Video Game General (Official)

[Archer Vonn]

oh you haven't seen it yet? i guess i should mention that these are just the cutscenes. still tho'

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99vQ0DD4VCg

 

like pause it, they look like stills from a sci-fi movie, and it's not even in 1080

Edited July 29, 2014 by ~JC~

[Crunchyn]

oh you haven't seen it yet? i guess i should mention that these are just the cutscenes. still tho'

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99vQ0DD4VCg

 

like pause it, they look like stills from a sci-fi movie, and it's not even in 1080

The prophet looks great, the other characters look strange when you compare them to how they looked back then. Sgt. Johnson, especially, although you can argue that Johnson's appearance changed dramatically between each game in the trilogy. His face looks so soft this time, not as wrinkled as I imagined it.

[Archer Vonn]

yeah, i sort of hate the faces of all the humans. miranda keyes is just, idk, ugly, johnson doesn't look tough enough, and even cortana just looks odd.

 

also god awful elite faces. arbiter is okay, since his no-nose is covered, but the half jaw? god bless him

[Dapper-Sama]

I'd be more interested in seeing actual gameplay.

[Just A Dot]

*watches video*

 

The humans didn't look too great to me, but the rest of that was pretty amazing looking. However, I'm pretty sure those were cutscenes, which can look as good as the animators want them to. The in game graphics won't be that good.

[Wazdakka]

The cutscenes are all animated by a different company in CGI - that's why they are so gorgeous. Also, why are we discussing this in general and not Halo COT?

[Just A Dot]

'cause I haven't gotten to complete a Halo game yet, so I haven't lurked there

 

BTW, I'm thinking of getting an Xbone for the Master Chief collection (don't worry, I often end up buying a console just for one game and getting many others later ) Would it be worth it? Or should I just get a 360 and play the games on that?

[Dapper-Sama]

You'd be better off with a PS3. Better hardware.

[Terminus]

You'd be better off with a PS3. Better hardware.

The person who already owns a PS3 is asking about getting a 360 or XB1 for the Halo games.

 

I'm probably going to get a 360 later this year for Halo and some other exclusives, although I'd consider a One if more interested me on it than the Master Chief Collection (which I can get dirt-cheap on 360, although individually and at last-gen quality) and Scalebound, but I can easily get a 360 and pretty much all the games I'd want on it for less than half of the cost of just a One, so that's my plan at the moment, since I already have a next-gen console.

Edited August 1, 2014 by Terminus

[Dapper-Sama]

*PS4

 

>.<

[Archer Vonn]

i guess get an xbone if your made of money but in that case why are you askin'

 

it's silly to get a console for one game, especially if that game is a remake (or remake package)

[Hodor]

Get a 360- it's cheaper and has a decent library as-is. The 360 version of multiplats are also usually a fair deal better than the PS3's (Bayonetta being a great example), which makes up for the lack of major exclusives outside of Halo. Plus, it's not like it's hard to find the Halo games for more than a few bucks each.

[Just A Dot]

Okay, so 360 it is then. I was leaning towards one anyways

[Dapper-Sama]

You can get Destiny for any of those, so you're covered anyways.

[Hodor]

Okay, so 360 it is then. I was leaning towards one anyways

Really, the only issues I have with the 360 are the occasional overheating-induced lock up (best solved by laying it on its side, I've found), how many titles are region locked, the fact the basic model is only 4GB in 2014, and the spotty emulation for Xbox Classic titles. Even the price of Gold isn't that bad, with the whole free game thing.

 

Emulation for the 'big' games like Halo 1 & 2 were the biggest priority, and AFAIK, they run pretty well. Just check up on the compatibility list for other games on the console and you should be fine.

[Terminus]

Question, how many free games a month do you get with Games with Gold? Wonder if that could convince me to get gold when I get a 360, as multiplayer alone wouldn't do it for me.

[Dapper-Sama]

Last I remember, you get one or two.

