around with them, because they were convenient. I liked that.



  • @Magus said in Video game spotlight thread:

    boss powers were useless

    Eh. I didn't really bother with them in stages beyond the fire explosion which you can use in some situations (not against enemies, but stage hazards), the boomerang which you hover with (and have to use at one point in the final stages, but I also used it to avoid rapid dashing in the final stage), and the sword, because it actually was useful. The others, yeah, not much use, and I didn't even bother with them in the boss fights until the final boss (first phase, the remote detonator worked great, second phase, the electricity burns through the neck of the plant pretty good).

    @Magus said in Video game spotlight thread:

    recharge automatically

    They don't recharge automatically, you had to absorb enemies to get them to recharge (unlike METAGAL, where that bar does just recharge on its own). Though, the game's heavy handed requirement of "absorb all the things!" (a point I hated) meant, in general, you always had ammo for them, unless you were accidentally completely killing things with the powers instead of absorbing them (a problem I did have using the lighting ability on the final boss, sometimes it straight out killed the neck pieces almost instantly).



  • @ChaosTheEternal said in Video game spotlight thread:

    and the sword, because it actually was useful. The others, yeah, not much use, and I didn't even bother with them in the boss fights until the final boss (first phase, the remote detonator worked great, second phase, the electricity burns through the neck of the plant pretty good).

    Weird. I hear a lot of people liked the sword, but I never really used it. The autoaim bounce snipe solved a huge amount of problems at a safe distance for me, but the remote detonator was insanely good. On the last boss, it'd destroy her neck and dela massive damage to the head the whole time. On her first form, I used ice to deal damage even when the shield was up, or lightning so I could dodge while dealing damage.



  • @ChaosTheEternal Speaking of the final boss fight, I did actually record it and put it on YouTube:

    Mighty No. 9 - Trinity Boss Fight (Normal) – 06:33
    — ChaosTheEternal

    The ending where I was slashing at the orb before absorbing it was burning off a bit of frustration from trying the fight (and redoing the stage) for about an hour and a half the night before, giving up for the night, then beating the boss first try the next morning.



  • @ChaosTheEternal See, when she's down like at 2:34, the remote mine will still deal damage: remember you can detonate it midair. Makes the second form hilariously easy, since it's never safe. Apparently the first form too, lol, I wonder why I didn't try that.



  • Duskers

    Official website | Steam store page

    It's a 2D strategy game about exploring randomly generated derelict spaceships by using remotely operated drones and by manipulating the ship's systems with the console. You gather resources with the drones in order to survive and uncover more of the story. It takes multiple playthroughs to fully uncover the truth.

    Trailers:

    Duskers Launch Trailer – 01:26
    — MisfitsAttic

    Duskers Teaser Trailer (part 2) – 01:14
    — MisfitsAttic

    Some guy's first time playing:

    You may all be wondering - What is Duskers? A Robot controlling command driven survival game – 15:56
    — Helloween4545

    My one complaint is that there are not enough enemy types. Other than that it's pretty cool IMO.



  • Oh yeah, I mentioned Zero Escape 3: Zero Time Dilemma a few posts up, but only to advertise its predecessor getting a new port. Zero Time Dilemma came out just over a week ago.

    Zero Escape is a series of Visual Novels that involve decisions and solving puzzles in addition to the usual narrative you see in a Visual Novel. The solving puzzles part almost always involves figuring out how to escape from a room.

    One thing that makes the series different is the huge set of branching paths that happens... and you may learn things in one branch that you need to use in a different, unrelated branch.

    Zero Time Dilemma Title

    Zero Time Dilemma was released for 3DS, Vita, and Steam. The first two are available as physical copies. All 3 are available through their online stores.

    This game has huge spoilers for the previous Zero Escape games and I recommend you play those first.

    Spike Chunsoft decided to go with an "edgier" graphics style this time around. The graphics aren't really anything to write home about and have lipsyncing issues with the spoken dialog.

    Having said that, the plot more than makes up for the graphics. It is actually more complex than the plots of the previous two games in the series. I don't want to spoil anything here though.

    In the game, the characters are split up into 3 groups. I'd tell you who is in each group, but some people prefer to go into the game blind.

    The game has one unique mechanic that the previous game didn't have: The characters are injected with a drug that makes them forget everything every 90 minutes. This is used to introduce a new game mechanic: the Fragment system.

    Every time you complete a Fragment, you are dropped back at the Fragment select screen. You select a team, then a fragment:

    Team Select

    Fragment Select

    You can see some fragments are locked. These will be unlocked as you complete other fragments in the timeline.

    Initially, you have no idea when the fragment you're playing takes place in the timeline. Completing at least one path through the fragment will place in on the global Flowchart.

    Most of the puzzles in the game were around the same difficulty as Virtue's Last Reward's puzzles, although there were a few that stumped me for a bit.

    All in all, I really enjoyed the game.


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place



  • @FrostCat Virtue's Last Reward has a chick who's topless except a thick necklace. I think she's supposed to be Mayan or something.



  • @blakeyrat Alice? I thought she was half-Egyptian, half-French.

    0_1467961646938_AliceOfficialArt.png



  • @powerlord said in Video game spotlight thread:

    Zero Time Dilemma came out just over a week ago.

    I'm still waiting to get it. Soon, though:

    0_1468006112395_upload-86d7c9ea-a533-41a4-8f01-e0091278ae26



  • @ChaosTheEternal Holy shit a second person owns a Vita?!?!



