toxicitizen

GET HYPE!

Yeah, I've been curious about that one for a while. At the very least, it's a really interesting premise for a game.

Couple more. Been waiting for a deal on the TEW season pass and the last bit of DLC came out not too long ago, so I had to jump on it. Looking forward to playing it. So far, it's not going too bad. I've made more unplanned purchases than I expected to have made this early in the sale, but they were dirt cheap and I've already passed on two big maybes that were on my list because the deals weren't good enough. This is like the second time I pass on Watch_Dogs. It would've probably been an instabuy at 10 bucks but at this price I just can't bring myself to pull the trigger. Also, I should probably play Black Flag first, I guess. Anyway, now if the only two games I'm actually planning to buy no matter what could go on the daily/flash deals soon, that'd be great. I don't wanna have to wait until the very last day to get them.

Hahahaha, no. Maybe. ....yes.

Welp, this sale is off to an absolutely horrible start. I've actually heard good things about Hatoful Boyfriend but HuniePop was more of a morbid curiosity purchase. I fully expect to regret my decision.

I take it you didn't read my predictions then, because that was already known and I mentioned it. My prediction about ScaleBound is also wrong, turns out. QB, SB and Crackdown are all skipping E3. I really hope for MS that they have something big to show because otherwise I have no idea wtf they're thinking with this one. Cynicism is the correct attitude to have towards this industry. That way you're never disappointed. You're either pleasantly surprised or you get the smug satisfaction of being right.

Are you insane? Mino clearly has the smoothest moves!

Atlus decided to get an early start on the traditional E3 cringe party. I mean, I'm as excited about Persona 4: Dancing All Night as any other Persona fanboy but that's just... I have no words.

Microsoft We're totally dedicated to PC gaming guys! Have another mobile/tablet Halo game! Stream your Xbox One games to your PC! That's PC gaming, right? Because running games on inferior hardware and playing on a smaller screen isn't the complete opposite of what PC gaming is heading towards these days! Ok, seriously now: Halo Master Chief Collection coming to PC, exclusively on Windows 10. Probably on that shitty Windows store. More likely: they will mention PC gaming and dedicate all of 5 mins to it tops, without really showing or announcing anything specific or noteworthy. First look at ScaleBound gameplay. Also want to point out that Quantum Break is unfortunately confirmed to be skipping E3. I think Gamescom is just more convenient for Remedy. Nintendo A bunch of shit nobody cares about? I dunno, Star Fox, I guess? Probably Zelda? Sony Bloodborne expansion officially announced, probably not shown. Guerilla Games' scifi RPG announcement. The Last Guardian still a no-show but totally not cancelled you guys! At least one other new IP announced. Lol what's a Vita? Other Persona 5 NA release date First look at the new Mass Effect Watch_Dogs 2 announcement Dishonored II announcement Final Fantasy XV confirmed for PC, along with FFX HD (please!). That's all I can think of right now. A lot's already been leaked or announced early.

Yeah, I mean, I thought that was already the general assumption. I guess maybe it was just me...

Considering that the Project Beast leak was legit last year, I think that settles it.

I thought that was already known? Or maybe it was just hinted at. Either way, it seems to have been somewhat confirmed today. Official name is Mirror's Edge Catalyst. Doesn't actually say reboot but they do make it a point to say it's not a sequel.

Maybe? It's what they're called in-game and I'm not familiar enough with Twin Peaks to know whether there are any similarities beyond the name. I actually have the series on my hard drive right now. I've been meaning to watch it for a while and since it's coming back soon I figured I might as well do it now.

Yeah, I fully understand I'm in the minority in regards to narrative structure preferences. I did appreciate how open it was, it was just an initial moment of "Oh..." when I realized that the fee thing was going to last until the end of the game. But like I said, I thought it was handled very well all things considered. It's a minor gripe overall and not something I really hold against the game. As far as mission choices go, I pretty much just did every single one that was offered to me. That probably factored into why it took me so long, I guess. I'm kinda curious if I missed any, though. The only quest line that I actually turned down was the Black Lodge one, because fuck those guys after that first mission. I'll definitely have to do another run and go for it at some point, though. There's also a few more big choices I'm really curious to see play out differently.

