my hot take is that most of the time "i don't like <thing>" doesn't mean "<thing> is actually bad" with the caveat that it's ok to dislike good things and like bad things
you don't have to try and convince people that <thing> is bad and that they shouldn't like it (or vice-versa) to feel that your personal opinion is justified...
i.e. "this genre of games is BAD" is just a bad take, while "I hate this genre of games" is perfectly fine.
I found Horizon Zero Dawn's gameplay to be disappointing and can't remember any of its cast of characters outside of Aloy and Sylens.
Horizon Zero Dawn is like the alpha of Assassin's Creed: <Newer Ones> with clunkier movement.
Story will probably be better, though.
I'm playing Origins right now, and it's definitely my second to lowest ranking. H:ZD feels more like baby's first Monster Hunter to me (which is exactly the level of Monster Hunter I enjoy).
I'm trying as I play it to meet AC: Origins on its own terms, but the more I play the more I realize that "it's own terms" is less "Here's how we're innovating Assassin's Creed" and more "Wait wait don't leave - we can be the Witcher, too!"
I actually just got done with AC Origins (like, all of it, all the side quests, all the DLC, every location, everything) and I enjoyed it vastly more than The Witcher 3, which I still haven't even finished. The combat was snappy and fun, the exploration felt good, the sneaky was a gas, and I was rarely outclassed by enemies because I was doing positively everything. Witcher 3 had a similar problem that New Vegas has where when they want you to not go somewhere in an open world they just plop down enemies all along your route that you can't beat so you'll follow their rails to where they want you to go, and if you wander too far it's run away time, where AC Origins told me the approximate level requirement of every area and gave me the ability to scout out places to figure out if I should just fuck off the other way without worry or engage carefully or what.
Inventory Tetris is actually awful and boring and not fun at all.
Weight restrictions are boring.
So is the "can only hold two firearms" of seemingly a host of modern shooters.
Durability is Bad, Actually™ and while it's usually meant to give some sense of struggle all it really does is give a player more busywork to do.
I'm a broken man who actively enjoys inventory Tetris. Durability can fuck right off though.
Also, Breath of the Wild is a trash fire and I'm sad that it did so well because it means I'm probably not getting Zelda games that I like anytime soon (though the Link's Awakening remake is exceedingly good, and I love it to pieces).
I love Legend of Zelda games (well, the ones I've played) and it made me so sad that Breath of the Wild was just . . . not fun. And I played it for 200 hours! I tried my best to make it fun, but what I came to the realization of at the end of the game is they tried to have their cake and eat it too. Because I was having fun for the first dozen hours or so because it was shiny and open and new but the more I explored the vast world the more I realized my reward was more than likely to be a god damned korok seed or a treasure chest with an item I could get god damn anywhere else, or a gaggle of monsters that would cost me the same or more weapons than they gave back. There was nothing unique out in the world except the view and I'm a visual person but goddamn, I was missing Link to the Past like hell the entire way through.
Which is, objectively, the best Zelda game of all time.
I make art things! deviantART:Kalnaur ::: Origin: Kalnaur ::: UPlay: Kalnaur
Confession time: I've never actually played an adventure game as it was "meant to", figuring out the puzzles myself. Always walkthroughs.
If YouTube had somehow existed in the 80s and 90s, I would have consumed (i.e., watched) every single classic Sierra and LucasArts adventure as passive media experiences.
Adventure games as a genre lost the right to be played unaided. Too many of them feature at least one dumb, unintuitive puzzle that uses moon logic to figure out.
Techno babylon is extremely good in this regard. Some puzzles even have multiple solutions and all are logic based.
Inventory Tetris is actually awful and boring and not fun at all.
Weight restrictions are boring.
So is the "can only hold two firearms" of seemingly a host of modern shooters.
Durability is Bad, Actually™ and while it's usually meant to give some sense of struggle all it really does is give a player more busywork to do.
I'm a broken man who actively enjoys inventory Tetris. Durability can fuck right off though.
Also, Breath of the Wild is a trash fire and I'm sad that it did so well because it means I'm probably not getting Zelda games that I like anytime soon (though the Link's Awakening remake is exceedingly good, and I love it to pieces).
I'd be curious if you could (or would, to be fair) expand on the trash fire.
I didn't get on with it either, but to me it just felt more on the worse end of "meh" and I just didn't want to go back to it.
It's almost assuredly that I'm now a certified Old PersonTM, but...
