Surprised there isn't a running thread on this topic already. I'm sure I'm not the only one who enjoys death simulators.
When I get a few bills paid off I plan on picking up Uncharted 3 and Assassin's Creed: Revelations from this year's holiday crop. Maybe Battlefield 3. I'm protesting the Call of Duty because Activision is the worst franchise milker in the industry.
I've been playing the hell out of Skyrim ever since I got it. I'm really enjoying it so far. Bought Sonic Generations recently as well and greatly enjoyed that game. Gonna pick up WWE '12 on the 22nd and that will do it for my game shopping this year.
I kinda have to slow down on the video games, so I can deal with social anxiety, however, been enjoying Skyrim a lot. Kinda annoyed at the typical "THIS IS NOT AND RPG CUZ IT DOESN'T HAVE 30000 STATS TO MANIPULATE" crowd , but I try to ignore those these days :P
Never got into any RPG Bethesda has made. I picked up Fallout 3 for $20 awhile ago and barely got past the first few missions and I didn't like Oblivion much either.
Quote from: FSBlueApocalypse on November 16, 2011, 05:39:16 AM
Never got into any RPG Bethesda has made. I picked up Fallout 3 for $20 awhile ago and barely got past the first few missions and I didn't like Oblivion much either.
Philistine!
Quote from: VectorM on November 16, 2011, 05:38:07 AM
I kinda have to slow down on the video games, so I can deal with social anxiety, however, been enjoying Skyrim a lot. Kinda annoyed at the typical "THIS IS NOT AND RPG CUZ IT DOESN'T HAVE 30000 STATS TO MANIPULATE" crowd , but I try to ignore those these days :P
I honestly prefer that crowd to the "This RPG wasn't made in Japan and/or a PS3 exclusive. Therefore, it sux and anyone who thinks otherwise is an uncultured boor who only plays FPS games which require no skill or intellect to play." crowd. And yes, this crowd exists.
Hah! I remember when SE announced Final Fantasy 13 would also be on Xbox 360 and how all the fanboys went ape shit over it. To this day people blame Final Fantasy 13's shortcomings on being ported to the 360.
Quote from: FSBlueApocalypse on November 16, 2011, 03:26:13 PM
Hah! I remember when SE announced Final Fantasy 13 would also be on Xbox 360 and how all the fanboys went ape shit over it. To this day people blame Final Fantasy 13's shortcomings on being ported to the 360.
This is just another sign that console fanboys and weaboos, by and large, know shit about programming. To make a game on the PS3 and use it to its full potential, you have to program it quite a bit differently from the games you would make on a more conventional PC platform (a platform which most consoles tend to emulate, sans the PS3). One example of a game that does this properly is the Uncharted series, which is why the graphics look so good. However, this also means that you run into trouble if you want to make a cross-platform launch. Wanna know where that trouble comes from? The fact that you're coding a game on a traditional PC machine to work on a game that emulates the PC machine's architecture as well as one that deliberately eschews it. At one point, the PS3 wasn't even going to have a dedicated graphics card, but Sony included one later in order to make it easier to port games to it. The PS3 is the one that you have to do backflips to program for, not the 360. There's also the fact that Microsoft scores better than Sony in the openness to modification department (which is why wireless joysticks work fine for the 360 but suck for the PS3).
Sorry for ranting. I had a friend who was among that crowd for a while until he wised up. :-P
It is obvious the PS3's development was a massive cluster. The RSX chip was just bolted on at the last minute and is nothing more than a slightly modified Nvidia 7800 chip. Never mind the RAM bottlenecks or the coding for the Cell.
Still, it ultimately comes down to games (and exclusives) for me and there Sony has been second to none. I'll give Sony credit there for finally investing big time in their internal studios and not simply relying on outside developers making things exclusive simply because it says "Playstation" on the box.
This generation has been a huge learning experience for Sony. PSN alone went from a giant pile of fail to being a pretty slick product. Is it better than Xbox Live? No. But is Xbox Live still $50 a year better than PSN? No
As far as coding goes, I agree. Almost all of the best looking games on the PS3 are PS3 exclusives. They can afford to be since developers can spend the time that would otherwise being used to develop the 360 version to perfecting the PS3 code.
Which I think is a further testament to how the skills of Crytek* and DICE for getting cross platform games to come up to the standards set by Killzone and Uncharted.
*Crysis 2 looks great if you're just looking at stills, but the frame rate was still choppy as hell on both consoles
Quote from: FSBlueApocalypse on November 16, 2011, 03:26:13 PM
Hah! I remember when SE announced Final Fantasy 13 would also be on Xbox 360 and how all the fanboys went ape shit over it. To this day people blame Final Fantasy 13's shortcomings on being ported to the 360.
Ha! That ship sailed years ago.
FF7: Nice story ruined by piss poor translation. Seriously? All that money and they couldn't afford a proofreader?
FF8: First one in the series I never completed. Played a third through and turned it off. Unlikable characters, nonsensical battle system, plot wanders around aimlessly.
FF9: A sign of hope sadly dashed by later installments.