[Just A Dot]

 

Okay, so 360 it is then. I was leaning towards one anyways

Really, the only issues I have with the 360 are the occasional overheating-induced lock up (best solved by laying it on its side, I've found), how many titles are region locked, the fact the basic model is only 4GB in 2014, and the spotty emulation for Xbox Classic titles. Even the price of Gold isn't that bad, with the whole free game thing.

 

Emulation for the 'big' games like Halo 1 & 2 were the biggest priority, and AFAIK, they run pretty well. Just check up on the compatibility list for other games on the console and you should be fine.

 

I won't be getting a 4GB! Why would they even sell that? And I thought the Wii U's 32GB was bad!

 

Gold doesn't matter to me, because there is a 0% chance I will buy Live. I thought the PS3 had a much better selection of titles, and still think PS+ is a waste of money. I'm just really picky about games, and don't want to pay a subscription for online services, which I will likely seldom use, considering I've actually still not done anything online on my own PS3 yet.

[Terminus]

4GB 360 exists for ultra-casuals and folks who don't know about mandatory game installs. That's like half the size of some game installs.

 

Speaking of game installs, I've heard the Assassins' Creed Ezio Trilogy on PS3 has mandatory installs. Is it just that version, or all AC games? Because I really want to try the AC games for myself (I play them when I hang out with my friends, but that's it), but I also don't want to screw over my 80GB hard drive.

 

PS+ has gone decently since I've had it, already paid for itself with just Muramasa and Gravity Rush, although really nothing else that great (mostly all indie titles, and It's pretty rare that I actually like an Indie game). Hoping that some good PS4 games come around to Plus over the next year...

[Just A Dot]

4GB 360 exists for ultra-casuals and folks who don't know about mandatory game installs. That's like half the size of some game installs.

 

Speaking of game installs, I've heard the Assassins' Creed Ezio Trilogy on PS3 has mandatory installs. Is it just that version, or all AC games? Because I really want to try the AC games for myself (I play them when I hang out with my friends, but that's it), but I also don't want to screw over my 80GB hard drive.

 

PS+ has gone decently since I've had it, already paid for itself with just Muramasa and Gravity Rush, although really nothing else that great (mostly all indie titles, and It's pretty rare that I actually like an Indie game). Hoping that some good PS4 games come around to Plus over the next year...

I'm kinda interested in Gravity Rush, but I'd rather just get it used for cheap.

 

I would assume AC has mandatory installs on all version. Why does any game need mandatory installs? Why can't it just load from the darn disc? I'd much rather sit through an extra 10 seconds of loading screen than clog up my hard drive.

[Hodor]

 

4GB 360 exists for ultra-casuals and folks who don't know about mandatory game installs. That's like half the size of some game installs.

 

Speaking of game installs, I've heard the Assassins' Creed Ezio Trilogy on PS3 has mandatory installs. Is it just that version, or all AC games? Because I really want to try the AC games for myself (I play them when I hang out with my friends, but that's it), but I also don't want to screw over my 80GB hard drive.

 

PS+ has gone decently since I've had it, already paid for itself with just Muramasa and Gravity Rush, although really nothing else that great (mostly all indie titles, and It's pretty rare that I actually like an Indie game). Hoping that some good PS4 games come around to Plus over the next year...

I'm kinda interested in Gravity Rush, but I'd rather just get it used for cheap.

 

I would assume AC has mandatory installs on all version. Why does any game need mandatory installs? Why can't it just load from the darn disc? I'd much rather sit through an extra 10 seconds of loading screen than clog up my hard drive.

 

Because games now are absolutely huge half the time? It cuts down the load time immensely. There's simply no way to have reasonable load times now reading from disc alone (intensive. data-heavy games could take hours to load), which would also burn out the laser quickly. Installs also allow real-time loading more often, letting developers let go of tricks like the spooky fog of Silent Hill.