Shadowrun: Dragonfall - Director's Cut. Well, that was way longer than I expected. I knew it was a bit longer than Shadowrun Returns but according to Steam it took me 44 hours, and even cutting that down generously to account for time spent alt-tabbed, reloads for various reasons and one particularly nasty bug that caused me to lose an entire evening's worth of progress, we're still looking at about twice the length of Returns. Fortunately, people were mostly right about this one: it is significantly better than the first game. By the time SR was over, I was pretty much done with the game. It ended at more or less the right time, I didn't wish it had been any longer. Dragonfall kinda felt like it was overstaying its welcome a bit about 80% of the way through (which, in retrospect, was clearly exacerbated by that nasty bug I mentioned) but by the time the game was over that was no longer the case. Now I can't fucking wait for Shadowrun: Hong Kong. I'll definitely be jumping on that pre-order discount for the deluxe edition. One thing in particular that made Dragonfall for me was the inclusion of a main cast of characters. My biggest issue with Returns was constantly having to hire a bunch of assholes every time I went on a mission. It sucked so hard having to save my cash to pay these shitheads. Having actual party members with their own stories, missions and skills I could choose was a very welcome addition. I don't think I ever bothered hiring any of the optional characters. The only disappointment I had was the overall narrative structure, and even then it wasn't really a problem, it just comes down to personal preferences. The way the game is structured, most of the middle chunk is essentially filler. There's a narrative reason for it and it works, but you're still essentially given a big exposition dump at the beginning and then told to go do a bunch of jobs until it's time to go do the end-game stuff. I kinda preferred the way Returns handled it, where the entire game was one continuous story. All of that being said, most of those side-quests are so damn good and well-written that it ultimately becomes a non-issue. The main story has enough weight to it that you never really forget about just how much shit you're in (and as someone unfamiliar with Shadowrun lore, I was on the edge of my seat reading all that exposition about the Dragonfall at the beginning of the game!) but the side-quests are interesting enough to stand out on their own and not feel like padding. So, yeah, if they keep that level of writing then I don't care what kind of narrative structure they use in Hong Kong, it'll be great! I think it says a lot that, while I was done with SR by the end and felt no need to revisit any of it, I kinda wish I could keep following the characters from Dragonfall. Especially given the note it ends on, which almost feels like a sequel tease. One decision I made in particular clearly turned out to be a mistake and I'd love to see what the fallout from that is going to be. I don't expect it'll happen but I'd love for Harebrained Schemes to have one of their future campaigns be a direct follow-up to this one, save import and everything. edit: Oh, one thing I forgot to mention. What the fuck is up with this game's RNG? Like, I'm an XCOM player. I fully understand that a 90% shot is by no means a guaranteed hit. But when you miss like 6 fucking 90% shots in a row across your entire party in a single turn, you kinda have to ask: are these guys the most inept Shadowrunners ever or what?! Profanities were screamed at my monitor on a fairly regular basis.

I'm with you on that one. That's why I'd rather have everything on Steam: (mostly) infinite backwards compatibility. I'm in for the Vita versions personally, but it's not like it's a much more permanent solution. "Legacy platform" and all that nonsense. My PS3 is still hooked up but I don't see myself making any serious game purchases for it anymore, either. Persona 5 is pretty much the only exception if I don't own a PS4 by the time it comes out, which seems increasingly likely as it's a purchase I find myself prioritizing less and less. On the bright side, the XSEED blog post I linked mentions the PC versions of Zero and Ao that exist in Japan and China, so there's at least a chance for those. Sen I and II are also fairly recent releases in Japan, so I guess it's still possible they might get PC ports for the Chinese market or something. I imagine XSEED will be interested in bringing them over if that happens, since the localization work will already be done.

Yeah, I don't think them returning to being PC exclusive is realistic but like I said, they're pleased with their success on Steam. I really hope that's enough to make them at least reconsider their Playstation-only focus and move towards multiplat development. Also, XSEED just put up a blog post about the current status of the Trails series in general. Sounds like the games they skipped aren't necessarily being written off entirely, so that's good to hear. And TitS SC is still coming before Cold Steel I, so I'm guessing it's still planned for a summer release. Speaking of SC, I'm really not sure what to do with that one. I was initially planning on getting it for my Vita but at this point there's just no way they'll be able to release PSP versions of future games (it's also why they're doing Cold Steel now, since the PS3 is on its way out). So I'm really tempted to just grab FC in the Steam summer sale and replay it to have a save file ready for SC. :/

That's my hope as well. I'm glad to have more games to play on Vita in the near future but I'd love to eventually have the entire series on Steam. Likewise Ys and Memories of Celceta. And it seems like there's a decent chance considering Falcom recently made a statement about how they were pleased with the performance of their games on Steam. Some of them apparently outsold their Japanese console versions.

Holy shit, XSEED just announced that Sen no Kiseki I and II are coming out in the west! They mention this fall, which is presumably only the first one. For those not in the know, those are the two most recent games in the "Trails in the Sky" series. Sen no Kiseki II came out just last September in Japan. It's a bummer that they're skipping 3rd, Zero and Ao but my mind is actually blown with how fast they managed to sneak this one up on us. I have to assume they either got some serious outside help or they've been working on it for quite a while. Only disappointment here is that PC versions of these games don't exist (yet?). But hey, that means more stuff to play on Vita!

After a few restarts while I was still learning the core mechanics, I finally managed to get a city going in Cities: Skylines yesterday. Unfortunately for the citizens of Fucktown, their mayor was still quite inexperienced and ultimately abandoned them to drown in their own garbage. I can only assume that at this point they are living in the some kind of post-apocalyptic garbage wasteland where chaos reigns and only the strong survive. I can't say for sure, though. I'm not reloading that save. Now, Fuckburg on the other hand, is a thriving community that is growing steadily and shows no sign of stopping! it's profitable and so far hasn't encountered any kind of catastrophic problem. Let's hope for its citizens that things will stay that way because their mayor has absolutely no qualms about dropping them like a sack of bricks at the first sign of trouble. In other words, Cities: Skylines is fucking great! I don't know how long it'll manage to hold my interest but right now I'm completely hooked and other video games might as well not exist. I probably should've finished Dragonfall before digging into it, though. Think I'll try doing that tonight, actually.

Yeah, I can't tell if that's supposed to be a computer mouse or a prop from one of Michael Bay's Transformers movies...

I agree but it's also the first time Microsoft does the whole free OS thing, so I didn't want to assume. I wouldn't have put it past them for there to be some kind of catch.

Not sure if this is old news, haven't been keeping up with this thread much, but it looks like they confirmed you can do clean installs post-upgrade. So I guess it's not just your current install that's upgraded, but your actual key or something. That's pretty much the only thing I was worried about, so it looks like I'll be upgrading then.