FF10: Nice story but being completely on rails makes you think it would have made a better movie.
FF11: An MMO with some very nice ideas ruined by a lot of very bad ideas. Can't level through questing? Who dropped acid and thought that was a good idea?
FF12: Quit this one even sooner in. Try as I might, the story and characters did not grip me at all and the battle system once again ticks me off.
Didn't even play 13. The series died for me a long time ago.
I've been playing Skyrim too and I'm not playing World of Warcraft much until the new patch comes out. The current patch is a complete snore but there are good things on the horizon.
Quote from: Virgil0211 on November 16, 2011, 03:05:59 PM
I honestly prefer that crowd to the "This RPG wasn't made in Japan and/or a PS3 exclusive. Therefore, it sux and anyone who thinks otherwise is an uncultured boor who only plays FPS games which require no skill or intellect to play." crowd. And yes, this crowd exists.
Oh, I am familiar with that crowd, it even has it's own VenomfangX, Jfreedan, who got banned from YouTube recently, after months of false flagging people who disagreed with him
Quote from: VectorM on November 17, 2011, 11:10:38 AM
Oh, I am familiar with that crowd, it even has it's own VenomfangX, Jfreedan, who got banned from YouTube recently, after months of false flagging people who disagreed with him
I remember one guy I knew who blamed all of his life's problems on American culture, dropped any American friends he had after he visited Japan, refused to speak English unless it was absolutely necessary (sometimes not even then) and would insult anyone who was an American behind their back. Strangely enough, he was too stupid to figure out facebook's privacy settings, so it led to some interesting exchanges on his wall. :-P
(I say 'knew' because he was one of several christfags I kicked around on a couple of anime forums back in my younger years. He knew someone who knew my girlfriend, so I found out about this a few years after I stopped hanging around those places.)
Japanese developers as a whole have been lackluster this generation. Besides Metal Gear Solid 4, I don't think there has been a Japanese developed game I was excited for and met my expectations.
Resident Evil 5 felt dated compared to Gears of War or Uncharted. The mechanics would've been acceptable if RE5 was a horror game, but it was definitely developed with Western Action games in mind.
For all its time in development, Gran Turismo 5 still used upscaled PS2 models for some of its cars, not to mention lacking in modes compared to the Forza series.
Devil May Cry 4 and Ninja Gaiden 2 felt like they were just redone HD versions of their PS2/Xbox outings.
I don't think I've ever been in to any Japanese games, to be honest. Some old school console titles, still keep those old emulator games on my comp when I am really bored, but that's kind of it.
OK, I lied, I did like Resident Evil 4 a lot and really enjoyed Metal Gear solid, but they never really got a hold on me, like even more generic western titles, like F.E.A.R., for example. The first game in that series is, perhaps, one of the most under appreciated shooters of the last generation and it's sequels were pure examples of simply "not gettin it", when it came to emulating the quality of the original.
Quote from: FSBlueApocalypse on November 15, 2011, 07:47:40 PM
Surprised there isn't a running thread on this topic already. I'm sure I'm not the only one who enjoys death simulators.
When I get a few bills paid off I plan on picking up Uncharted 3 and Assassin's Creed: Revelations from this year's holiday crop. Maybe Battlefield 3. I'm protesting the Call of Duty because Activision is the worst franchise milker in the industry.
now that is a great call. I won't spoil it for you, but I will tell you, you will finally see what a so far faceless character looks like.
I didn't like the anti-capitalist angle in Brotherhood, but hey, I don't get hissy about that stuff.
I still find it pretty stupid, that UbiSoft, of all companies, would put that stuff in to the game, when they are hardly a consumer friendly companie, what with their retarded DRM and whatnot.
Not to mention going off the rails with the whole 2012/conspiracy theory subplot but it is what it is.
Quote from: VectorM on November 18, 2011, 03:12:53 AM
I didn't like the anti-capitalist angle in Brotherhood, but hey, I don't get hissy about that stuff.
did anyone? I just enjoy the game-play; politicking (and yes, 2012 BS) aside, it is a great game.
...
Wait, Brotherhood was anti capitalist? Was that in a DLC or did I miss that in between smashing a statist regime and stuff?
Quote from: Gumba Masta on November 19, 2011, 01:18:09 PM
...
Wait, Brotherhood was anti capitalist? Was that in a DLC or did I miss that in between smashing a statist regime and stuff?
Just because an organization smashes a statist regime doesn't mean it's not interested in simply replacing that regime with one of its' own that would be hard to tell from the replaced one.
Quote from: Gumba Masta on November 19, 2011, 01:18:09 PM
...
Wait, Brotherhood was anti capitalist? Was that in a DLC or did I miss that in between smashing a statist regime and stuff?
You know those glyphs, that you could find around the world? Where you had to do a bunch of puzzles to reveal a secret message? Well, according to them, the Templar basically invented capitalism as the new method of control, since religion simply didn't cut it anymore.
There you go:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/pc/996094-assassins-creed-brotherhood/faqs/61430
Quote"They become increasingly aware of our existence. We can no longer rely on the
divine right of the aristocracy to maintain control. We need a new system,
something more subtle."
