Everything I read about MGS V makes me wish it wasn't a MGS game. I don't know why....or I kind of do. But Kojima, separate from his story, has created my ideal game, where I can win a war without death, by becoming death itself.
I like the MGS series well enough, but yeah it is a bit disappointing how every potentially interesting bit gets undermined by trademark MGS dumbness. A look into the negative aspects of the ubiquity of the English language? Sure, that could be an interesting topic, but nope, it has to be explored with dumb magical bugs instead of actual exposition and introspection. A look at the questionable aspects of the major powers' military excursions in the middle east and Africa? Cool topic, but it has to be a super secret organization lead by a stupid skull face man with a band of OK-to-kill magical private security gooks instead of a proper look at the political situation at the time.
Even when it does try to tackle things head on, like the US's promotion of capitalism at the expense of local autonomy, they go all the way overboard and blame the US for capitalism existing in general. Uh, no, people would be trying to get theirs even if no European ever set foot on North America, thanks.
It's so close to having a meaningful narrative, but just trips itself up at every turn with anime BS and general naivete. That said, the gameplay's all manner of fun.
Well, that's the thing, there's just enough politics in there to have condescending finger waggling, but not enough to present it in a way that can taken seriously.
What I'm saying is that MGS 3, even with its male gaze, had a nice story of honor, duty, courage, growth, and double crosses behind the scenes. I didn't have to light my mental fires of Gondor to signal all my bullshit to one place.
Long explanation of everything.
MONEY!
I really, really would have hoped that with the story of Big Boss, Kojima would have dialed down the bullshitcrazy melodrama fuck it, just because you aren't using rape as a motivator doesn't mean you aren't using crazy reasons.
I'm having one of those weekends where pretty much all my time at home is with company, so I'm settling with some late night Rocksmith and maybe some Mario Kart in bed.
I think that the internet has been for years on the path to creating what is essentially an electronic Necronomicon: A collection of blasphemous unrealities so perverse that to even glimpse at its contents, if but for a moment, is to irrevocably forfeit a portion of your sanity.
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If you ever need to talk to someone, feel free to message me. Yes, that includes you.
I think I'm going to make a push and finally finish Crysis 2. It's a fun "Activate Maximum Armor mode and then stomp up to aliens and shoot them in the face with a shotgun" simulator, but I think I am near the end and I'm ready to knock it off of the backlog. Outside of that I was thinking of going back and playing Alien Isolation again (I stopped playing once I hit medlabs and never picked it back up), but I think I might save that for when it's closer to Halloween.
It's so close to having a meaningful narrative, but just trips itself up at every turn with anime BS and general naivete. That said, the gameplay's all manner of fun.
To be fair I haven't played MGS5 yet, but this seems like a silly thing to complain about in a series like Metal Gear.
The first two Metal Gears were fairly straightforward, but MGS had psychics and dead/not dead old friend from your past who is also a cyborg ninja who is now a foe (or is he?), a long lost brother desperately trying to revive his dead (or is he?) father's vision and inherit the family honor, a love interest who can't love you because she's too committed to her country (or can she?) and happens to be the niece of your commanding officer (or is she?), a nerdy scientist guy who won't shut the fuck up about anime for like ten minutes after you meet him and then abloo bloo bloos about how he got bamboozled into building a doomsday machine, genetically engineered super soldiers, invisibility devices, a Russian torture artist who thinks he's a cowboy, a magical bandanna that grants you infinite ammo (and is an actual item in the game world, not just a cheat), characters who break the forth wall to make fun of the player if they only have a mono TV... and also a giant mecha. It's been weird since the beginning.
Metal Gear is basically "Anime BS: The Series". Each game has a central theme (Nuclear proliferation, information control, the Cold War, the Military Industrial Complex, etc) that the player explores while framing the theme in a bunch of goofy stuff because Kojima is equal parts genius and fucking wackadoo.
Everything I read about MGS V makes me wish it wasn't a MGS game. I don't know why....or I kind of do. But Kojima, separate from his story, has created my ideal game, where I can win a war without death, by becoming death itself.
I like the MGS series well enough, but yeah it is a bit disappointing how every potentially interesting bit gets undermined by trademark MGS dumbness. A look into the negative aspects of the ubiquity of the English language? Sure, that could be an interesting topic, but nope, it has to be explored with dumb magical bugs instead of actual exposition and introspection. A look at the questionable aspects of the major powers' military excursions in the middle east and Africa? Cool topic, but it has to be a super secret organization lead by a stupid skull face man with a band of OK-to-kill magical private security gooks instead of a proper look at the political situation at the time.