I like a more guided experience. I know that Link Between Worlds also moved in the direction of "tackle these dungeons in any order", but the Zelda experience that I enjoy most is "I found my way to this dungeon so I'm going to explore it, find the new tool, practice with it, and then beat up a boss with it. After that I'll be able to do more things in the overworld like get that heart piece I saw on the way here, pick up that bottle I saw 2 dungeons ago (if I remember where it was!) and eventually access the dungeon after this one.
Combat has always been a big part of the series, but it's not why I come to a Zelda game. I want to grab new tools, figure out what environmental challenges they're good against, figure out which enemies they trivialize, and honestly spend as little time as possible actually whapping skeletons with a sword. My favorite Zelda turns the combat into a puzzle of its own (Cadence of Hyrule) which actually made me like the whole thing a lot more. I want the "do do doo do" sound when I've figured out a puzzle way more than I want the empty room after I've whapped all the skeletons enough times. Test of Strength shrines were especially unwelcome for me. They weren't real dungeons, and they were all combat. Pass.
As stated earlier (and not just by me) weapon durability is an abomination - particularly when if affects the dang Master Sword. You want my stick to wear out after I whap 12 bokoblins? Fine, I guess. I'll pick up another one. You want my Master Sword to need some time off? Fuck you. It's the Zelda equivalent of Excalibur - it's not supposed to get tired and fall apart. It's better than the dumb stick I found 20 minutes into the game.
I don't like the climbing and stamina system. It felt like every time, without fail, as soon as I started climbing a thing it would start to rain and make the climb harder. I also don't like the cooking stuff. I don't want to collect ingredients and make myself dinner before I go climbing so that I'm resistant to cold. It's too much. Just let me find the blue jerkin or whatever. I'll put it on when it's cold, I promise. But having to find, keep, and prepare carrots, iceberg lettuce, and parsnips or whatever to make the cold resist stew is the worst.
The Divine Beast dungeons were a letdown. All the designs felt uninspired because they tore all of the cool bits out and put them into the shrines instead.
And at the end of the day, BotW really cemented for me that 3D Zelda is not a thing I've ever truly enjoyed by default. WW and TP are special. Ocarina of Time is ugly as sin and hard to control, Majora's Mask's reset mechanics are infuriating, I want to like Skyward Sword but the never-ending tutorial messages and the forced waggle combat are gross, and my issues with Breath of the Wild are on display for all to see. The only good 3D Zeldas they've ever made are Wind Waker (I adore the King of Red Lions stuff, and the dungeon design is fantastic) and Twilight Princess (I love the top and associated boss fight, really dig turning Link into a wolf, and Snowpeak Ruins rules).
I'm also here for the music. Give me a good rendition of Gerudo Valley and I'm guaranteed to like the game more.
Oh god I agree with basically all of this. I do find certain portions of Wind Waker to be tedious, but it's loads better than Majora's Mask. Ocarina of Time basically gets half a pass for originating elements that got better with later 3D Zelda and Zelda-Like games with time, but it just doesn't stand up visually or control-wise. I love Twilight Princess, which felt large without feeling undirected. And As I mention often, I measure basically every Zelda and Zelda-like against A Link to the Past, which was more on rails for the first portion and then opened a bit with the Dark World, and was constantly rewarding exploration with new tools or health or magic or whatever.
I actually feel like the two games that have done "Like Zelda" the best in terms of 3D games are the first two Darksiders games, in that various tools and abilities allow you to get to other new places, and dungeons have a layout and a tool in them to help that navigation. I haven't played Darksiders 3 yet (I have it but I haven't played it quite yet), so I'm not sure if it carried through.
It's also my opinion that Zelda and Metroid became much the same game in mechanical terms with A Link to the Past and Super Metroid, just in different viewpoints (top down vs side scrolling), which means that Legend of Zelda games work best . . . as Metroidvanias.
I make art things! deviantART:Kalnaur ::: Origin: Kalnaur ::: UPlay: Kalnaur
I don't care for first-person games much because it absolutely does not feel like I'm there. It feels like I'm controlling a remote camera with a limited field of view. From a distance.
At least third-person allows me to see more of what is happening.
The ability to look down from a first-person view and see my character's body existing in the world makes a huge difference to my feeling of immersion in a first-person game. Cyberpunk actually does that quite well without needing to constantly show limbs and such in your peripheral vision like Mirror's Edge, although I didn't mind that approach either.
But looking down to nothing, yeah, it makes me feel like I'm just a disembodied camera floating through a world. I generally get much more sense of immersion from a third-person game, counterintuitive though it may seem, as well as a more "real"-feeling spatial awareness.