Quote"A great empire has been established for the sole purpose of raising up a
nation of customers, it cannot be very difficult to determine who have been the
contrivers of this whole mercantile system; not the consumers, we may believe,
whose interest has been entirely neglected; but the producers, whose interest
has been so carefully attended to."
Quote"Fellows, rulers, welcome.
I deliver this speech to you as, several floors below us, a silent revolution
begins.
Ranny Olds and Henry Ford. As many of you know, these founders gave us the
assembly line, the device we have used to control both (those indoctrinated
into the worship of our money(?)) capitalists and workers (slaves(?)) alike.
But I dream of a future in which such ugly chains will no longer be necessary.
In 1910, our founders designed the Plan, it falls to us to see it through.
But what of the Communits, who intend to spread the bread so thin that everyone
will starve? It is our duty to (neutralize(?)) save them and their followers.
We must ensure that they continue to eat, to reproduce, to be productive
members of society. That is our burden, to shepherd those beneath us through
life, and we must embrace it, ever if (force is required(?)) they themselves do
not.
H. and S. brought on the turmoil and fear necessary, now we must strike fast to
ensure development continues in the proper direction. We will appear to concede
ground to the workers, remember the successful ruse of Rockefeller's dimes,
but soon there will be no ground we do not own.
In 1937, we founded this Company, this enterprise, with a purpose. The time to
nurture it to fruition is upon us."
QuoteTell the Capitalists that if they help ensure the junta remain in power, we
will pass all their corporate debt on to the Argentine people. That will ensure
they crush any popular revolt. I want the trade unions destroyed if we are to
move forward.
QuoteThe free market must be allowed to prevail, F.'s visit last year helped things
along, but now all public companies need to be sold to the private sector,
ideally on the cheap. The price of bread and other staple must rise. I want to
ensure the people remain married in poverty and unable to resist.
Any traces of this plan should appear to implicate the U.S. government. The
Company's involvement must remain hidden.
For successful examples of a simliar opening of the markets, look no further
than the 1953 liberation of Iran and the 1954 liberation of Guatemala.
Quote"Wages should be (lowered to keep the middle class subservient to us(?)) left
to the fair and free competition of the market, and should never be controlled
by the interference of (a popularly elected government(?)) the legislature"
There are more, but this is a bit of a TL; DR post already.
QuoteJust because an organization smashes a statist regime doesn't mean it's not interested in simply replacing that regime with one of its' own that would be hard to tell from the replaced one.
Well, we don't know what they want to replace it with yet. Or rather, what they are trying to return to, since, if I understand the story, humans were actually engendered by aliens, and everything we know about our past is fake :shrug:
But I am pretty sure, that the awesome system will turn out to be the typical socialist utopia, where people care only about the community, materialism doesn't exist, blah-blah-blah, etc. A more left wing version of Star Trek.
You know... you describe a completely different game from the one I played.
Or maybe each of us is reading different things into what we saw.
What do you make of the above quotes then?
Well, they certainly weren't in my game.
But maybe that is because I played the german translation. :P
Friend showed me this. Loved it!
(http://artoftrolling.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/chatroulette-trolling-tldr-grammarz.jpg)
Well
One more thing about AC
Well, three more things... but they're part of the same...
(http://i40.tinypic.com/1zch2pw.jpg)
(http://i44.tinypic.com/72u4hx.jpg)
(http://i42.tinypic.com/2mchhex.jpg)
My problem is that I have so many games to play, but I do not hae the time to do so. I have a few games in my back catalog that are being pushed back due to other games that I have that are taking my time (TES V: Skyrim and Saints Row the Third).
Source (http://www.cinemablend.com/games/Ubisoft-Says-Ghost-Recon-Future-Soldier-PC-37270.html)
QuoteIn an interview with PC Gamer, Ubisoft's Ghost Recon Online producer Sébastien Arnoult stated that Ghost Recon Future Soldier won't be appearing on PC for the same reason I Am Alive won't be appearing on PC: piracy.
Apparently piracy is so bad, so vicious, so company hurting that companies like Valve, CD Projekt, MineCraft's creator, Bethesda, Curve Studios and Team Meat and PlayDead are all lying through their teeth when they report financial success from PC ports. Apparently all those billions of dollars from PC digital distribution is actually just a fraud and Ubisoft is actually in the right: 90% of PC gamers are just pirates and there's no money to be made from the platform...all those stats, numbers and billions of dollars are actually just part of a conspiracy to make people believe that there are honest PC consumers out there when in reality they're all just pirates. That's according to Ubisoft.
Arnoult, with comments hinging on vehemence, stated that...
"We are giving away most of the content for free because there's no barrier to entry. To the users that are traditionally playing the game by getting it through Pirate Bay, we said, 'Okay, go ahead guys. This is what you're asking for. We've listened to you – we're giving you this experience. It's easy to download, there's no DRM that will pollute your experience.'"
Wow. Just wow. So he's bringing Pirate Bay into this then, eh? Well, his indignant attitude doesn't end there. He goes on to say that...