 

The real problem is the ballooning space requirements. I mean, the base XBO and PS4 both have a 500GB HDD- that's gonna fill up quickly with how big installs are getting.

[Crunchyn]

 

 

4GB 360 exists for ultra-casuals and folks who don't know about mandatory game installs. That's like half the size of some game installs.

 

Speaking of game installs, I've heard the Assassins' Creed Ezio Trilogy on PS3 has mandatory installs. Is it just that version, or all AC games? Because I really want to try the AC games for myself (I play them when I hang out with my friends, but that's it), but I also don't want to screw over my 80GB hard drive.

 

PS+ has gone decently since I've had it, already paid for itself with just Muramasa and Gravity Rush, although really nothing else that great (mostly all indie titles, and It's pretty rare that I actually like an Indie game). Hoping that some good PS4 games come around to Plus over the next year...

I'm kinda interested in Gravity Rush, but I'd rather just get it used for cheap.

 

I would assume AC has mandatory installs on all version. Why does any game need mandatory installs? Why can't it just load from the darn disc? I'd much rather sit through an extra 10 seconds of loading screen than clog up my hard drive.

 

Because games now are absolutely huge half the time? It cuts down the load time immensely. There's simply no way to have reasonable load times now reading from disc alone (intensive. data-heavy games could take hours to load), which would also burn out the laser quickly. Installs also allow real-time loading more often, letting developers let go of tricks like the spooky fog of Silent Hill.

 

The real problem is the ballooning space requirements. I mean, the base XBO and PS4 both have a 500GB HDD- that's gonna fill up quickly with how big installs are getting.

 

Not to mention the following DLC

[Just A Dot]

 

 

4GB 360 exists for ultra-casuals and folks who don't know about mandatory game installs. That's like half the size of some game installs.

 

Speaking of game installs, I've heard the Assassins' Creed Ezio Trilogy on PS3 has mandatory installs. Is it just that version, or all AC games? Because I really want to try the AC games for myself (I play them when I hang out with my friends, but that's it), but I also don't want to screw over my 80GB hard drive.

 

PS+ has gone decently since I've had it, already paid for itself with just Muramasa and Gravity Rush, although really nothing else that great (mostly all indie titles, and It's pretty rare that I actually like an Indie game). Hoping that some good PS4 games come around to Plus over the next year...

I'm kinda interested in Gravity Rush, but I'd rather just get it used for cheap.

 

I would assume AC has mandatory installs on all version. Why does any game need mandatory installs? Why can't it just load from the darn disc? I'd much rather sit through an extra 10 seconds of loading screen than clog up my hard drive.

 

Because games now are absolutely huge half the time? It cuts down the load time immensely. There's simply no way to have reasonable load times now reading from disc alone (intensive. data-heavy games could take hours to load), which would also burn out the laser quickly. Installs also allow real-time loading more often, letting developers let go of tricks like the spooky fog of Silent Hill.

 

The real problem is the ballooning space requirements. I mean, the base XBO and PS4 both have a 500GB HDD- that's gonna fill up quickly with how big installs are getting.

 

 

In the case of the PS3, it only had, like, 256 MB of RAM? Load times wouldn't have taken hours. But I see what you are saying with the fog and such. It would help to increase draw distance a bit, which is great for open world games, but then there's games like Mass Effect which don't appear to be all that open, and yet still requires a huge chunk of my HDD.

[Pupwa21]

Don't forget those downloaded games as well.

 

This is also the problem with some forms of media, So much stuff, not enough storage.

[Archer Vonn]

 

4GB 360 exists for ultra-casuals and folks who don't know about mandatory game installs. That's like half the size of some game installs.

 

or for people who refuse to give microsoft money

 

i only have my xbox as a rogers promo; i paid 25 dollars for a phone line for a month, got a 4gb 360, cancelled the line, and now i play halo odst on it. they give the things away to balloon their sales numbers. the xbone is obviously too expensive to make otherwise they'd be doing the same there (and still sort of are, but not to the extent of the 360). the xbox division has lost billions because of how desperate they are for people to like their product.