Even when it does try to tackle things head on, like the US's promotion of capitalism at the expense of local autonomy, they go all the way overboard and blame the US for capitalism existing in general. Uh, no, people would be trying to get theirs even if no European ever set foot on North America, thanks.
It's so close to having a meaningful narrative, but just trips itself up at every turn with anime BS and general naivete. That said, the gameplay's all manner of fun.
I dunno. That craziness you disparage seems more or less the thing that actually makes the game memorable, though. Like, I don't even LIKE the MGS series, but what you are suggesting here sounds like something that would have crashed and burned back when the first one came out in 98 and never had any more games.
Metal Gear is widely known to be a bucketload of crazy melodrama with anti war and war profiteering subtext. As far as I know, that seems to be what people go to the series for. If Metal Gear was 100% serious believable commentary on war subject matters it wouldn't have become notorious, or honestly even been in anyone's radar. Cyber Ninjas and giant robots, though? That shit starts the word of mouth :P .
I don't mind silly stories on their own, just mixing them with serious geopolitical stuff and asking your audience to take things seriously and as humor at the same time. MGS1,2 and 4 had philosophical waxing and robots at the same time, sure, but I feel recently with Peacewalker, Revengence, and 5 that they've gone in a more critical space that goes quite a bit beyond calling for general peace (e.g. not-Guantanmo Bay, Senator Armstrong, English destroying the world's culture) while still trying to go for the scatological jokes at the same time...it doesn't quite work for me. Commenting on those things would be interesting, and I'm always game for robo-silliness, but both at the same time, eh, the mixture just becomes toxic to my tastes.
Being as objective as I can be, I must admit that some of the irritation may be coming from myself being American and these games calling Americans trash (literally, Revengance does that, Miller self deprecatingly calls himself a parasite for being an American in 5) while not dedicating fully to the arguments. If you're going to go there, go there and really flesh out your arguments, and don't undermine the whole situation with the aforementioned silliness. There sure are plenty of valid complaints to be had, (and I know this isn't D&D, so I won't go too far into it) but just generally speaking you don't get to get all hostile in little instances like that and then claim "robot silliness, not serious lol!" Maybe there's some of me just being grumpy in there, hard to say. I may very well just be being silly about it, most reactions DO seem to be "Oh, that Metal Gear!"
Edit: Apologies if this isn't' really the place for this discussion.
That's fair, but complaining about Metal Gear stuff in a Metal Gear game just seems odd. "I wish this weirdass anime game didn't have weirdass anime stuff in it" is what I am reading. Even Snake Eater has a CO who is obsessed with James Bond, a ghost bossfight, and a medical advisor who will, if you let her, tell you everything you ever needed to know about ceacal feces.
You might have better luck with the Splinter Cell series if you haven't played them yet. They're pretty much 100% political/0% goofiness stealth games. They're a little slower paced compared to MGS, significantly more "grounded", and they all take place in modern times.
The series started off great with the first game (on Steam), got better with the second (Pandora Tomorrow, not on Steam), and peaked with the third (Chaos Theory, on Steam, a must play for anyone who enjoys stealth games, one of the best games of all time, also grab a friend because the co-op missions are fantastic). Double Agent is also on Steam and it's pretty good. Conviction is also on Steam and it's a mixed bag. Blacklist is the newest game, it's a reboot, and I think it's stupid and completely destroys the theme of the series/main character but a lot of people really like it and from a purely mechanical standpoint it's not that bad (although it is significantly "dumbed down" compared to earlier games in the series).
I'd recommend using a controller with them over KBAM though, because with analog sticks you get analog movement, which is important for slowly/quietly sneaking up on people.
Being as objective as I can be, I must admit that some of the irritation may be coming from myself being American and these games calling Americans trash (literally, Revengance does that, Miller self deprecatingly calls himself a parasite for being an American in 5) while not dedicating fully to the arguments. If you're going to go there, go there and really flesh out your arguments, and don't undermine the whole situation with the aforementioned silliness. There sure are plenty of valid complaints to be had, (and I know this isn't D&D, so I won't go too far into it) but just generally speaking you don't get to get all hostile in little instances like that and then claim "robot silliness, not serious lol!" Maybe there's some of me just being grumpy in there, hard to say. I may very well just be being silly about it, most reactions DO seem to be "Oh, that Metal Gear!"
Edit: Apologies if this isn't' really the place for this discussion.
I was eating Dead Rising up until the scientist revealed the source of the zombies.
From that point on I was expecting a JRPG rant about God being evil and the Pope attempting world domination.
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MorninglordI'm tired of being Batman,so today I'll be Owl.Registered Userregular
Well, now I guess I know how others felt when I mentioned I hadn't seen star wars.