"When we started Ghost Recon Online we were thinking about Ghost Recon: Future Solider; having something ported in the classical way without any deep development, because we know that 95% of our consumers will pirate the game. So we said okay, we have to change our mind.
"We have to adapt, we have to embrace this instead of pushing it away. That's the main reflection behind Ghost Recon Online and the choice we've made to go in this direction."
Yeah, well that was a douche bag thing to say. I don't think I even have the stomach to say anything nice about Ghost Recon Online with that sort of attitude. More than that, his tone inflects that GRO will only be a shell of what GR: Future Soldier is going to be, given that it's free but without the same kind of quality content. I mean he literally says porting over the game without any "deep development". WTF Ubisoft? Way to spit on your consumers. You really think pirates are the ones who make F2P MMO publishers post profits every quarter?
Seriously, the guys at Ubisoft are delusional.
Let's also talk about a point they seem to be forgetting with their impetuous stance on piracy. When GOG talked about combating piracy by competing with it they didn't mean run the consumers under the bus, they meant coming up with viable alternatives to gain consumer trust and give them a reason to buy the game. If PC gamers are paying $59.99 for a digital copy of a game and console gamers pay the same price but get manuals, the box and an actual hard copy of the game, it makes you wonder what the heck did PC gamers just pay for? Bandwidth?
That brings me to the next point: WTF is Ubisoft talking about losing profits of PC ports to piracy? HOW?! Think about it: A digital copy of Ubisoft's game on PC has no shipping and manufacturing costs. There is no stocking or restocking fee. There's no cover artists involved and no one required to put together a booklet. All of that is axed out of the digital PC version of games (and I Am Alive was supposed to be a digital port anyway). Basically, there's just development and portal distribution costs (i.e., Impulse, GamersGate, Steam, Direct2Drive, etc.)
If 100,000 people pirate a digital copy of a Ubisoft game, what exactly has the company lost? Consumers? No. You can only lose consumers if you know they had intentions of buying the game in the first place. So what has Ubisoft lost exactly in digital piracy? Bandwidth? Well pirates aren't getting the game off their servers, they're file-sharing. Manufacturing costs? We've already established that there's nothing lost if it's digital; no stocking or restocking or shipping SKUs back if they fail to sell. So what then, Ubisoft? What are you losing when pirates digitally steal your game? I'll tell you what...NOTHING!
Realistically, digital releases on PC only have the opportunity to gain. There's nothing lost given that on Steam, Origin, Direct2Drive, etc., people will still buy the game if it's good and even if people pirate it there's no operating cost lost in that venture. So why all the hate for PC gamers, Ubisoft? Hm?
The conspiracy that "piracy is killing PC gaming" died amongst PC gamers who have a head on their shoulders. Every quarter-on-end MMO publishers are posting profits, or why GSC Game World, a relatively small indie company has managed success with their PC exclusive S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Realistically, I could run Ubisoft's argument into the ground constantly posting one link after another just like the opening paragraph, showing how PC titles sell enough to thwart the claims of piracy killing the platform, however it's pointless. Ubisoft will always treat PC gamers like red-headed step kids and that probably won't change at all.
You can check out the full interview over at PC Gamer. After reading it, though, it kind of makes you think twice about whether you even want to support a free-to-play game like Ghost Recon Online.
I'm not a PC gamer, but I know a lot of you guys are. A friend of mine said it best though when it comes to this kind of nonsense:
QuoteUbisoft talking absolute shit again. So, 95% of PC gamers are pirates and the platform isn't worth developing for, they say. I guess that explains why Skyrim just made record sales on Steam, and how the PC only RPG, The Witcher 2, sold over a million copies. And guess what? That game was DRM free. That brings us to the real reason that Ubisoft is having a tantrum: their PC ports have the most infamous DRM in the industry. Ironically, in their bid to prevent piracy they ended up punishing the paying customer, so no wonder no-one gives a shit about their games. The very reason I never bought Assassins Creed 2 and The Settlers 7 was that I refuse to have to rely on Ubisoft's shitty servers being active in order to play even just the single player mode of a game. I'm not sure how any right-minded company talks like Ubisoft does anyway.
I just have one game from Ubisoft (Gold's Gym Dance Workout), but I make the occasional trip to their website to try and register it and their servers fail EVERY TIME. Their customer support isn't. I can understand why Ubisoft is losing sales, and PIRACY ISN'T IT.
Quote from: MrBogosity on November 25, 2011, 09:40:25 AM
I just have one game from Ubisoft (Gold's Gym Dance Workout), but I make the occasional trip to their website to try and register it and their servers fail EVERY TIME. Their customer support isn't. I can understand why Ubisoft is losing sales, and PIRACY ISN'T IT.
These days Ubisoft games are really designed for the consoles first and foremost and PC as an afterthought, if even that.
This is a console game: it's for the Wii.