 

i really hate microsoft i think they're truly evil and are ruining gaming. they're corrupt and selfish and they need to go away. (im like 75% joking)

[Just A Dot]

Kinda agree with you. Microsoft hasn't really brought much to gaming. They charge you to play online, have a bunch of generic shooters on a cruddy console that breaks for little reason sometimes, and outside of Halo, has very few exclusives anyone cares about. Oh, and they ruined Rare. Did you see what they did to poor Conker? He should be sitting on the SSB4 roster, not advertising a game maker and admitting that he will never be in a game again.

[Hodor]

Microsoft is incredibly incompetent half the time- almost to the levels of Sega in the mid-90's. Like, who thought the original 360's design was a good idea? The system had an overheating problem because ventilation on that thing sucked. There was literally not enough space and air flow for it to keep cool- sorta like why original PS3's had a risk to die because of cheap glue coming undone. The whole thing reeks of how rushed the system was to market.

 

Have pretty good third-party support, though.

 

 

Did you see what they did to poor Conker?

[Terminus]

So, I got Fez for free via PS+ this month. Much better than I was expecting, actually pretty good. One of the very, very few indie games I've played that I enjoy.

[PDPsi HAN]

The dev for Fez is not a very nice person.

[Archer Vonn]

alright so someone is going to have to help me kill ornstein and smough (pikachu and snorlax) because i can not do it myself

 

dePrinced on ps3 if you wanna be a bro~

[Just A Dot]

The dev for Fez is not a very nice person.

 

What sparks you to say that?

[Terminus]

 

The dev for Fez is not a very nice person.

 

What sparks you to say that?

I point you to his Wikipedia page.

He's known for his angry statements and such. And most people didn't take too well to his decision to cancel Fez 2 and leave the games industry.

[Removed297]

Gah, I've spent the latter half of my summer reading Elder Scrolls lore, and trying to get a good Skyrim role play going; mostly the former.

[Hodor]

Gah, I've spent the latter half of my summer reading Elder Scrolls lore, and trying to get a good Skyrim role play going; mostly the former.

TES lore is seriously great, and pretty much entirely the point to play the games, imo. Kinda surprised there hasn't been a tabletop game for it yet, honestly.

[Removed297]

 

Gah, I've spent the latter half of my summer reading Elder Scrolls lore, and trying to get a good Skyrim role play going; mostly the former.

TES lore is seriously great, and pretty much entirely the point to play the games, imo. Kinda surprised there hasn't been a tabletop game for it yet, honestly.

 

 

 

Yeah, that's why I have such trouble actually starting a good Skyrim playthrough; I constantly feel like I've not created a deep enough character whose personality can outweigh the general dullness of vanilla Skyrim quests.

 

As for TES lore in general, it truly is unique, not just among games, but among most modern media. Tolkien and D&D have inspired so many unoriginal and predictable stories, I'm glad Michael Kirkbride was able to steer TES lore away from that.

 

Many fantasy books and games today make a play at originality, by thinking up new names to stick onto heavily overused concepts like Demons and Angels, Tolkienian Elves, and modern Christian Heavens and Hecks (oh, filter!) Some go a step further and use Eastern concepts for the basis of their cosmology, but rarely go further than that.

 

TES lore, on the other hand, seems to have a truly original cosmology, with its concepts such as CHIM, The Dream of the Godhead, Mantling, Subgradience, Earthbones, Tonal Architecture, etc. Though parallels to some of these concepts exist, the TES lore has an original take on them.

Edited August 8, 2014 by The Kumquat Alchemist

[Dapper-Sama]

Fun fact: Tamriel was based on the developers' homebrew D&D setting. You can still see elements of it if you look hard enough.

[Removed297]

Fun fact: Tamriel was based on the developers' homebrew D&D setting. You can still see elements of it if you look hard enough.

