toxicitizen

Then your regular people might have a better base knowledge than my regular people. Shit, I doubt my cousins who play almost nothing but CoD even realize there's two studios working on the series. And I'm sure bringing it up would prompt something along the lines of "What's a Treyarch?".

They probably don't recognize its absence because it doesn't mean anything to them. It's just another logo. Microsoft. Bungie. Unreal. PhysX. Havok. I can easily see how most of that could seem like little more than random crap to a lot of people. Just logos that show up when you boot up games. Out of those five, Microsoft is probably the only one that would be universally recognizable.

Ah, yeah okay. If we count what you can grapnel onto as being a part of "gliding", then yeah it was fucking terrible in Origins. Also, while we're on the subject, one thing that kinda bugged me but I never thought to mention because it's purely cosmetic: holy shit does the cape get torn to shreds in Origins! Seriously, like halfway through I actually started to wonder how the hell he wasn't just diving to his death. I mean, it took some battle damage in previous games but I feel like they kinda went overboard in this one. It just looks like it's going to fall apart any second.

I've been tempted to grab Monsters for a while now but, now that Shooter is also out on Steam, I simply couldn't resist the discounted bundle. I already own them both on PSN but they're among the long list of games I wish I'd played more of. Don't think I've beaten either. And at this point, it really takes a significant exclusive to get me to even turn on my PS3. So, unplayed PSN games are essentially off the backlog. Having those two on Steam makes it far more likely I'll be playing them. Pretty much as soon as I started playing Gunpoint, I immediately regretted not going for one of the fancier editions. And back when I bought it, DLC upgrades weren't available. Once they showed up, it was just a matter of waiting for a sale.

No, you were quite clear. I simply disagree with the bolded part. As for the gliding, I can't really say I noticed a difference personally. But, considering everything else about the game, I'm willing to take you and Hot Heart's word for it. How does it feel better, though? I guess maybe they sped it up in Origins? It's kinda surprising, though. I pretty much breezed through even the most advanced AR challenges in Origins but that last one in City is always such a goddamned pain in the ass for me. You know, the one where you need to glide through that damn tunnel.

God, Ethan! We all moved on, I suggest you do the same!

Broke down and got the WB Humble Bundle. I was on the fence as to whether I should get it for Scribblenauts Unlimited alone but now it's looking like they'll very likely be adding the MK Arcade Kollection to it. Playing the new MK has made me nostalgic and I was thinking of getting that so I figured what the hell. Oh and also the current Groupees bundle. Those usually never have anything I'm interested in but this one had Electronic Super Joy, which looks really cool, and King's Bounty: Warriors of the North Valhalla Edition which has never been this dirt cheap.

Oh, definitely. It wasn't a bad trade-off by any means.

Yeah, it's pretty much 3D Metroidvania. Not sure how you missed that the first time around. I agree that it was kind of lost in subsequent games, though. It's still a little bit there but, like I said in the other thread, the open-worlds feel more like hubs to me. It doesn't really feel like you're exploring as much. You're just following waypoints.

Here it is. Only two more weeks!

Yeah, I went in knowing it was a long game. It's also hard to ignore that after 9 hours I'm only on Chapter V of XIV. If it gets better like you say, then I don't expect to have a problem with the length. So far, the gameplay is merely serviceable but I'm really liking the atmosphere and the story seems like it might do some interesting things. The soundtrack is also pretty great, reminds me of LOTR. If anything, I feel like length might add to how epic it all feels. One thing that sucks is I got a detail of the ending spoiled but it's kind of hard to avoid if you haven't played it but have been following marketing for the sequel...

Heard really good things about it and I haven't played a good western since RDR so I figured 50% off was cheap enough to give it a shot. Also grabbed the Super Meat Boy soundtrack cause it was like a dollar.

Started playing Castlevania: Lords of Shadow. So far, it's pretty good. I wasn't a fan of the fixed camera at first but I got used to it pretty quickly. I'm not sure what, if anything, it actually has to do with Castlevania, though. Because so far it's more like God of Shadow of the Colossus. I'm okay with that. Also, it's narrated by Captain Picard, so that's another bonus. Oh and, for the first time in a while, I actually swallowed my pride and turned down the difficulty. I've been playing most games on hard rather than normal lately. So I went with Knight, which is what I assumed was hard. Paladin was higher but it's locked. Anyway, on the second chapter I realized this was going to be a very frustrating experience. This game does not hold your hand. "Barely made it through that fight? Okay, here's a checkpoint. And another fight. Oh you don't have any health left? Well, you can try again from that checkpoint but we're not refilling your health bar!" It's actually kind of refreshing, to be honest. I think they want you to just replay the levels once you're fully upgraded. When you unlock Paladin you don't actually start a new game, you just level select.

Yeah, Nightwing plays incredibly well. He felt a bit weird at first but once you get a handle on his moveset he's probably the most powerful character in the game. It's a shame they didn't bother getting a voice actor for him. I mean, I can see why considering he's only in the challenge rooms but still, would've been nice to have at least a few lines.

Reminds me, I grabbed Lego Batman a little while back. I should probably fire it up soon. I mean, I doubt it could be worse than Arkham origins...