You forget to mention that you had seen the new trilogy but not the original Star Wars movies. Which is probably worse than not having seen any of them.
I'm playing Mad Max this weekend. I just got through the Jaw, and now there's a whole other area full of transfer camps and oil wells and balloons that I feel the need to get down to 0 threat. I may have to skip on that, and just do a few story missions...
Well, now I guess I know how others felt when I mentioned I hadn't seen star wars.
You forget to mention that you had seen the new trilogy but not the original Star Wars movies. Which is probably worse than not having seen any of them.
Well, now I guess I know how others felt when I mentioned I hadn't seen star wars.
You forget to mention that you had seen the new trilogy but not the original Star Wars movies. Which is probably worse than not having seen any of them.
What the actual fuck...?!
Please tell me this has been rectified.
In fairness, if the only versions of the original movies they can watch are the 'improved' editions, then it's no real loss.
This game, as with many others like it, falls into the cracks made by FTLs earth-shattering redefinition of the roguelike genre. It's so painfully, agonisingly close to a good game but for me it just doesn't quite measure up. Let me cover this bit by bit so I don't miss anything out.
The Dozer. You'd think this'd be a decent chunk of the game considering the amount of work that's gone into it's art and how it's front-and-centre of the games lore, but it doesn't feel like you're in one at all. It lacks primarily in two ways.
First, the dozer is presented as a sort of Ark for people looking to make it to Aztec City. The number in the dozer menu says you have 1,000 souls on board, but it might as well be zero as they don't have any bearing on the gameplay. They can be traded away to various encounters just like fuel, meat or power cells. The Banner Saga wracked me with guilt and anguish by visibly seeing people abandoning the caravan or starving to death. In this? Gimme the power cells!
Secondly, the dozer has very limited gameplay influence. Outside of bombardments, it's absent from combat. You frequently fight inside it, but this just means you can't use bombardments and if you lose this particular fight it's game over (negative reinforcement gaming booo). You can (re: must) spend power cells on upgrading various efficiencies, but there's no choice here, no interesting decision to weigh up. Your best choice is to upgrade them all when you can. This is neither FTL nor Convoy in highlighting strengths and weaknesses of a given vehicle. It's just a thing you see on a map.
The combat. The difficulty spikes and troughs are gargantuan. The early-game is incredibly difficult. You'll lose virtually irreplaceable rookie units at a steady rate through no fault of your own. The enemy plays by the same rules as you do, but with a much less greater sense of self-preservation. They'll move their guys into suicidal positions to kill someone on your side, and while it's no big deal for them in this random battle, steady losses means your guys don't live long enough to level up and be useful. Playing in any way other than perfectly defensive will lead to heavy losses that you can't claw back from. Better units are recruited only by defeating them, so if you've already got a depleted roster and lose a few more trying to recruit a heavy hitter...
If you're able to keep one or two rookies alive long enough to get 3 or more kills, they become significantly more useful. Recruiting said heavy hitters then become much easier, who drastically improve your roster further, and from then on until near the end of the game it's easy street. I've only encountered the end few fights once but holy Moses does the difficulty explode to astronomical levels again.
Both ways that the game handles increasing difficulty are unpalatable. In one way they turn guys into massive bullet-sponges (which is unsatisfying as you've worked so hard to have upgraded soldiers to just have it negated ) and the other by drastically increasing the number of enemies (which is also unsatisfying because they still only get two actions a turn, so you end up churning through a steady trickle of weak enemies, which make you a lot stronger a lot quicker). The enemies themselves stay the same in terms of weapon and movement range.
My overall impression of the combat is that there is one correct way to win, not many ways to win.
Don't even get me started on how the Robot AI enemy-type blatantly cheats. They can teleport to what appears to be anywhere else on the map for an action. So while you've got a front line of defenders and you've made sure that your heavy-hitting snipers are well out of the way of suicidal dives by the enemy, they'll teleport well beyond their movement range and one-shot the sniper. Thanks, game! Super jerk-like of you.
The story stands on it's own two feet in terms of having its own tone in a crowded genre, but the presentation falls flat. In FTL you come across encounters that are risk/reward based on who you've got on your crew and what type of ship/weapons you've got. So far I haven't encountered a single negative affect from investigating every text-based offer presented to me. Many encounters will just be story with no choice and no resources gained or lost, so it feels like a waste of time. You don't really encounter stores, just people willing to trade, but you're never told how much you're going to get or how much you're going to trade.
tl,dr: Garhhhh this game has so much potential! So many things are already there and in place and working that could turn this into something fantastic. Certainly not FTL level, but at least up there with The Banner Saga. But alas, no. The 'base' of the dozer is very underutilised in gameplay, the combat frequently feels cheap and lacks a lot of strategy found in similar titles, the encounters feature heavy repetition and little if any risk...
