SomTervo

That's not the player, you numpty!

Well, shit, somebody snuck a cheeky picture of the dialogue system in progress. Looks fuckin' A.

If you get accustomed to TW1 and 2, the third one is going to blow your socks off. It's on another level from most games, but in comparison with the first two, it's on a vastly different level.

Price point must be the big contention here. TBH the majority of games are bought based on only a droplet of knowledge of what will be in the game - that's just how it works. High-budget games are long. There's a lot of stuff in them. And we know there's a narrative here - even if most of the gameplay is non-narrative driven. Not a bad call re Sean Murray's chops, but I don't think it's totally on-point in this case. He was lead technical designer on Burnout 3 and several other games - so we know he can help craft good mechanics. The Joe Danger games were far from "just PSN games" in the pejorative and were renowned for being like Nintendo-away-from-Nintendo in terms of quality/refinement. IIRC other members of the team hail from really classy dev backgrounds, too (can't remember which, though, but like they've worked on some all-time great games). Another nice aspect of their ethic is that they don't announce anything for a game until they know it works fully in-situ. Murray's on record saying that. That is like the opposite of Molyneux's approach, haha. [edit]Here is the source of that: link. Murray talks about the frustration of knowing that they have a certain thing in the game, but not being able to actually tell people it's there.[/edit] The ultimate evidence of this ethos is that a year ago Murray said there were no plans for sentient alien races or dialogue/character systems in the game. Then in the last two weeks, they announce upwards of 4–5 sentient alien races (unconfirmed total number), with their own faction affiliations, languages and specialities. You can learn their language by finding script on their worlds or by trial and error (though you might offend them doing the latter) and then you can try talking to them for trade, info sharing or for fire support/backup. Dialogue can impact your faction rank with them and get you better/worse gear or aggro them. Before this, as far as we knew, the game didn't have any dialogue system or any other sentient life forms. That's a pretty massive thing to reveal for your game 2 months before release. That's like a primary game mechanic. And considering story/narrative content is easier to develop and implement than entire game mechanics, I think there's plenty they are keeping under wraps. I'm with you, GOH - I'm getting it on PC, so price point isn't as much of an issue. I'll be there on CDkeys 2 weeks before release, or a week after. From what I've heard, they're struggling to get it running on the PS4's CPU, so PC is clearly a safer way to go anyway.

Heck, none of the Uncharted games have that issue. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) Yeah, I loved the multiplayer beta, but I can't deny that the maps are disappointingly flat. They're still well designed and generally great maps, but where are the Highrises? Where are the Museum's? However, I don't agree at all re your reading of the CoD-style killstreak stuff. Uncharted 3 was ruined by that. Utterly ruined. Weapon upgrades, perks, kickback boosters, boosters, specials... It was a total clusterfuck of unnecessary AAA-feature-creep mechanics. I love how Uncharted 4's approach has simplified it to a handful of 'tools' you can deploy at any given time based on how much 'money' you earn during a match. That's simple and elegant, unlike UC3's five different perks/tools at any given time with constant on-screen updates and audio reminders.

what the shit! some people mentioning it's probably for Smash Bros. remaster, though, which is obviously infinitely more likely

Just decided to go for it because the Open Beta gelled with me so well. 10 hours later, I'm loving it. Seriously great loot-based action RPG. It's like Diablo: The Third Person Shooter. Any of y'all want to join me, add me on UPlay: Som_Tervo. PS Destiny can go suck a fuck

That seems pretty unfair. Demon's Souls cost $60 back in 2009 and nobody knew shit about it or how it worked. It just looked like a "linear, janky RPG" from all the gameplay videos. And the devs intentionally keep a lot of content under wraps until the game releases. Hello Games are doing literally exactly the same as From in this regard but are getting rammoed by skeptics. The devs are on record saying that there is a lot about the game they are keeping under wraps. Imagine it from their perspective: why would you procedurally generate an entire universe, show off what it can do in a couple of videos, then leave the universe empty of meaningful content/activities for the next two years? What have they been doing for two years? Twiddling their thumbs? Mainly Devil's Advocating here. The game might be totally shit.