Guess who just got into the weekend beta of Star Wars: The Old Republic? =D
The game seems good so far. The only problem is that my laptop isn't up to playing the game except on the lowest graphics settings. I'm installing it on my Dad's laptop to see if that works better. The voice-acting is top notch, I love the story premise, the cinemas are awesome. I'll write more about the gameplay when I've played it a bit more.
Quote from: MrBogosity on November 25, 2011, 02:24:08 PM
This is a console game: it's for the Wii.
Really, considering the BS you went through I figured it was a PC game.
Ubisoft have been pulling stupid shit with their games for a LONG TIME.
Consider what happened with IDSoftware's Doom games. There were all manner of editor programs, including software to help you make full conversions, and people did amazing stuff, and the games stayed popular for years. Eventually, it was opensourced, and the game is still being developed that way, and people still play it. They did the same with Quake.
Ubisoft put it in their EULA that you won't even TRY to do anything like that. It can't be an issue with the engine licensing (to Ubisoft, I mean) as Thief: Deadly Shadows uses the same engine and there was no problem with community content development at all (now, the engine turns out to be pretty nasty to develop for with the available tools, and you tend to get all kinds of wacked shit in it as a result, but the publisher didn't try to get in the way of a community forming).
(As a fun little aside, Doom 3 wasn't very good, BUT the engine behind it is pretty nice, and scheduled to be opensourced. With the collapse of the original Thief development house and the general disappointment with the third game, the engine of Doom 3 was used as the basis for http://www.thedarkmod.com/main/ (http://www.thedarkmod.com/main/) a game-building kit designed for Thief-like gaming, without any of the copyrightable elements of Thief.)
Isn't the Doom 3 engine what the Call of Duty games are built on? I know its some version of id Tech
It's their own engine, but it was build on the Quake 3 engine, supposedly.
Finally beat Uncharted 3, definitely a must buy for PS3 owners. Not quite the same step up from Uncharted to Uncharted 2, but there are some great set pieces.
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I play Touhou sometimes...
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(http://blog-imgs-17.fc2.com/c/o/s/cosmoneapolitan/1315618080556s.jpg)
DIS FUCKIN' GAME (http://www.abobosbigadventure.com/fullgame.php)
(http://i42.tinypic.com/2rpty4n.jpg)
Flash game of the year. [SPOILER]Every year.[/SPOILER]
Link doesn't work for me. Google to the rescue!
Quote from: VectorM on January 12, 2012, 03:18:18 AM
Link doesn't work for me. Google to the rescue!
Fixed the link.
Dark Souls is just one of those games that you got to punish yourself to get through. Might also put my Playfire profile down.
I picked up Demon Souls when Best Buy had it on sale for $20. Somehow that game managed to make me get around my usual complaints with RPGs.
Maybe it is because I like playing games like Ninja Gaiden, Devil May Cry, and God of War on their highest difficulty settings, but I didn't find Demon Souls to be the soul crushing experience many claimed. It wasn't an easy game by any stretch, but not quite what I was expecting.
Gotten mixed statements about the Demon/Dark Souls series. Some have said it's legitimately challenging and others have said the challenge comes in the form of cheap shot deaths there's no way you could be reasonably expected to see coming, making the game mostly trial and error.
I think people who bitch about the cheap shot deaths don't take advantage of the online functions of the game. You can check notes left by other players and they can give you a good idea of what is coming up next.
Yahtzee's reports on that was "I came to a message from another playing saying 'watch out for the pit trap' right in front of the pit trap. Alas, the messages are limited to a selection of words so I couldn't write a reply saying 'no shit Sherlock!'"
Quote from: Lord T Hawkeye on January 16, 2012, 04:17:57 PM
Gotten mixed statements about the Demon/Dark Souls series. Some have said it's legitimately challenging and others have said the challenge comes in the form of cheap shot deaths there's no way you could be reasonably expected to see coming, making the game mostly trial and error.
Their is a lot of what I would call "Bullshit Difficulty" in the game. For example, the only way to hurt ghosts are to use a specific charm, however you best e using range weapons or you will be raped by their extendable arm/scythes. If you die, you are down those charms and the ghosts respawn.
Quote from: FSBlueApocalypse on January 16, 2012, 04:24:55 PM
I think people who bitch about the cheap shot deaths don't take advantage of the online functions of the game. You can check notes left by other players and they can give you a good idea of what is coming up next.
Really, all I ever see are posts such as "Praise the Sun", "Fatty Ahead" (Legitimate one as it goes with the ones that can one-shot you), and "Great View". So, mostly they are ones that are either pointless, or right before something to the point were I would say 'No shit Sherlock'.
You know one of the things that ticks me off in MMO's and fighting games? The complaint that something is 'cheap' because they don't know how to counter it or aren't willing to learn how. In MvC3, you will hear someone complain within 3 games if you decide to use sentinel. This is because he hits hard and has a long range heavy attack that can cancel into the crouched version of the same attack. While many know the way to get around this is to block, time your jumps, or hit back with your own ranged after the second hit, there are quite a few others who will let themselves get pummeled repeatedly until they lose, then send you an angry voice message screaming about how he's going to report you for 'cheating'. In SWtOR, I got an angry message from a guy who was ticked off that I took him out in "3 shots" (it was actually closer to 10, but hey, guess it doesn't count if he was attacking the guy I was covering and didn't notice). This was at long range, I was a sniper and he was a melee class. As the old saying goes, never bring a knife to a gun fight.