I can't recommend this game even for fans of the genre as you're better off playing something I've mentioned earlier. It's so bloody frustrating, this could've been great! I can see it through all it's shortcomings, it's 95% of the way there... But no, it's not. This isn't the game I hoped it would be.
In fairness, if the only versions of the original movies they can watch are the 'improved' editions, then it's no real loss.
I wouldn't go that far, although I take your point that the real originals are not readily available. They are still worth watching with extra space jazz and extended disco ewok celebration and {twitch} Greedo shooting the wall.
Not really Steam related, huh?
I've hit a wall on OTTTD where I'm going to need to grind 20-30 lower levels on characters I hadn't been using that much to get past lvl 20, "Surrounded Again." I'd love to finish out, but that's not a terribly appealing prospect.
I tried out TIMEframe last night. I'm halfway through it (I have discovered 7 of the 14 map points) in about 40 minutes.
I don't even know how to review it. It's a walking simulator game, so people put off by those should ignore it entirely. For everyone else... I can't recommend this enough. It's breathtakingly beautiful (in theme, not graphics, although those are awesome too), with haunting music and a story that unfolds over multiple "playthroughs" of 10 minutes each. I can't even talk about that without spoiling it but the basic premise is that you are exploring the remnants of a strange civilization "on the brink of destruction" and doing so in slow motion (but fear not, you move around at normal speed - everything else is slowed down).
It's surreal and beautiful and introspective and just wow. A bit expensive for what it is, maybe, at $8 but definitely recommend watching for a sale on it. Thanks to @destroyah87 for gifting this one to me a couple months ago.
Call out: @Drake - I really think this would be up your alley. You were a big fan of Stranded, as I recall, and I think this has something of a similar vibe.
Chipmunks are like nature's nipple clamps, I guess?
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KoopahTroopahThe koopas, the troopas.Philadelphia, PARegistered Userregular
Last of Us and Shovel Knight for me today. Last day of my temporary position for work was Friday, so my schedule split wide open. Went to Zelda Symphony Friday, had a blindish date last night, today's all me time. Just gonna focus work on my game for a little bit now before I try those kickstarter and early access things. Hopefully get a prototype done by November.
I tried out TIMEframe last night. I'm halfway through it (I have discovered 7 of the 14 map points) in about 40 minutes.
I don't even know how to review it. It's a walking simulator game, so people put off by those should ignore it entirely. For everyone else... I can't recommend this enough. It's breathtakingly beautiful (in theme, not graphics, although those are awesome too), with haunting music and a story that unfolds over multiple "playthroughs" of 10 minutes each. I can't even talk about that without spoiling it but the basic premise is that you are exploring the remnants of a strange civilization "on the brink of destruction" and doing so in slow motion (but fear not, you move around at normal speed - everything else is slowed down).
It's surreal and beautiful and introspective and just wow. A bit expensive for what it is, maybe, at $8 but definitely recommend watching for a sale on it. Thanks to destroyah87 for gifting this one to me a couple months ago.
Call out: Drake - I really think this would be up your alley. You were a big fan of Stranded, as I recall, and I think this has something of a similar vibe.
Is the story conveyed in audio/voiceover to accompany the setting or is more inferred? Dear Esther and Gone Home I rate quite highly but I'd probably pass on another Proteus. Though in 10 minutes that's much more bearable but like you said way overpriced.
What a nice thing to wake up to! Thanks @Halfazedninja !!!
Went ahead and bought myself the necromancer dlc too, my fiancee loves games like this so i think i know what we'll be "lets playing" next!
I've been playing Gauntlet on PS4 with my wife and best friend. I also picked up the Necromancer and she's been my main character. My only real complaint with the game is that new weapons and upgrades are too expensive so you're not really encouraged to buy new stuff as it becomes available to try them out but squirrel away your money for the most expensive weapon and relic instead.
So Batman Arkham Knight, which I had refunded from greenmangaming, now runs absolutely fine. There's massive hitch ups during certain moments but gameplay wise, I've just played an hour or so and it's been as playable as on the PS4. What's more, it natively uses the Dualshock 4 with the prompts changing too. Brilliant.
I tried out TIMEframe last night. I'm halfway through it (I have discovered 7 of the 14 map points) in about 40 minutes.
I don't even know how to review it. It's a walking simulator game, so people put off by those should ignore it entirely. For everyone else... I can't recommend this enough. It's breathtakingly beautiful (in theme, not graphics, although those are awesome too), with haunting music and a story that unfolds over multiple "playthroughs" of 10 minutes each. I can't even talk about that without spoiling it but the basic premise is that you are exploring the remnants of a strange civilization "on the brink of destruction" and doing so in slow motion (but fear not, you move around at normal speed - everything else is slowed down).