  • @ChaosTheEternal I canceled my order through Amazon and just bought it on Steam thanks to Amazon's idiotic shipping problems.

    Sure, that meant I didn't get the watch, but it'd just sit on a shelf collecting dust anyway.



  • QUICK! You are given the opportunity to meet the Pope (as part of a conference) and it is customary to give a gift to the Pope when visiting him. What do you do?

    Apparently give him fucking Undertale. If you couldn't tell, Game Theory jumped the shark from the FNAF crap, it's as plain as day.

    Now I know that MatPat's justification is that it's relevant to his culture, but seriously?
    I'll leave a list explaining why it's terrible here - Warning for mobile users: this is an image



  • @powerlord I don't have a problem waiting, I wasn't going to start playing it immediately. I also got a $10 credit due to said shipping problem.

    Besides, if I ever don't want the watch after it collects dust for awhile, I could possibly turn around and sell it for upwards of $200 (assuming the desire for them is the same as the VLR or 999 watch promos apparently still are).



  • @ChaosTheEternal said in Video game spotlight thread:

    Besides, if I ever don't want the watch after it collects dust for awhile, I could possibly turn around and sell it for upwards of $200 (assuming the desire for them is the same as the VLR or 999 watch promos apparently still are).

    Slight problem: Unlike previous watches, Aksys is going to be selling these ones directly once their preorder versions are fulfilled.



  • @Sumireko I get the impression MatPat has built a bubble around himself without realizing it.



  • @Sumireko said in Video game spotlight thread:

    Apparently give him fucking Undertale.

    I know, right? Of course you give him Postal 2.



  • @Maciejasjmj said in Video game spotlight thread:

    @Sumireko said in Video game spotlight thread:

    Apparently give him fucking Undertale.

    I know, right? Of course you give him Postal 2.

    Postal isn't edgy enough. How about the wonderful Doom mod "Grezzo Due"?



  • Starbound has finally hit 1.0, the story mode for all races is completed apparently.

    And Steam's doing such a good job of selling it:

    0_1469209085410_staboundwtf.png



  • @blakeyrat said in Video game spotlight thread:

    Starbound has finally hit 1.0, the story mode for all races is completed apparently.
    And Steam's doing such a good job of selling it:

    I my Steam system, I categorized it under Good, but not Great.

    0_1469210731462_upload-da6c9939-de7b-4566-ad14-18e127954ad8

    It's very similar to Terraria, but there's just something missing to push it to that level. If I had to guess, constantly hopping between planets instead of having one versatile world to call home didn't work out as well as expected.

    Since it's now 1.0, I guess I can give it another go.



  • @cartman82 You're not FORCED to hop between planets.



  • @blakeyrat said in Video game spotlight thread:

    @cartman82 You're not FORCED to hop between planets.

    Of course you are. There's very little to each individual planet. A few types of enemies, few resources and that's it. There are no different bioms or much to find beyond the first 10 minutes. The game expects you to pack up once you get what you need, and move to the next world.

    That's swell, but... I don't know. It just wasn't as interesting as really digging into one continuous world and making it your bitch.



  • @cartman82 Ok? But since it has a "home planet" feature you can pick one you like and take whatever biomes/animals/whatever you want TO IT.

    You can "make it your bitch" as much as you want.



  • Vagante

    Indie / Platform / Roguelite

    Few weeks ago, I decided I needed a new "podcast" game. I did a pirate-trial of a few suitable roguelites/ARPG-s, and this one won the right of being purchased.

    It's side-scrolling platform, with the usual roguelike-like trappings: perma-death, 10 minute runs, unidentified items and a lightweight unlock system (so far, I unlocked one new class and 5-6 starting modifiers).

    I like the way RPG elements work. Sure, you get your usual numeric stats, but most of progression is about obtaining new skills and unique traits (eg. double jump, death-save, fire aura, super-speed...). Makes exploration much more interesting.

    So far, I'm mostly playing as the warrior class. Rogue and brawler are OK too, but you need to get too close to enemies to be effective (which doesn't jive well with their squishiness). Wizard seems super-nerfed, didn't have much luck with that guy.

    I'd like to see a better variety of levels, some kind of save system and more unlocks.

    Even though it's in early access, the game looks polished and works great.


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @cartman82 said in Video game spotlight thread:

    Few weeks ago, I decided I needed a new "podcast" game. I did a pirate-trial of a few suitable roguelites/ARPG-s, and this one won the right of being purchased.

    Sounds great! I can hardly wait to watch the video!

    0_1469215060901_upload-5f46dd8c-0fc7-4a11-b3b3-2156521b1248

    There's this thing called YouTube....

    (Yes, I know I can just go to Steam and watch it there.)



  • @FrostCat said in Video game spotlight thread:

    @cartman82 said in Video game spotlight thread:

    Few weeks ago, I decided I needed a new "podcast" game. I did a pirate-trial of a few suitable roguelites/ARPG-s, and this one won the right of being purchased.

    Sounds great! I can hardly wait to watch the video!

    0_1469215060901_upload-5f46dd8c-0fc7-4a11-b3b3-2156521b1248

    There's this thing called YouTube....

    (Yes, I know I can just go to Steam and watch it there.)

    Mine works, which is great because all the video streaming sites I can think of are blocked where I work.


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @Lathun said in Video game spotlight thread:

    Mine works

    I bet you're not using Edge.



  • @FrostCat said in Video game spotlight thread:

    @Lathun said in Video game spotlight thread:

    Mine works

    I bet you're not using Edge.

    Nah I am using Chrome Version 51.0.2704.103 m


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