Graphical presentation of body parts does no increase immersion for me. Neither does camera bob. I simply struggle to determine spatial positioning in the game world. Something easier to do for real because we can use multiple senses rather than limited sight.
The 'trick' to Mirror's Edge is the bottom of the screen with the camera level is where your feet are. It's still annoying.
I don't care for first-person games much because it absolutely does not feel like I'm there. It feels like I'm controlling a remote camera with a limited field of view. From a distance.
At least third-person allows me to see more of what is happening.
The ability to look down from a first-person view and see my character's body existing in the world makes a huge difference to my feeling of immersion in a first-person game. Cyberpunk actually does that quite well without needing to constantly show limbs and such in your peripheral vision like Mirror's Edge, although I didn't mind that approach either.
But looking down to nothing, yeah, it makes me feel like I'm just a disembodied camera floating through a world. I generally get much more sense of immersion from a third-person game, counterintuitive though it may seem, as well as a more "real"-feeling spatial awareness.
Graphical presentation of body parts does no increase immersion for me. Neither does camera bob. I simply struggle to determine spatial positioning in the game world. Something easier to do for real because we can use multiple senses rather than limited sight.
The 'trick' to Mirror's Edge is the bottom of the screen with the camera level is where your feet are. It's still annoying.
I would have enjoyed Cyberpunk a great deal more if it had been 3rd person.
I absolutely would like it more for this. If it didn't come with the Xbox, I'd have probably skipped it.
Have you tried any VR games? Especially Alyx is really great at grounding you in the world
No.
Also, I don't want to be the PC. Tell me a good story. Allow me to experience it via the playable characters. But don't force me to view it through their eyes. Don't need it, don't want it.
I don't care for first-person games much because it absolutely does not feel like I'm there. It feels like I'm controlling a remote camera with a limited field of view. From a distance.
At least third-person allows me to see more of what is happening.
The ability to look down from a first-person view and see my character's body existing in the world makes a huge difference to my feeling of immersion in a first-person game. Cyberpunk actually does that quite well without needing to constantly show limbs and such in your peripheral vision like Mirror's Edge, although I didn't mind that approach either.
But looking down to nothing, yeah, it makes me feel like I'm just a disembodied camera floating through a world. I generally get much more sense of immersion from a third-person game, counterintuitive though it may seem, as well as a more "real"-feeling spatial awareness.
Graphical presentation of body parts does no increase immersion for me. Neither does camera bob. I simply struggle to determine spatial positioning in the game world. Something easier to do for real because we can use multiple senses rather than limited sight.
The 'trick' to Mirror's Edge is the bottom of the screen with the camera level is where your feet are. It's still annoying.
I would have enjoyed Cyberpunk a great deal more if it had been 3rd person.
I absolutely would like it more for this. If it didn't come with the Xbox, I'd have probably skipped it.
Have you tried any VR games? Especially Alyx is really great at grounding you in the world
No.
Also, I don't want to be the PC. Tell me a good story. Allow me to experience it via the playable characters. But don't force me to view it through their eyes. Don't need it, don't want it.
Okay but hear me out here.
What if there was a game where you could only see what the character you're playing as can see?
Also, I don't want to be the PC. Tell me a good story. Allow me to experience it via the playable characters. But don't force me to view it through their eyes. Don't need it, don't want it.
Obviously I do want to be the PC because I'm a rad dude and I want to save the world/win the race/kill the boss/destroy the alien mothership or whatever, but I think it would be pretty interesting to play a game where you were a support character in what is obviously someone else's story. You could even influence them slightly with feedback to their decisions, but ultimately you would just be along for the ride.
+3
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KalnaurI See Rain . . .Centralia, WARegistered Userregular
There are times where I like first person as the camera position, and things where I don't. Like, one of my major issues with Farcry 3 is that people kept getting in the main character's personal space in story scenes that made me highly uncomfortable and made he have to stop playing the game. Not because I was shooting dudes in first person, but because they, like, had a gal riding the main character. Or they got your friends right up close in your face. Back the fuck up, you lunatics.
The other issue, though, is that first person will always feel like a camera without peripheral vision, and I'm not interested in getting a VR headset just to get that going.
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THE PENNY ARCADE STEAM THREAD GAMING HOT TAKES 2021!!
*Jump to page 24 if you want to follow along.*
Sorry if I missed some or didn't get your entire hot take. I did this on the fly for fun when I should have been working. And yes, all of your voices sound this way in my head and are now canon.
Need a voice actor? Hire me at bengrayVO.com
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051 Steam ID Twitch Page
THE PENNY ARCADE STEAM THREAD GAMING HOT TAKES 2021!!