It's surreal and beautiful and introspective and just wow. A bit expensive for what it is, maybe, at $8 but definitely recommend watching for a sale on it. Thanks to destroyah87 for gifting this one to me a couple months ago.
Call out: Drake - I really think this would be up your alley. You were a big fan of Stranded, as I recall, and I think this has something of a similar vibe.
Is the story conveyed in audio/voiceover to accompany the setting or is more inferred? Dear Esther and Gone Home I rate quite highly but I'd probably pass on another Proteus. Though in 10 minutes that's much more bearable but like you said way overpriced.
No audio. It's visual (inferred) and text. Each of the sites you can find has some sort of monument marker with text.
For example, at the spawn point where you start each game, there's a book on a pedestal that gives you this text when you click on it.
Also, note: the game is not 10 minutes. That's one playthrough. Hard to explain without spoiling the game's story. But you need probably 6-10 playthroughs to "finish" the game (depending on how much time you "waste" looking around).
I just had to destroy ELEVEN transfer tanks at a camp in mad max.
Destroying transfer tanks is the worst!
I don't mind them too much, there's always stuff to blow them up nearby and the explosions are cool. Maybe if you said clearing minefields... now those are tedious.
I tried out TIMEframe last night. I'm halfway through it (I have discovered 7 of the 14 map points) in about 40 minutes.
I don't even know how to review it. It's a walking simulator game, so people put off by those should ignore it entirely. For everyone else... I can't recommend this enough. It's breathtakingly beautiful (in theme, not graphics, although those are awesome too), with haunting music and a story that unfolds over multiple "playthroughs" of 10 minutes each. I can't even talk about that without spoiling it but the basic premise is that you are exploring the remnants of a strange civilization "on the brink of destruction" and doing so in slow motion (but fear not, you move around at normal speed - everything else is slowed down).
It's surreal and beautiful and introspective and just wow. A bit expensive for what it is, maybe, at $8 but definitely recommend watching for a sale on it. Thanks to destroyah87 for gifting this one to me a couple months ago.
Call out: Drake - I really think this would be up your alley. You were a big fan of Stranded, as I recall, and I think this has something of a similar vibe.
Is the story conveyed in audio/voiceover to accompany the setting or is more inferred? Dear Esther and Gone Home I rate quite highly but I'd probably pass on another Proteus. Though in 10 minutes that's much more bearable but like you said way overpriced.
No audio. It's visual (inferred) and text. Each of the sites you can find has some sort of monument marker with text.
For example, at the spawn point where you start each game, there's a book on a pedestal that gives you this text when you click on it.
Also, note: the game is not 10 minutes. That's one playthrough. Hard to explain without spoiling the game's story. But you need probably 6-10 playthroughs to "finish" the game (depending on how much time you "waste" looking around).
Thanks for the info, text works as well as audio when engaging me in a story unless there is something else to pull me along--I would love to play Journey someday. Stupid console exclusives.
Yes, I took into account the bite size playthroughs plus total time to complete when considering the game. Breaking up Proteus in more manageable chunks would probably have kept me more engaged and some games like Sword and Sworcery encourage taking breaks but don't mandate it. But overall at ~100min or 1.6 hours it falls well under the usual (and often unrealistic) goal of $1 spent = 1 hour of gameplay.
I just had to destroy ELEVEN transfer tanks at a camp in mad max.
Destroying transfer tanks is the worst!
I don't mind them too much, there's always stuff to blow them up nearby and the explosions are cool. Maybe if you said clearing minefields... now those are tedious.
BeryllineOne Tiara to rule them allRegistered Userregular
edited September 2015
I just have a quick question. What's the name of the program that drops your cards for you? I'd originally decided not to bother with it, since I was planning on playing all of my games for at least 30-60 minutes to try out, and it would be easy to let it keep running and drop the cards. However, since the switch to the drops not starting until 2 hours, it's a bit of a different situation, especially for those games that I decide aren't really my cup of tea after a half hour. Thanks!
I just have a quick question. What's the name of the program that drops your cards for you? I'd originally decided not to bother with it, since I was planning on playing all of my games for at least 30-60 minutes to try out, and it would be easy to let it keep running and drop the cards. However, since the switch to the drops not starting until 2 hours, it's a bit of a different situation, especially for those games that I decide aren't really my cup of tea after a half hour. Thanks!
That's Mark of the Ninja 100% completed, all achievements in the bag. Great game, and I thought the new game+ was great, the restriction of vision made the game a lot more tense in places.