Mortal Kombat. Beat the story mode just now. Holy shit, that was a ton of fun. I was super into MK as a kid and, while I hadn't touched the series in years, this one retreads the story from those days so it was quite the nostalgic experience. I had always been kind of fascinated by the lore but it always felt like I wasn't getting the whole picture. MK1 was straightforward enough but 2 got all dark and creepy and Shang Tsung was young for some reason. Then 3 came and suddenly you had robots and Earth was all post-apocalyptic and shit. It was intriguing as hell but I couldn't really understand english back then so what the fuck was actually going on was a mystery. So, yeah, it was really cool to have all of that lore fit into one cohesive story. I love when fighting games have a proper story mode. I mean, Street Fighter IV is great but there's only so many times I can replay through arcade before getting kinda bored with it. Here the story mode kept me busy for 10-12 hours and I'm just getting started with the game. That being said, a few things could be improved in a sequel. Cutscenes: allow me to pause them and skip them. Seriously, how the fuck does such a cutscene-heavy game mode not get such basic features in, what was it, 2011? It's annoying enough if you need to go take a piss or whatever but then if you get stuck and quit from a fight that had a long-ass cutscene before it (basically, almost every time there's a chapter change), then you're forced to rewatch it the next time you play. Some kind of chapter select would've nice too but that's not really a big deal. Oh and fuck Shao Kahn. Fuck that guy right in his fucking eye. He is broken and he cheats and he needs to eat shit. The first couple times, he's not too bad since you're fighting him as Liu Kang and you can play cheap if you want. But the final fight against him was so fucking infuriating! No more Liu Kang and I swear they increased both his damage and defense. And you can't fucking stagger that asshole, so very often your timing will be great but he'll just keep swinging that fucking hammer of his right through your attack. Wasted almost an hour on him last night and ended up having to stop because I had to go to bed. Only took me like 20 mins to finally beat him today but it sucks so much when it's late and you know you're at the end and you wanna finish the game before turning it off but it just won't fucking happen. Kind of anticlimactic to jump back in just for the final fight, it just kinda kills all the tension and build up. But anyway, these complaints about the story mode aside, the gameplay is pretty great. I'll definitely keep playing this one for a while. The Challenge Tower should be me busy for a few more hours. I'll probably give online a shot, too. I fully expect to get my ass handed to me and never touch it again but whatever.

My favorite part of this is the people saying it's a nod, an homage to their own game. Instead of, you know, the lazy corner-cutting it actually is. I mean, re-texturing a building for a multiplayer map, I can understand. But this is blatantly lazy and laughable.

DLC? It's a separate game. As long as you can freely ignore GZ and still get a full experience with Phantom Pain, I don't have an issue with it. I don't think you should expect GZ to be too long, though. I would imagine a few hours (like 3-4, maybe 5) with cutscenes and subsequent playthrough would be very short if you skip the story. At least, that's how MGS usually is. If we compare to previous games, Tanker and Virtuous Mission can both be done in like 30mins if you know what you're doing and skip the cutscenes. That being said, while 20-30$ might seem steep for a short game, it's essentially a AAA game in terms of production values so I'm alright with the price, I think.

Looks like they finally made up their fucking mind. About fucking time.

Started playing Mortal Kombat: Komplete Edition. Holy shit, this game is so much goddamned fun. The gameplay itself is pretty good and x-ray attacks are crazy satisfying to pull off. But man, that story mode. I kinda lost interest in the series during the PS2/Xbox/GCN gen but back when I was a kid MK was the shit. The bowling alley near my house had the arcade machines for both MK 1 and 2 and I was there all the damn time. The arcade versions were way too difficult for me but I still kept going back. Later on when I got a Sega Genesis, I got the games for it and played them for years. The fact that the story mode is not only very good but also a retelling of the story from those days basically turns it into pure nostalgia for me. I'm having such a blast with it.

The thing is, just because you haven't experienced those issues doesn't mean they don't exist. It happens. Some people are luckier with buggy games. All it means is your opinion that Origins' combat isn't broken is based on incomplete information. Can we at least agree on that much?

Yeah, that's just you sucking. The game is mechanically sound. Like I said, less refined combat system > broken combat system. Also, I love that opening idea. Arkham City had a great opening (the Bruce Wayne bit, not the Catwoman one) and while I thought the cutscenes in Origins were great, it was nowhere near as good of an intro. Would be great if next-gen the series gets a proper open-world. These are kinda small, they don't feel like open worlds so much as hubs for the story levels. They have more in common with the castle from Super Mario 64 than they do with say, Liberty City. Also, Blüdhaven DLC where you play as Nightwing. Make it happen!

There were rumors a while back that Rocksteady's next game would be a Silver Age game that would include members of the Justice League. I'm not sure if that was ever proven to be false, though. All I know for sure is that Kevin Conroy slipped earlier this year at a convention and said he was working with Rocksteady on a game that wasn't Origins. I'm not sure if Long Halloween would work considering it takes place over an entire year. But I definitely think it's time to move away from the whole "longest night in Batman's career" thing. Just do a proper open-world game where the events of the story aren't all taking place over the course of a single night. I don't see why there couldn't be time that passes between some missions.

Ah, that makes sense. I thought it had also come out on PSN at the same time but looking at wikipedia it seems the PSN version came at the same time as the PC one. That's a shame, the game deserves better.