Written by Zap on 15.09.2021 at 10:13


If you dislike 2 too much you can always try Demon's Souls if you have a PS3 (or PS5 but I can't comment on how good the remake is). Heads up though, it also has that lose-max-health-on-death aspect, and this time it just goes straight to 50% health except when you wear a certain ring that has it at 75% (you can find it in the first level).

I live in Brazil, have a crappy refurbished PS4 slim that took up 10% of my max luggage weight when we moved here, causing me to displace a good chunk (4.5kg or so) of clothing. Why? Brazil taxes the living fuck out of import, particularly technology. If I could find one, even with them "cutting" some of the taxes on the product, still looking at well over $1000.

A really good friend of mine even offered to ship me his from the US, but worried it would get locked up in Sao Paulo with the tax fees and cost to get there, stay and fly home exceeding the US cost.

No joke.

Written by BitterCOld on 15.09.2021 at 17:03

I live in Brazil, have a crappy refurbished PS4 slim that took up 10% of my max luggage weight when we moved here, causing me to displace a good chunk (4.5kg or so) of clothing. Why? Brazil taxes the living fuck out of import, particularly technology. If I could find one, even with them "cutting" some of the taxes on the product, still looking at well over $1000.

A really good friend of mine even offered to ship me his from the US, but worried it would get locked up in Sao Paulo with the tax fees and cost to get there, stay and fly home exceeding the US cost.

No joke.

Ouch, I totally get you not wanting to ship over the ol PS3...

Unrelated question, Bitter, how come you move so often? I think I remember you being in quite a few different South American countries the past years.

Written by BitterCOld on 15.09.2021 at 02:24


Fuck. That. Game.

Did you get the original edition or the Scholar of the First Sin one? I heard the latter is even more punitive and unfair than the former. The impossibility to farm souls on the long run sounds dumb to be honest, it's supposed to be an integral part of any game based on leveling up.

Written by Zap on 15.09.2021 at 20:27


Unrelated question, Bitter, how come you move so often? I think I remember you being in quite a few different South American countries the past years.

He's #2 on Interpol's most wanted list

Written by Deadsoulman on 16.09.2021 at 11:21


Did you get the original edition or the Scholar of the First Sin one? I heard the latter is even more punitive and unfair than the former. The impossibility to farm souls on the long run sounds dumb to be honest, it's supposed to be an integral part of any game based on leveling up.

He's #2 on Interpol's most wanted list

Yes, Scholar variant. And yes, still on the run. Ssshhhhh!

Right, so after Far Cry 3 - a game that is supposedly extremely easy yet in which I got my ass handed to me every single time I went in full head-to-head combat (even in easy mode) - allowed me to demonstrate once again my extraordinary level of suckage at FPS games, I decided to try and complete RDR2.

Let's say I haven't changed my mind about a lot of the flaws I mentioned a few weeks ago in this topic. The Saint-Denis chapter was a little better than the ones before it, the story picked up quite a bit, but it suffered from too many pointless missions like the one in the swamps. The Guarma chapter felt rushed and useless, and was possibly my least favourite in the whole game. That last chapter though, Beaver Hollow, was awesome. Arthur's character was much more fleshed out, the missions were interesting, the story became riveting, everything converged towards a really epic climax... Before it all collapsed during 8 (eight!) fucking hours of epilogue. Seriously, have Rockstar never heard of pacing? Together with the clumsy gameplay, this game suffers mostly from its shit pacing. The few epic missions are drowned in a sea of dullness. Most missions are five minutes of riding along listening to mildly interesting conversations, then 30 seconds of gunfight followed by ten minutes of cutscenes and riding, rinse, repeat. Some are intense enough so that this is not a problem, unfortunately most aren't.

And that overstretched epilogue... Now, I loved the way it led to the events of the first episode, I enjoyed being able to play John Marston, one of my favourite characters ever, but 8 hours of FedEx and bounty hunting missions? After the 55-60 hours required to complete the main story, you didn't need to do that, game. RDR1's epilogue lasted 30 minutes and that was fine, even The Witcher 3's epilogue was what? 30-45 minutes? That was more than enough. Here, I almost begged for it to be over. So yeah, this game didn't play on its strengths at all, some things were fine but I really can't say I enjoyed playing it. And that is too bad because I really loved the first one.