Also more games should have developer commentaries (though I'd love it if they were audio so it wouldn't break the action), it was great reading about the choices they made with the art/sound/gameplay.
I have Grow Home downloading, and next up is Ittle Dew. This backlog will be tamed!
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SteevLWhat can I do for you?Registered Userregular
That's Mark of the Ninja 100% completed, all achievements in the bag. Great game, and I thought the new game+ was great, the restriction of vision made the game a lot more tense in places.
Also more games should have developer commentaries (though I'd love it if they were audio so it wouldn't break the action), it was great reading about the choices they made with the art/sound/gameplay.
I have Grow Home downloading, and next up is Ittle Dew. This backlog will be tamed!
Grow Home and Ittle Dew are great! They're also relatively short, which is great for the backlog.
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Even when it does try to tackle things head on, like the US's promotion of capitalism at the expense of local autonomy, they go all the way overboard and blame the US for capitalism existing in general. Uh, no, people would be trying to get theirs even if no European ever set foot on North America, thanks.
It's so close to having a meaningful narrative, but just trips itself up at every turn with anime BS and general naivete. That said, the gameplay's all manner of fun.
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Long explanation of everything.
I really, really would have hoped that with the story of Big Boss, Kojima would have dialed down the bullshit crazy melodrama fuck it, just because you aren't using rape as a motivator doesn't mean you aren't using crazy reasons.
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=16534
I'm having one of those weekends where pretty much all my time at home is with company, so I'm settling with some late night Rocksmith and maybe some Mario Kart in bed.
If you ever need to talk to someone, feel free to message me. Yes, that includes you.
I think I'm going to make a push and finally finish Crysis 2. It's a fun "Activate Maximum Armor mode and then stomp up to aliens and shoot them in the face with a shotgun" simulator, but I think I am near the end and I'm ready to knock it off of the backlog. Outside of that I was thinking of going back and playing Alien Isolation again (I stopped playing once I hit medlabs and never picked it back up), but I think I might save that for when it's closer to Halloween.
To be fair I haven't played MGS5 yet, but this seems like a silly thing to complain about in a series like Metal Gear.
The first two Metal Gears were fairly straightforward, but MGS had psychics and dead/not dead old friend from your past who is also a cyborg ninja who is now a foe (or is he?), a long lost brother desperately trying to revive his dead (or is he?) father's vision and inherit the family honor, a love interest who can't love you because she's too committed to her country (or can she?) and happens to be the niece of your commanding officer (or is she?), a nerdy scientist guy who won't shut the fuck up about anime for like ten minutes after you meet him and then abloo bloo bloos about how he got bamboozled into building a doomsday machine, genetically engineered super soldiers, invisibility devices, a Russian torture artist who thinks he's a cowboy, a magical bandanna that grants you infinite ammo (and is an actual item in the game world, not just a cheat), characters who break the forth wall to make fun of the player if they only have a mono TV... and also a giant mecha. It's been weird since the beginning.
Metal Gear is basically "Anime BS: The Series". Each game has a central theme (Nuclear proliferation, information control, the Cold War, the Military Industrial Complex, etc) that the player explores while framing the theme in a bunch of goofy stuff because Kojima is equal parts genius and fucking wackadoo.
Well that and making Big Boss basically a mute outside of tapes. Guess Kiefer was a bit expensive.
Went ahead and bought myself the necromancer dlc too, my fiancee loves games like this so i think i know what we'll be "lets playing" next!
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I dunno. That craziness you disparage seems more or less the thing that actually makes the game memorable, though. Like, I don't even LIKE the MGS series, but what you are suggesting here sounds like something that would have crashed and burned back when the first one came out in 98 and never had any more games.
Metal Gear is widely known to be a bucketload of crazy melodrama with anti war and war profiteering subtext. As far as I know, that seems to be what people go to the series for. If Metal Gear was 100% serious believable commentary on war subject matters it wouldn't have become notorious, or honestly even been in anyone's radar. Cyber Ninjas and giant robots, though? That shit starts the word of mouth :P .
Being as objective as I can be, I must admit that some of the irritation may be coming from myself being American and these games calling Americans trash (literally, Revengance does that, Miller self deprecatingly calls himself a parasite for being an American in 5) while not dedicating fully to the arguments. If you're going to go there, go there and really flesh out your arguments, and don't undermine the whole situation with the aforementioned silliness. There sure are plenty of valid complaints to be had, (and I know this isn't D&D, so I won't go too far into it) but just generally speaking you don't get to get all hostile in little instances like that and then claim "robot silliness, not serious lol!" Maybe there's some of me just being grumpy in there, hard to say. I may very well just be being silly about it, most reactions DO seem to be "Oh, that Metal Gear!"