That's not to say there are never balance issues. In MvC3, certain characters could pull off infinite combos while in X-factor. In SWtOR, lvl 50 characters with high level PVP armor have a significant advantage over even other lvl 50 characters with standard equipment. These things are getting attention (like in MvC3 ultimate and the next patch for SWtOR), but not everything that beats you is indicative of a flaw in the game no matter how frustrating it may be.
Okay, rant over. =P
On another note, do we have any Eve Online players here? What's your opinion of the game?
Also, are there any SWtOR players here, or anyone familiar with the 'slicing nerf' that recently occurred? I thought that would be interesting to discuss as it has a bit to do with economics.
I've been playing ToR, recently hit level 40 and completed chapter 2 of the Jedi Knight storyline.
The good: The story really is very engaging and I love how your character isn't a wooden observer in this game unlike so many other MMO's and I hope more will follow suit. The transition from WoW to this game is utterly seamless as it only improves what needed improve and left alone what was working fine.
The bad: No dungeon finder is just unacceptable after how well it worked in WoW so we can look foreward to run after run going down in flames because healers are always played by people with cereal box connections.
The main storyline is awesome but the side storylines are a tad stock and the gameplay and atmosphere is starting to get a tad repetative. Story wise, this is basically KoToR3 which isn't a bad thing but it makes me wonder if it would have been better as a one player game. I probably won't buy another month, just enjoy the experience for what it's worth and move on.
I've also found combat to be a tad unresponsive and from what I can tell, it's because parrying actually interrupts the animation for other attacks, making them fail to fire off which is quite irritating and I hope will be fixed.
Well, yes, ToR is going to have the KoToR3 storyline (or at least it damn well better) since it IS KoToR3, or at least what they decided to turn KoToR3 into when they apparently realized that there's rather a nice revenue stream in the monthly subscription games.
A lot of reviews I've seen of ToR complain about the game seeming rather linear and repetitious for an MMORPG, but that may be the result of it being relatively new and having (currently) quite limited content compared to others (WoW has had 3 expansions, the last one radically redesigning half the gameworld, and look at all the damn expansions for the likes of Guild Wars and Everquest, and particularly how small Everquest was when it furst came out compared to now).
You can certainly go the other way, too. The next WoW expansion looks like a damn JOKE at this point, since it's being developed out of something that was a throw-away joke in one of the RTS games. (I'm also not too pleased with the simplifications that are rumored to be coming, either.)
I really tire of people who go on about "OMG!! PANDAS ARE TEH KIDDEH!!!".
WoW has already had gnomes, goblins, aliens and cow people. Why do they get a free pass?
And talent trees aren't being simplified. They're just being made so all the choices are debatable. The trees right now offer the choice of gimped or not gimped which really isn't a choice at all.
The other thing I really like that I hope other MMO's are going to take note of, they're working on giving you stuff to do BETWEEN raiding and PvP because let's be honest, that's been overlooked by pretty much every MMO out there. At max level, you can raid and you can PvP but when you're not doing either of those things, it's a complete snore.
Is there still pretty much the epidemic I remember where programmers, apparently unable to create proper AI to make the game challenging, resort to letting the computer players cheat?
Well I am no programmer, or a modder, but pretty much every game out there cheats to increase the difficulty. Sometimes it's the old "They do 90000 damage and you do -100", and other times they just plain wallhack you.
Quote from: MrBogosity on January 18, 2012, 02:15:58 PM
Is there still pretty much the epidemic I remember where programmers, apparently unable to create proper AI to make the game challenging, resort to letting the computer players cheat?
Depends on the game.
Mario Kart and many other racing games are still horribly guilty of this with catch up mechanics that are just beyond unfair.
World of Warcraft on the other hand has actually been creative in how they use mob AI. Most boss fights require you to study the enemy and learn how to counter his attacks. The first few times, you ARE going to lose because you don't know what to do. So the fights in that are a problem solving puzzle in a way.
I'm told that Demon Souls relies on you having to pick your battles and manage what little resources you have VERY carefully. Also it takes a more realistic approach to weapons and armor. They're actually heavy and weigh you down. When you swing, it actually takes a fair amount of effort on your character's part.
Quote from: Lord T Hawkeye on January 18, 2012, 04:32:03 PMMario Kart and many other racing games are still horribly guilty of this with catch up mechanics that are just beyond unfair.
I've noticed that. Even when you dump another player into the water they pop out immediately and catch back up to you, whereas you have to go through a few second delay.
Good to hear it's not ubiquitous, though. I remember the X-Windows version of Backgammon and how the program weighed the dice in favor of the computer player.
I remember playing Blitz: The League on my PS2 and that had to be the worst case of Rubberband AI I've ever seen. Once you made it to Division 1, it was ridiculous. I would be up by three or four touchdowns when the 4th quarter started and then lose by 20.