*Jump to page 24 if you want to follow along.*
Sorry if I missed some or didn't get your entire hot take. I did this on the fly for fun when I should have been working. And yes, all of your voices sound this way in my head and are now canon.
So cool! Also, totally wasn't expecting my post in that voice, lol. I'm fine with it being my canonical voice, though
THE PENNY ARCADE STEAM THREAD GAMING HOT TAKES 2021!!
*Jump to page 24 if you want to follow along.*
Sorry if I missed some or didn't get your entire hot take. I did this on the fly for fun when I should have been working. And yes, all of your voices sound this way in my head and are now canon.
*listens to his voice interpretation after buying accessories for suit jackets*
I mean, it has some incremental improvements like ammo types and weapon mods, but the basic gameplay is like 95% the same as FO3. I.E. absolutely terrible, even by bethesda standards. (though at least it isn't FO4)
I mean, I actually like the Fallout 3 gameplay as far as it was in that game, there was just nothing in it to drive me forward in New Vegas because it was just more of the same.
The gunplay is terrible in both games, but I always do the thing where you've got insane amount of AP so you can VATS everything, and that's fun (to me) but it gets stale after a while and New Vegas was like more but worse Fallout 3 with fiddly new systems (crafting was fun until you realized it was nearly useless), and a map with no interesting features. I'm still in the middle of Fallout 4, and what of the map I've explored I like, and I enjoy making new settlements and fortifying them, but I also enjoy base-building, so . . . that's a thing.
Shrug, I never found the endless metros in FO3 to be really that different, especially with how terrible the itemization is, even for a bethesda game. Everything is just the same generic single gun per archetype, and there's only 1 variant for each of them, so the vast majority of the dungeons are completely pointless.
And I think that the ring structure and banded levels made NV's world and especially city design a lot more interesting than 3. Whose only real point of interest was stuff in the national mall
The best thing I can say about FO3 is that I played it. I don't regret playing it, but the dreariness of it weighed everything down.
The best thing *in* FO3 was the plasma weapons. It made finding the remains of enemies easier to loot at nighttime.
THE PENNY ARCADE STEAM THREAD GAMING HOT TAKES 2021!!
*Jump to page 24 if you want to follow along.*
Sorry if I missed some or didn't get your entire hot take. I did this on the fly for fun when I should have been working. And yes, all of your voices sound this way in my head and are now canon.
Oh god, I'm "whispery/breathy arrogant guy bitching about Dragon Age".
I love it.
I make art things! deviantART:Kalnaur ::: Origin: Kalnaur ::: UPlay: Kalnaur
I found Horizon Zero Dawn's gameplay to be disappointing and can't remember any of its cast of characters outside of Aloy and Sylens.
The more I play the more I agree on the characters. Gun to my head, the only one I could name is Nils, because I'm not sure if he wants to sleep with Aloy or shoot her in the face but he's got a super creepy Norman Bates thing going on either way.
I get that it's a bunch of hot takes, but I can't wrap my head around people being oblivious to some of the amazing characters in HZD. Ikrie ( ), Erend, Avad, Teersa, Sona, Varl, Talanah... I haven't played this game in months and they're still distinct/memorable to me. That game was amazing in so many ways, not least being the people of its world.
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And by that he means hot Bond girl ass. Fucking love that game jankiness and all.
you don't have to try and convince people that <thing> is bad and that they shouldn't like it (or vice-versa) to feel that your personal opinion is justified...
i.e. "this genre of games is BAD" is just a bad take, while "I hate this genre of games" is perfectly fine.
It has lots of charm.
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=16534
Man, the heat from that hot take is dispersed over such a large range that it's barely lukewarm.
I actually just got done with AC Origins (like, all of it, all the side quests, all the DLC, every location, everything) and I enjoyed it vastly more than The Witcher 3, which I still haven't even finished. The combat was snappy and fun, the exploration felt good, the sneaky was a gas, and I was rarely outclassed by enemies because I was doing positively everything. Witcher 3 had a similar problem that New Vegas has where when they want you to not go somewhere in an open world they just plop down enemies all along your route that you can't beat so you'll follow their rails to where they want you to go, and if you wander too far it's run away time, where AC Origins told me the approximate level requirement of every area and gave me the ability to scout out places to figure out if I should just fuck off the other way without worry or engage carefully or what.