Edit: Apologies if this isn't' really the place for this discussion.
Destroying transfer tanks is the worst!
STEAM: Quical
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You might have better luck with the Splinter Cell series if you haven't played them yet. They're pretty much 100% political/0% goofiness stealth games. They're a little slower paced compared to MGS, significantly more "grounded", and they all take place in modern times.
The series started off great with the first game (on Steam), got better with the second (Pandora Tomorrow, not on Steam), and peaked with the third (Chaos Theory, on Steam, a must play for anyone who enjoys stealth games, one of the best games of all time, also grab a friend because the co-op missions are fantastic). Double Agent is also on Steam and it's pretty good. Conviction is also on Steam and it's a mixed bag. Blacklist is the newest game, it's a reboot, and I think it's stupid and completely destroys the theme of the series/main character but a lot of people really like it and from a purely mechanical standpoint it's not that bad (although it is significantly "dumbed down" compared to earlier games in the series).
I'd recommend using a controller with them over KBAM though, because with analog sticks you get analog movement, which is important for slowly/quietly sneaking up on people.
I was eating Dead Rising up until the scientist revealed the source of the zombies.
From that point on I was expecting a JRPG rant about God being evil and the Pope attempting world domination.
My experience so far?
You forget to mention that you had seen the new trilogy but not the original Star Wars movies. Which is probably worse than not having seen any of them.
AniList
What the actual fuck...?!
Please tell me this has been rectified.
Steam profile.
Getting started with BATTLETECH: Part 1 / Part 2
In fairness, if the only versions of the original movies they can watch are the 'improved' editions, then it's no real loss.
This game, as with many others like it, falls into the cracks made by FTLs earth-shattering redefinition of the roguelike genre. It's so painfully, agonisingly close to a good game but for me it just doesn't quite measure up. Let me cover this bit by bit so I don't miss anything out.
The Dozer. You'd think this'd be a decent chunk of the game considering the amount of work that's gone into it's art and how it's front-and-centre of the games lore, but it doesn't feel like you're in one at all. It lacks primarily in two ways.
First, the dozer is presented as a sort of Ark for people looking to make it to Aztec City. The number in the dozer menu says you have 1,000 souls on board, but it might as well be zero as they don't have any bearing on the gameplay. They can be traded away to various encounters just like fuel, meat or power cells. The Banner Saga wracked me with guilt and anguish by visibly seeing people abandoning the caravan or starving to death. In this? Gimme the power cells!
Secondly, the dozer has very limited gameplay influence. Outside of bombardments, it's absent from combat. You frequently fight inside it, but this just means you can't use bombardments and if you lose this particular fight it's game over (negative reinforcement gaming booo). You can (re: must) spend power cells on upgrading various efficiencies, but there's no choice here, no interesting decision to weigh up. Your best choice is to upgrade them all when you can. This is neither FTL nor Convoy in highlighting strengths and weaknesses of a given vehicle. It's just a thing you see on a map.
The combat. The difficulty spikes and troughs are gargantuan. The early-game is incredibly difficult. You'll lose virtually irreplaceable rookie units at a steady rate through no fault of your own. The enemy plays by the same rules as you do, but with a much less greater sense of self-preservation. They'll move their guys into suicidal positions to kill someone on your side, and while it's no big deal for them in this random battle, steady losses means your guys don't live long enough to level up and be useful. Playing in any way other than perfectly defensive will lead to heavy losses that you can't claw back from. Better units are recruited only by defeating them, so if you've already got a depleted roster and lose a few more trying to recruit a heavy hitter...
If you're able to keep one or two rookies alive long enough to get 3 or more kills, they become significantly more useful. Recruiting said heavy hitters then become much easier, who drastically improve your roster further, and from then on until near the end of the game it's easy street. I've only encountered the end few fights once but holy Moses does the difficulty explode to astronomical levels again.
Both ways that the game handles increasing difficulty are unpalatable. In one way they turn guys into massive bullet-sponges (which is unsatisfying as you've worked so hard to have upgraded soldiers to just have it negated ) and the other by drastically increasing the number of enemies (which is also unsatisfying because they still only get two actions a turn, so you end up churning through a steady trickle of weak enemies, which make you a lot stronger a lot quicker). The enemies themselves stay the same in terms of weapon and movement range.
My overall impression of the combat is that there is one correct way to win, not many ways to win.
Don't even get me started on how the Robot AI enemy-type blatantly cheats. They can teleport to what appears to be anywhere else on the map for an action. So while you've got a front line of defenders and you've made sure that your heavy-hitting snipers are well out of the way of suicidal dives by the enemy, they'll teleport well beyond their movement range and one-shot the sniper. Thanks, game! Super jerk-like of you.