Rubberband AI was also an issue in Sonic Adventure for the Dreamcast.
Whenever you played as Tails, your levels would consist of you racing Sonic throughout the levels. If you got way farther than he did, Sonic would automatically be teleported close to where you are. That being said though, you still could crush Sonic in these races.
Quote from: Lord T Hawkeye on January 17, 2012, 09:03:28 PM
I've been playing ToR, recently hit level 40 and completed chapter 2 of the Jedi Knight storyline.
The good: The story really is very engaging and I love how your character isn't a wooden observer in this game unlike so many other MMO's and I hope more will follow suit. The transition from WoW to this game is utterly seamless as it only improves what needed improve and left alone what was working fine.
The bad: No dungeon finder is just unacceptable after how well it worked in WoW so we can look foreward to run after run going down in flames because healers are always played by people with cereal box connections.
The main storyline is awesome but the side storylines are a tad stock and the gameplay and atmosphere is starting to get a tad repetative. Story wise, this is basically KoToR3 which isn't a bad thing but it makes me wonder if it would have been better as a one player game. I probably won't buy another month, just enjoy the experience for what it's worth and move on.
I've also found combat to be a tad unresponsive and from what I can tell, it's because parrying actually interrupts the animation for other attacks, making them fail to fire off which is quite irritating and I hope will be fixed.
That's too bad. I was hoping I'd be able to group up with others playing the game as well. What server are you on, btw? (I'm mainly on Nadd's Sarcoghagus, though I sometimes play on Bondar Crystal.)
Personally, I love the atmosphere and gameplay, but that may just be the KoTOR fanboy in me. I got almost 3-4 years out of KoTOR 2 and 1 respectively, and I still play them every now and then (though not to the extent I did before), so I may be a bit biased. :-P The main complaints I've heard from my ex-WoW friends has been the lack of add-ons and the ability to make macros. I haven't really found the combat unresponsive except when I start experiencing a bit of server lag. Then again, my only MMO before this one was Star Wars Galaxies, and that didn't start trying to emulate the WoW model until a couple of years before it died, and I quit shortly into that time period.
That brings me to my main complaint with the game- the space combat element. I understand what they were going for, but I really missed the dogfighting and free-roam space element of SWG. I was hoping they'd have something like that in this game. What they did wasn't bad, but it's not what I was looking for as far as a space combat element. I hope that they'll add something like that in a later expansion. Otherwise, I may not get too involved in the space combat. :-P
QuoteI really tire of people who go on about "OMG!! PANDAS ARE TEH KIDDEH!!!".
WoW has already had gnomes, goblins, aliens and cow people. Why do they get a free pass?
The complaints I've heard mainly have to do with the 'feel' of the expansion. Things like Cataclysm and Wrath of the Lich King felt like they were big, important events that would shape the world of the game. They had a weight to them. Now, that may just be how they're being presented, but let's take a look at the trailers for Lich King, Cataclysm, and then Pandaara.
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The third doesn't carry the same 'weight' of the previous two, and even feels a bit slapped together. It has the feel of being more like a content update patch than an expansion. The Panda thing is just the catalyst leading some people to think that Blizzard isn't taking WoW as seriously as they were before (which isn't necessarily horrible, as WoW is almost 8 years old and they may be planning to phase it out in favor of WoW 2 in the near future). It certainly doesn't help that one can easily be reminded of 'Kung Fu Panda' by the expansion, either. :-P
(Disclaimer: I'm not actually a WoW player, haven't touched the game in my life. Just relaying what I heard from friends who DO play WoW.)
QuoteAnd talent trees aren't being simplified. They're just being made so all the choices are debatable. The trees right now offer the choice of gimped or not gimped which really isn't a choice at all.
Huh. Funny... I had this weird impulse to track down and kill John Smedley just then.
[spoiler]Smedley was the head of SoE when they made Star Wars Galaxies, and one of the guys behind the sweeping changes made to the game that drove away quite a few subscribers in the name of simplifying the game and making all potential 'talent trees' equal, including Jedi. This ended up taking SWG from the sandbox-style MMO where one could mix and match talents as they pleased to more of a clumsy WoW clone. Those who had gone through the somewhat arduous process of becoming a Jedi felt like they'd been robbed, as the process took several months of effort. It was such a big deal that the first one to complete the process didn't do so until several months after the game came out, and it was even considered newsworthy by some. After becoming a Jedi, one was then exposed to the possibility of permadeath. If you were killed by a Bounty Hunter (other player characters who had chosen that skill tree), your character wouldn't come back. You also had to convert experience from other skills into Jedi experience, which meant that Jedi skills grew more slowly. It was supposed to be a system where a great deal of effort was rewarded appropriately. After the changes, Jedi were a class you could choose from the beginning and no more powerful than any other class. The most the Jedi players from before got in return was a unique robe with some stat buffs that were soon outdone by loot from the next expansion. That, and the crafting system was effectively spoiled, the cybernetics system was scuttled soon after it was announced, the ability to take a non-combat role and still effectively lead a 'second life' in the game was removed entirely, and so forth. So, I guess I'm saying that the claim that a company wants to 'simplify' their game still carries a bit of that conditioning for me, that sense of dread that said simplification will end up destroying the game I've grown attached to. Or maybe I'm reading too much into it. :-P[/spoiler]
QuoteThe other thing I really like that I hope other MMO's are going to take note of, they're working on giving you stuff to do BETWEEN raiding and PvP because let's be honest, that's been overlooked by pretty much every MMO out there. At max level, you can raid and you can PvP but when you're not doing either of those things, it's a complete snore.