Been absolutely rammed by a couple of the puzzles in this game. I feel you, DPH. I looked up the solution for a tetris puzzle I mistakenly thought was a tutorial one, because I hadn't explored the rest of the island, and it sort of spoiled it for me. Now I'm getting to really complex puzzles and sitting there thinking "I can spend 2 hours to try and do this and maybe do it, or I can look it up (thus ruining the game) or I can play another game which I'll be progressing within 10 minutes". It's a pity. Says more about us than the game in any way, though! Edit: There is one puzzle I think they didn't tutorial well enough, though.

SO yeah I guess this is the relevant place to yap on about the Rise of the Tomb Raider £6 thing on the Windows 10 store. Do it. Seems like a really great game. It's honestly absurd how much you save with PC gaming. Brand-new games for £25 or less and stuff. Or £10, as the case above may be. I remember two days after Mad Max came out back in September, it went on CDkeys.com for £11. I couldn't believe it. That was two weeks after I built my PC. Sometimes I'd still prefer a console, but most of the time PC does the trick. And obviously, some of those tasty exclusives *salivates*

This is all so terribly exciting! PS love the thread subtitle.

As said in the other thread, I got Rise of the Tomb Raider for £6. On Windows 10 you can change your 'Region' settings and buy games at their prices in other countries (seems like Ukraine and India are among the cheapest). It's totally legal, but yeah, I feel dirty. The game seems really bloody good. I'll probably buy it further down the line on a Steam sale to ensure they get some money for it.

The problem is if they implemented fast travel it would make so many of the quests absolutely vacuous experiences - your port crystal experience would become the norm and nobody would engage with the overworld properly. The solution IMO would be to make the overworld a bit more dynamic. It's still great like it is, but after a while you're like "oh yeah, there is an orc behind that bush. There's a bunch of harpies there. A boulder is about to roll down the hill." In Souls this works because you're so agile, and there are so many shortcuts, that you can sprint through any area in seconds, but in Dragon's Dogma you've just got to trudge through this far more massive world. It would be solved if there were randomised/dynamic battles/events throughout the world and no enemies spawned in the same places, so it was always a fresh adventure. Of course, this is infinitely easier said than done. Apparently when you get to games of this scale/detail, the smallest 'randomised' aspect is fucking hard to do. On-topic: I got Rise of the Tomb Raider for £6 using the region-swap trick on Windows 10. I feel a bit dirty. The game is clearly worth £30+ and I'd happily pay that for it, but I'm not exactly flush with cash. Perhaps I'll buy it on Steam at a later date once I see it on a deal. Initial thoughts: the writing and pacing are far better than TR2013, which was on-the-whole really shit for that. However, it's still not Uncharted-level. Most of the dialogue and voice acting still misses the mark and comes off as forced/false. However, the pacing is so much better that it's easier to forgive the actual writing quality. This game has an actual introductory sequence (rather than a horrible PC-FPS-circa-2003-tier pre-rendered cutscene) and there's a nice ebb and flow of drama and pauses and action and mystery introduction then more action. It's still not as flawlessly paced as a Naughty Dog game, but it's getting there. The actual gameplay seems like it might be Uncharted 2-tier, so that is excellent. It's safely better than Uncharted 1 or 3, though I doubt it's going to match Uncharted 3's set pieces. I love the 'learn the language' mechanic. Makes all the generic 'read this tomb wall' objectives actually compelling. Edit: I particularly like that RotTR has an 'Extreme' difficulty equivalent, which is substantively different from the standard three difficulties. It has more enemies, less health regen, etc etc. Really, really adds to replay value.

From what I've heard, 'later' puzzles might not be solvable until you've gone and done some other puzzles laterally. Apparently you have to amass an arsenal of puzzle 'tools' or 'ammunition' from across the board before other, disparate puzzles will click for you.

I absolutely feel you. I might even trade in a few games for it. Just too much for me until payday at least. Maybe it'll be cheap on CDkeys.com at some point for PC.

I watched Intacto the other night. It's not full-blown crap, but it deserves to be in this thread for being a film with an amazing concept which it completely doesn't make the most of and completely wastes. It is the very definition of heinous. I can't believe people watch it without irony.

I don't have The Witness yet, but IIRC: 700+ puzzles in a large open world 40+ hours to do the 'main' ones, 100+ hours to do everything puzzles are justified by the story which is largely a 'work it out for yourself' kind of deal, but is apparently amazing and still has actual story dumps the puzzles are apparently very high quality 90% of the time and often mind-blowing to solve I don't think length should be a worrying issue for you. I'd worry more about pacing/how compelling it is. It sounds similar to Fez for me - loved the idea, enjoyed playing it, but just didn't have the time/mental energy to sit down and work shit out. I can't wait to play The Witness because I love Blow's work but I feel it might turn out the same way for me and I'll stop playing within 10 hours or so. Edit: if you liked Talos you should probably just goddamn go for it, boy!