The story stands on it's own two feet in terms of having its own tone in a crowded genre, but the presentation falls flat. In FTL you come across encounters that are risk/reward based on who you've got on your crew and what type of ship/weapons you've got. So far I haven't encountered a single negative affect from investigating every text-based offer presented to me. Many encounters will just be story with no choice and no resources gained or lost, so it feels like a waste of time. You don't really encounter stores, just people willing to trade, but you're never told how much you're going to get or how much you're going to trade.
tl,dr: Garhhhh this game has so much potential! So many things are already there and in place and working that could turn this into something fantastic. Certainly not FTL level, but at least up there with The Banner Saga. But alas, no. The 'base' of the dozer is very underutilised in gameplay, the combat frequently feels cheap and lacks a lot of strategy found in similar titles, the encounters feature heavy repetition and little if any risk...
I can't recommend this game even for fans of the genre as you're better off playing something I've mentioned earlier. It's so bloody frustrating, this could've been great! I can see it through all it's shortcomings, it's 95% of the way there... But no, it's not. This isn't the game I hoped it would be.
I wouldn't go that far, although I take your point that the real originals are not readily available. They are still worth watching with extra space jazz and extended disco ewok celebration and {twitch} Greedo shooting the wall.
Not really Steam related, huh?
I've hit a wall on OTTTD where I'm going to need to grind 20-30 lower levels on characters I hadn't been using that much to get past lvl 20, "Surrounded Again." I'd love to finish out, but that's not a terribly appealing prospect.
Steam profile.
Getting started with BATTLETECH: Part 1 / Part 2
I don't even know how to review it. It's a walking simulator game, so people put off by those should ignore it entirely. For everyone else... I can't recommend this enough. It's breathtakingly beautiful (in theme, not graphics, although those are awesome too), with haunting music and a story that unfolds over multiple "playthroughs" of 10 minutes each. I can't even talk about that without spoiling it but the basic premise is that you are exploring the remnants of a strange civilization "on the brink of destruction" and doing so in slow motion (but fear not, you move around at normal speed - everything else is slowed down).
It's surreal and beautiful and introspective and just wow. A bit expensive for what it is, maybe, at $8 but definitely recommend watching for a sale on it. Thanks to @destroyah87 for gifting this one to me a couple months ago.
Call out: @Drake - I really think this would be up your alley. You were a big fan of Stranded, as I recall, and I think this has something of a similar vibe.
Twitch: KoopahTroopah - Steam: Koopah
Is the story conveyed in audio/voiceover to accompany the setting or is more inferred? Dear Esther and Gone Home I rate quite highly but I'd probably pass on another Proteus. Though in 10 minutes that's much more bearable but like you said way overpriced.
I've been playing Gauntlet on PS4 with my wife and best friend. I also picked up the Necromancer and she's been my main character. My only real complaint with the game is that new weapons and upgrades are too expensive so you're not really encouraged to buy new stuff as it becomes available to try them out but squirrel away your money for the most expensive weapon and relic instead.
No steam.
No audio. It's visual (inferred) and text. Each of the sites you can find has some sort of monument marker with text.
For example, at the spawn point where you start each game, there's a book on a pedestal that gives you this text when you click on it.
Also, note: the game is not 10 minutes. That's one playthrough. Hard to explain without spoiling the game's story. But you need probably 6-10 playthroughs to "finish" the game (depending on how much time you "waste" looking around).
I don't mind them too much, there's always stuff to blow them up nearby and the explosions are cool. Maybe if you said clearing minefields... now those are tedious.
Thanks for the info, text works as well as audio when engaging me in a story unless there is something else to pull me along--I would love to play Journey someday. Stupid console exclusives.
Yes, I took into account the bite size playthroughs plus total time to complete when considering the game. Breaking up Proteus in more manageable chunks would probably have kept me more engaged and some games like Sword and Sworcery encourage taking breaks but don't mandate it. But overall at ~100min or 1.6 hours it falls well under the usual (and often unrealistic) goal of $1 spent = 1 hour of gameplay.
I have yet to do one minefield
Switch FC: SW-7588-7027-0113, Steam/PSN: Halfazedninja
Edit: Thank you @Florin and @Corsini!
It's called Idle Master. Clicky
Steam Badger A greasemonkey script for better gifting and peering
Also more games should have developer commentaries (though I'd love it if they were audio so it wouldn't break the action), it was great reading about the choices they made with the art/sound/gameplay.
I have Grow Home downloading, and next up is Ittle Dew. This backlog will be tamed!
Grow Home and Ittle Dew are great! They're also relatively short, which is great for the backlog.