Maneater's pretty fun. Swim swim swim. Chomp chomp chomp.
The game reminds me of Arkham City, for some reason. With GTA 4's wanted system and Dragon Age Inquisition's sonar spam. And the Blackreach part of Skyrim.

Written by Deadsoulman on 20.09.2021 at 15:56

Right, so after Far Cry 3 - a game that is supposedly extremely easy yet in which I got my ass handed to me every single time I went in full head-to-head combat (even in easy mode) - allowed me to demonstrate once again my extraordinary level of suckage at FPS games, I decided to try and complete RDR2.

Let's say I haven't changed my mind about a lot of the flaws I mentioned a few weeks ago in this topic. The Saint-Denis chapter was a little better than the ones before it, the story picked up quite a bit, but it suffered from too many pointless missions like the one in the swamps. The Guarma chapter felt rushed and useless, and was possibly my least favourite in the whole game. That last chapter though, Beaver Hollow, was awesome. Arthur's character was much more fleshed out, the missions were interesting, the story became riveting, everything converged towards a really epic climax... Before it all collapsed during 8 (eight!) fucking hours of epilogue. Seriously, have Rockstar never heard of pacing? Together with the clumsy gameplay, this game suffers mostly from its shit pacing. The few epic missions are drowned in a sea of dullness. Most missions are five minutes of riding along listening to mildly interesting conversations, then 30 seconds of gunfight followed by ten minutes of cutscenes and riding, rinse, repeat. Some are intense enough so that this is not a problem, unfortunately most aren't.

I've beaten Far Cry 5 and the follow-up, hooray for me, but stalled out on the earlier versions. Yeah, just hit a wall with what I can take down or ceases to be as fun.

RDR2 - best I've heard on Guarma was (aside from being an annoying side mission) was the fish out of water nature could have been an eye-opener for Dutch to see people really under a yoke as opposed to his view of tyranny in America.

It was the series of event in Saint Denis and upon return which really made Arthur one of my favorite characters ever.

Rockstar's game play and on-rails missions are still infuriating. Been fucking around with GTA V/online as a time killer now and it is there as well. So frustrating. At least my time in RDR2 has made me a better snap shot in GTA V.

Just got/dl'ing Monster Hunter World now to see if it can provide me some weird cocktail mix of like Final Fantasy meets Dark Souls or something. JRPG story/themes combined with some of the boss challenges.

I know it's a bit off topic, but is anyone willing to talk about the absolutely hilarious cast for the Mario movie ?

Written by Roman Doez on 25.09.2021 at 11:44

I know it's a bit off topic, but is anyone willing to talk about the absolutely hilarious cast for the Mario movie ?

Hilarious how?

Written by Roman Doez on 25.09.2021 at 11:44

I know it's a bit off topic, but is anyone willing to talk about the absolutely hilarious cast for the Mario movie ?

If you want to hear what the people have to say to this, our professional correspondent Dunkey (who is very wise in the video game lore) has made a documentary of his interviews:

Written by RaduP on 28.09.2021 at 14:42

Hilarious how?

Chris Pratt as Mario, Seth Rogen as DK, Charlie Day as Luigi, it's just so random and doesn't really make much sense, I find that rather hilarious

related

So... eFootball has been released....

Not sure if this is the right topic, but damn the Silent Hill 2 soundtrack is great. And I've never even played Silent Hill. I guess my days of excluding Video Game OST as a genre on rateyourmusic custom charts are over...

What the heck? Video game OST is one of the best and most varied genres out there.

Written by Karlabos on 11.10.2021 at 14:06

What the heck? Video game OST is one of the best and most varied genres out there.

Sorry.
There have definitely been a lot of video game soundtracks that I like, but I wouldn't really listen to any of them except in very specific moods/as background music... This one though (Silent Hill) I can just put on whenever, especially the non-ambient tracks.

But please, enlighten me; what am I missing out on?

Written by Zap on 11.10.2021 at 14:33

But please, enlighten me; what am I missing out on?

A lot of it is of course designed to work on the background, but I think it's an interesting genre in that it mixes features of ambient and electronic music (the emphasis on mood and soundscapes, suitability for playing on a loop, unobtrusiveness) with the pop/show tune need to be memorable and hard-hitting, plus stylistic loans from all sorts of genres (classical, world music, jazz, metal or whatever suits the context). It's a melting pot of musical memes.