I love Legend of Zelda games (well, the ones I've played) and it made me so sad that Breath of the Wild was just . . . not fun. And I played it for 200 hours! I tried my best to make it fun, but what I came to the realization of at the end of the game is they tried to have their cake and eat it too. Because I was having fun for the first dozen hours or so because it was shiny and open and new but the more I explored the vast world the more I realized my reward was more than likely to be a god damned korok seed or a treasure chest with an item I could get god damn anywhere else, or a gaggle of monsters that would cost me the same or more weapons than they gave back. There was nothing unique out in the world except the view and I'm a visual person but goddamn, I was missing Link to the Past like hell the entire way through.
Which is, objectively, the best Zelda game of all time.
Techno babylon is extremely good in this regard. Some puzzles even have multiple solutions and all are logic based.
Oh god I agree with basically all of this. I do find certain portions of Wind Waker to be tedious, but it's loads better than Majora's Mask. Ocarina of Time basically gets half a pass for originating elements that got better with later 3D Zelda and Zelda-Like games with time, but it just doesn't stand up visually or control-wise. I love Twilight Princess, which felt large without feeling undirected. And As I mention often, I measure basically every Zelda and Zelda-like against A Link to the Past, which was more on rails for the first portion and then opened a bit with the Dark World, and was constantly rewarding exploration with new tools or health or magic or whatever.
I actually feel like the two games that have done "Like Zelda" the best in terms of 3D games are the first two Darksiders games, in that various tools and abilities allow you to get to other new places, and dungeons have a layout and a tool in them to help that navigation. I haven't played Darksiders 3 yet (I have it but I haven't played it quite yet), so I'm not sure if it carried through.
It's also my opinion that Zelda and Metroid became much the same game in mechanical terms with A Link to the Past and Super Metroid, just in different viewpoints (top down vs side scrolling), which means that Legend of Zelda games work best . . . as Metroidvanias.
Have you tried any VR games? Especially Alyx is really great at grounding you in the world
No.
Also, I don't want to be the PC. Tell me a good story. Allow me to experience it via the playable characters. But don't force me to view it through their eyes. Don't need it, don't want it.
Okay but hear me out here.
What if there was a game where you could only see what the character you're playing as can see?
Obviously I do want to be the PC because I'm a rad dude and I want to save the world/win the race/kill the boss/destroy the alien mothership or whatever, but I think it would be pretty interesting to play a game where you were a support character in what is obviously someone else's story. You could even influence them slightly with feedback to their decisions, but ultimately you would just be along for the ride.
The other issue, though, is that first person will always feel like a camera without peripheral vision, and I'm not interested in getting a VR headset just to get that going.
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=16534
$1:
BTA:
$10:
I can has cheezburger, yes?
Did anyone ever finish a Zork game without a guide?
Trying to do that with HttG broke something in me at a young age.
Though the worst offender is the first Discworld game.
Goodreads
SF&F Reviews blog
*Jump to page 24 if you want to follow along.*
Sorry if I missed some or didn't get your entire hot take. I did this on the fly for fun when I should have been working. And yes, all of your voices sound this way in my head and are now canon.
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051
Steam ID
Twitch Page
So cool! Also, totally wasn't expecting my post in that voice, lol. I'm fine with it being my canonical voice, though
*listens to his voice interpretation after buying accessories for suit jackets*
Checks out.
Steam Profile
3DS: 3454-0268-5595 Battle.net: SteelAngel#1772
Edit: Also my mom likes it despite only hearing about the first 30 seconds.
"He made it!" She exclaimed loudly.
Yer drunk mom.
Edit 2: We've listened to all of it.
"Please tell them your mother approves. That was, fuckin' A."
Tell your mom I'm honored. Let me know when her birthday is coming around and I'll record her something funny.
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051
Steam ID
Twitch Page
Please tell every game/animation/commercial company to hire me to voice their characters.
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051
Steam ID
Twitch Page
I looooved Alpha Protocol. I really wish there was a sequel.
Now I need to hear EVERY POST ON EVERY THREAD read like that forever.
"Tell him he has until September."
The best thing I can say about FO3 is that I played it. I don't regret playing it, but the dreariness of it weighed everything down.
The best thing *in* FO3 was the plasma weapons. It made finding the remains of enemies easier to loot at nighttime.
Oh god, I'm "whispery/breathy arrogant guy bitching about Dragon Age".
I love it.
Look, I’ll make that happen, but will need to set up a Patreon to get paid. :biggrin:
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051
Steam ID
Twitch Page
Do it, you won't.
@MNC Dover you are a treasure and I appreciate you.
The more I play the more I agree on the characters. Gun to my head, the only one I could name is Nils, because I'm not sure if he wants to sleep with Aloy or shoot her in the face but he's got a super creepy Norman Bates thing going on either way.