Indeed, so I've read; from what I'd guess, that's why the first two games are more of a melting pot of fantasy tropes, whereas Morrowind was a departure from the more cliche ones.

[Hodor]

 

 

Gah, I've spent the latter half of my summer reading Elder Scrolls lore, and trying to get a good Skyrim role play going; mostly the former.

TES lore is seriously great, and pretty much entirely the point to play the games, imo. Kinda surprised there hasn't been a tabletop game for it yet, honestly.

 

 

 

Yeah, that's why I have such trouble actually starting a good Skyrim playthrough; I constantly feel like I've not created a deep enough character whose personality can outweigh the general dullness of vanilla Skyrim quests.

 

As for TES lore in general, it truly is unique, not just among games, but among most modern media. Tolkien and D&D have inspired so many unoriginal and predictable stories, I'm glad Michael Kirkbride was able to steer TES lore away from that.

 

Many fantasy books and games today make a play at originality, by thinking up new names to stick onto heavily overused concepts like Demons and Angels, Tolkienian Elves, and modern Christian Heavens and Hecks (oh, filter!) Some go a step further and use Eastern concepts for the basis of their cosmology, but rarely go further than that.

 

TES lore, on the other hand, seems to have a truly original cosmology, with its concepts such as CHIM, The Dream of the Godhead, Mantling, Subgradience, Earthbones, Tonal Architecture, etc. Though parallels to some of these concepts exist, the TES lore has an original take on them.

Honestly, Skyrim in general is a pretty mediocre game, I feel. It's only really worth investing time into if you're new to the genre or really have an itch for a CRPG- otherwise it's just... flat, and the lore can't really save it as much as it saves the other games. I mean, yeah, Arena and Daggerfall are both very clunky and awkward games even for their day, but there was a charm to it that I feel Skyrim is seriously lacking in- I never feel truly immersed into the game's world, no matter what perspective I used. Ah well.

 

TES lore really is a step above the usual we see in games (even if it's been fluctuating in quality lately). The writers understood why the likes of Middle Earth, Arrakis, Tekumel worked and tries to emulate it through that. It's not like, say, Thedas where it feels like they read A Song of Ice and Fire while running a DnD campaign.

 

Fun fact: Tamriel was based on the developers' homebrew D&D setting. You can still see elements of it if you look hard enough.

A lot of older CRPGs are based in developers' homebrew campaigns- Akalabeth/Ultima, Wizardry, etc. It's kinda neat to see some of the influence (or the influences of the influence), especially if the games were directly lifting from the campaigns. DnD is basically gaming's great granddad, really.

[Just A Dot]

Honestly, Skyrim in general is a pretty mediocre game, I feel. It's only really worth investing time into if you're new to the genre or really have an itch for a CRPG- otherwise it's just... flat, and the lore can't really save it as much as it saves the other games. I mean, yeah, Arena and Daggerfall are both very clunky and awkward games even for their day, but there was a charm to it that I feel Skyrim is seriously lacking in- I never feel truly immersed into the game's world, no matter what perspective I used. Ah well.

Thank you! The only TES game I've played is Skyrim, but I found it to just be all around lacking. I won't judge the others, but it really was overhyped and failed to live up to any expectations I had for it, sans the physical size of the world.

[Wazdakka]

I've just started playing a lot of Bioshock 2.

 

Mata Nui, what a game! I'm completely sucked into it!

 

Also, @Ghoti - I preordered Halo: The Master Chief Collection and intend to buy an Xbox One solely for that purpose - getting a better platform to play Destiny on is just a bonus. Halo 2 is an astonishingly good game and I'm very excited to experience it in a HD remake as well as enjoy an active online community. In addition, as Microsoft just did a price drop and there are hints at another to come, I think it'd be well worth it to save up the dough for an Xbox One over an Xbox 360. 

 

TL;DR I'm buying an Xbone for HTMCC.