This seems to be especially true with Japanese game music (Western games have tended to have more generic orchestral soundtracks that mimick film scores). This is news to nobody, but Nobuo Uematsu is pretty much a master of this approach. There are so many good compilations and live arrangements (orchestral, piano, hard rock etc.) of Final Fantasy music that you can just take your pick. As 4-disc soundtracks they are pretty much background music for taking you back to the games, yeah, but you can build some pretty solid playlists between the series.

Three games I've never played but I've listened their soundtracks to death: Shadow Hearts (Yoshitaka Hirota), Chrono Cross (Yasunori Mitsuda) and Wild ARMs (Michiko Naruke).

Shadow Hearts has a fantastic OST that's a bit dark ambient, a bit Dead Can Dance, a bit Final Fantasy (like this track) and a bit metal. At times it has a bit of the same vibe as Silent Hill's heavier tracks, though it's not exactly spooky:


Chrono Cross is just classic, feel-good escapism. Take Time of the Dreamwatch (or Dream of the Ages as it's called in the version on Spotify):


Wild ARMs as a whole is maybe a bit more on the background music end of the spectrum, but a few gems like the opening track are a must-listen:


And although it's a bit new-agey and not nearly as effective outside the context of the game, NieR: Automata is unusual in that it's full of actual songs:


But yeah, the Silent Hill 2 OST is one of my favorite albums of all time. SH3 is also very good, and the first obviously has the iconic theme.

^ Michiko Naruke was such a genius.
Both the OSTS of Wild Arms 1 and 2 are too good.

Written by IronAngel on 12.10.2021 at 20:30

A lot of it is of course designed to work on the background, but I think it's an interesting genre in that it mixes features of ambient and electronic music (the emphasis on mood and soundscapes, suitability for playing on a loop, unobtrusiveness) with the pop/show tune need to be memorable and hard-hitting, plus stylistic loans from all sorts of genres (classical, world music, jazz, metal or whatever suits the context). It's a melting pot of musical memes.

Yeah, that's a good point, I had never really considered how one would approach making video game music; being both something that's designed to be played in the background and something that's trying to be memorable, seems like a balance that can easily tip one way.

Quote:

And although it's a bit new-agey and not nearly as effective outside the context of the game, NieR: Automata is unusual in that it's full of actual songs:

You know I tried playing that game but couldn't stand it. I don't remember what the soundtrack was like though. I will give it and your other suggestions a listen anyways, thanks!

Quote:

But yeah, the Silent Hill 2 OST is one of my favorite albums of all time. SH3 is also very good, and the first obviously has the iconic theme.

Cool, SH3's soundtrack was next on my list to check out. No idea what "the iconic theme" is since I never played a single entry in the series, haha...

Written by Zap on 13.10.2021 at 21:41

Cool, SH3's soundtrack was next on my list to check out. No idea what "the iconic theme" is since I never played a single entry in the series, haha...

It is as unexpectedly titled as "Silent Hill Theme":


In other news:
Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime is really fun to play local co-op. My wife is not an experienced gamer and I'm always pulling my hair when I'm backseat gaming, so I thought it might be quite a trial on the relationship, but it's chaotic enough and both have enough agency that playing on the same team is actually not frustrating at all.

It's a 2D roguelike spaceship shooter where you control the ship's systems (engines, guns, shields etc.) together from specific stations inside the ship, gathering power-ups and exploring smallish open levels in four directions. It's for 1-4 players, and the difficulty apparently ramps up according to player count, but it seems well-suited for 2 players because both basically have to switch stations regularly. I imagine with 4 players, one person would always sit on engine and shield controls.

I also finally got around to playing Jedi Outcast. It has aged pretty well, didn't feel too janky or deliberately retro. Good, dynamic and lightweight fun with enough of a story. Gonna continue to Jedy Academy soon.

Written by IronAngel on 14.10.2021 at 12:41

It is as unexpectedly titled as "Silent Hill Theme":

Shocking.
Sounds tasteful though.

Dark Souls 3... Still can't get by (cue the Spin Doctors for those of you who recall your early 90s alt-radio stuff) The Two Princes. Still hate the fucking fact between Phase 1 and 2, they get to do whatever voodoo they do (If you've played, you know) while I sit there watching it happen with my thumb up my backside, unable to drink a swig or two of Sunny D.

On the other hand, went back to Bloodborne and battled through some chalice dungeons. After finding the last weapon, had but one trophy left. Did some grinding to further bulk up, got through the defiled dungeon - a normal stumbling block for most as the final Amygdala boss can easily one shot you given the Defiled reduces your health by half - and two hours later beat the tar out of the Pthumerian Queen to earn the Platinum. Weeee.