That's fair enough - can sympathise with all of them blurring into one experience! I played each of them to death before the subsequent ones came out, so they're distinct in my mind. Re the stealth/sandbox thing: it's only properly true of Uncharted 2, where you can stealth a significant portion of the encounters and there are loads of tools lying around for you to use. Obviously not as many as TLoU, which has some GOAT encounter design, but you can do stealth and improvisation a lot in UC2 as well. BTW, you know the same lead designers worked on Uncharted 2 and TLoU? They weren't in charge of UC1 or UC3 and it shows, particularly when you play TLoU and UC2 in close succession. Those two have similar approaches to mini-sandboxes and player freedom in each combat scenario. The more you play and the more you mess with the sandboxes, the more you discover. Amazing design. The same design team are leading on Uncharted 4, and adding loads more mechanics and open areas which are 2-3x the size of TLoU's... It's going to be good. I'd recommend replaying UC2 at some point if the feeling ever takes you, and bumping the difficulty - but yeah don't bother touching Uncharted 1 or 3 again. Gameplay in those is much more of a chore as you say. I still like it personally, but can easily see why one wouldn't. Anyway! On topic. Me and my gf are about to finish Lifeline, the iOS game where you're getting text messages from someone who has crash landed on an alien planet, and you advise them on what to do. It is fucking good.

But only a small minority of them are wave-based. Almost none of the fights in UC3 are wave-based and only a handful of the many in UC2 are (and they're half as long). That was mainly my point. Only UC1 has that problem. Regardless of that, though, yeah, agree to disagree. I've got no problem with the fact you don't dig the combat.

Girlfriend got me Dead of Winter for Xmas. Look forward to a wee sesh on that, hopefully this weekend. Also got Cursed: Escape from the Temple. Hadn't played it before. Really good 10 minute game, tbh. You're almost totally at the whim of the die and it's tiringly fast-paced, but if you're up for a frantic, shouty laugh, it's great.

Playing Assassin's Creed Syndicate mainly, with bits of Mad Max and Fallout 4 on the side. For the record: Assassin's Creed Syndicate is the best AC game made to-date and is the only AC game (imo) to be a legitimately excellent game outwith the series itself. Most of the time it's more like GTA Victorian London meets open world Thief meets Victorian Hitman. It is fucking glorious. It's the first ever AC game I've played that I think about on a daily basis and actually look forward to playing every evening. It's an utter pleasure. So many little things are streamlined/improved. It has an awesome female protagonist. There's a grappling hook which reduces your climbing/faffing time to 1/10th what it was previously and opens up stealth sandboxes with ease. There are loads of gadget improvements, like how Frenzy darts work with nearby objects, and how pistols are structured. The world has lots of moving parts - the Thames is full of awesome boats all rolling along dynamically which you can steal from and free run across. Trains go about their business. Horses and carriages can be climbed on/ all over so you can do Just Cause style stunts, car chases and rooftop fistfights. The combat hasn't been changed much - but has been doubled in speed. So it's not longer a big hassle getting in a fight - you can take apart enemies in seconds, and viciously. On top of that - there are now a handful of factions in play at once. If police see you in a fight, they'll get involved. If your gang members see you in a fight, they'll get involved. If enemy gang members see you in a fight, they'll get involved. It's an actual sandbox. Often, a typical 'kill the criminals' ambient objective can turn into a street-wide riot, full of gunshots and screams and people trying to escape (while you zip to a rooftop and watch). There are other cool things about combat - like there's now a dedicated dodge button for being shot at, which makes you feel like a badass actually dodging bullets. So awesome. Grab the chest. Grab the chest like you're a rando in a heaving nightclub. Re DD:DA, some dude on NeoGAF made a save file converter so you can copy your DD:DA save file from PS360 to PC. I played the game to about 2/3rds completion on X360 and now have a gaming PC, so I was super down with that. But I only ever had vanilla Dragon's Dogma on Xbox 360. And the save file converter only works with Dark Arisen console saves. *biggest sad face ever*