Honestly, tied with Witcher 3 as my fave game of at least the last decade, if not ever. (I'm old, played a lot, and in a lot of cases remembering what something was at the time, a la FFVII, sentiment gives them weight, as well as the knowledge we'll look back at these games in the same light).


Went wild on new game purchases over the past six or seven weeks after beating Dark Souls and needing non-DS3 wall filler.

Monster Hunter World is a weird mix of JRPG and some "Souls-like" combat, kind of. More of the annoying JRPG "killing a boss is nearly a full time job." after a couple boss fights that lasted 30 damn near 30 minutes - including them running, me having to give chase, track, fend off more aggro, etc, just got bored.

Nier: Automata - Shelved at the moment, just having issues with the map and even finding my way to secondary quests. Enjoying game play, but hasn't gripped me.

Resident Evil 7 - Didnt get far. After games like Bloodborne and Dark Souls, having massive issues with having to flee from an old dude with a shovel.

Resident Evil 8 - enjoying more. Not as tension/stressful. Whereas 7 has my heart in SoulsBorne Boss Fight bpm, Village is far better at jacking up and laying back on tension, at least early on. Still stuck on some stupid bit, missed some item and can't figure out next step.

Call of Cthulhu - did someone say stuck on some stupid puzzle and can't figure out next step? Made it a good chunk of the story through, mostly enjoying it. Aside from current predicament enjoyed the game and atmosphere. Can't wait to intentionally fail and unleash Cthulhu at the end. PHTHAGN!

Far Cry 6 - The Video Game equivalent of Panda Express. Nothing super special, but fun and good for Mayhem. Funny to be playing a game that is seemingly "anti-fascist" (while in a Cuba analog) conducting guerilla raids against Right Wingers and Capitalists... in a game riddled with fucking microtransactions. Also pretty fucking racist line early on that rankled me, something to the effect of "Americans will never see you as one of them, just the help." Whoever wrote that line can shove a cactus where a cactus ought not to be.

Guardians of the Galaxy - actually stunned by this. Had ZERO intention of buying, despite it being my fave Marvel film property. (Never had a run when I was collecting comics back before, well, most of you were born). Bought it based on positive reviews by reviewers I trust (Shill-Up comes to mind). About 3 hours in, more cinematic and cut scenes than I typically like, but I really enjoy the scenes and the flow of the game. Maybe the banter will get annoying after a while, but I like it.



Yeah burn a lot of time playing games. It's cheaper hobby than anything else I like given most of my purchases are half off or more on sale and in Brazil during a pandemic. Too ADD for much TV, not much holds my attention it's too passive, unlike games which are responsive and can put on tunes or youtube in the background for a lot of 'em (Far Cry) to split attention.

Tomorrow, finally, my RTX 3070 and a 2K monitor will arrive. Any suggestions on what game I ought to try as my first ever 2K gaming experience? (I was thinking maybe Horizon Zero Dawn or Red Dead Redemption 2, but I am actually out of the loop on more recent games).

Been playing smash recently to test out Sora, and I have to say he's quite fun to play. I still prefer Pyra and Mythra though.

Written by Metren on 28.10.2021 at 19:55

Tomorrow, finally, my RTX 3070 and a 2K monitor will arrive. Any suggestions on what game I ought to try as my first ever 2K gaming experience? (I was thinking maybe Horizon Zero Dawn or Red Dead Redemption 2, but I am actually out of the loop on more recent games).

Pong

Written by Roman Doez on 28.10.2021 at 22:29

Written by Metren on 28.10.2021 at 19:55

Tomorrow, finally, my RTX 3070 and a 2K monitor will arrive. Any suggestions on what game I ought to try as my first ever 2K gaming experience? (I was thinking maybe Horizon Zero Dawn or Red Dead Redemption 2, but I am actually out of the loop on more recent games).

Pong

Pokemon Brilliant Diamond. Team so far includes fire monkey, electric kitty and pink slug.

Been jamming Baba Is You all the way in!
With the new update there is so much stuff to do.

There are ~100 unused levels that were added, more 150 completely new levels featuring new words, a full level editor with sharing platform and I still have my levelpacks which I was working on before the update

Tried playing baba is you a while back, gave up like an hour in, too complicated for my monkey brain

Definitely the hardest puzzle game I've ever played