You talking about WoW or SWtOR? I'm afraid my experience with MMORPGs is a bit too limited to know what you're referring to.
Speaking of which, I really hope other game companies take note of the full voice-acting in SWtOR. It makes the main storyline more interesting and gives even the more mundane side quests a bit of weight.
On that note, I don't get this mentality that either WoW or SWtOR has to win over the other. I'd prefer that they both stay competitive with each other, give each other some incentive to improve.
I always wondered if genetic algorithms would work here. Imagine this: you're facing down a bunch of enemies whose AI is generated randomly. Level 1, they're easy to defeat. But with each subsequent level, the ones who took the longest for you to kill breed and have children, who mutate. The first few levels would be pathetically easy, but my guess is around Level (generation) 10 or so, you need to watch out! They end up evolving to your specific fighting style, able to take advantage of your own unique weaknesses.
Would it work? Has it been done?
Quote from: MrBogosity on January 19, 2012, 12:14:30 PM
I always wondered if genetic algorithms would work here. Imagine this: you're facing down a bunch of enemies whose AI is generated randomly. Level 1, they're easy to defeat. But with each subsequent level, the ones who took the longest for you to kill breed and have children, who mutate. The first few levels would be pathetically easy, but my guess is around Level (generation) 10 or so, you need to watch out! They end up evolving to your specific fighting style, able to take advantage of your own unique weaknesses.
Would it work? Has it been done?
I think they have been working on something like that. I think in the game Red Orchestra, enemies that use Mounted Machineguns will use suppression fire and the enemies will try and flank you while you are being suppressed. Out side of that, I am not sure, but I think they are working on that.
Quote from: MrBogosity on January 19, 2012, 12:14:30 PM
I always wondered if genetic algorithms would work here. Imagine this: you're facing down a bunch of enemies whose AI is generated randomly. Level 1, they're easy to defeat. But with each subsequent level, the ones who took the longest for you to kill breed and have children, who mutate. The first few levels would be pathetically easy, but my guess is around Level (generation) 10 or so, you need to watch out! They end up evolving to your specific fighting style, able to take advantage of your own unique weaknesses.
Would it work? Has it been done?
That sounds a bit like the idea behind the AI in the Left 4 Dead series, though I'd have to look things up again to be sure. It may have just been randomly generated level layout/enemy spawn points, but I thought I remembered something about the AI adapting to your methods in there somewhere.
But yes, that would be cool for a more strategic game like an RPG.
Quote from: MrBogosity on January 19, 2012, 12:14:30 PM
I always wondered if genetic algorithms would work here. Imagine this: you're facing down a bunch of enemies whose AI is generated randomly. Level 1, they're easy to defeat. But with each subsequent level, the ones who took the longest for you to kill breed and have children, who mutate. The first few levels would be pathetically easy, but my guess is around Level (generation) 10 or so, you need to watch out! They end up evolving to your specific fighting style, able to take advantage of your own unique weaknesses.
Would it work? Has it been done?
They did make a poker playing AI that actually studies your patterns of play and stores the data to adapt it's strategy. It nearly beat two poker champions.
Speaking of cheating AI, I'm convinced that the Pokemon games give the AI all kinds of advantages over the player.
I find status effects rarely work on my AI opponents such as confusion and paralysis. Every time I confuse the opponent, they rarely ever take damage from the confusion and they snap out of it after 1 turn. Not to mention, paralysis rarely ever prevents them from being able to move. And the combination of the two, commonly known as parafusion, which is supposed to make it so they only have a 25% chance to attack, has NEVER worked in my favor. However, if they do any of these things to me, my team is as good as dead.
I'm currently playing HeartGold on the Nintendo DS and am currently on the 8th gym leader. I get her down to her last Pokemon, and I only have 1 Pokemon left. Her last Pokemon is at less than half health and I could potentially win here. All I needed was that her attack didn't critical hit so I could hit her Dragonair with a Blizzard, which is its weakness. Of course the thing gets that critical hit causing me to lose the battle.
This was an example of just short sighted programming.
Final Fantasy 7 has a boss who normally wasn't hard but had a 100% fool proof way to beat you if it happened to use it.
Carry Armor was a robot who had two large arms that had their health and action. The arms could simply attack a character or pick them up. If they did the later, they would damage the character whenever the arms were damaged. The only way to make them let go was to kill either the character or the arm and since the arms had way more health than your allies did, the former was usually the result.
Problem: If you kill the ally and the arm drops him, if he decides to pick up the third remaining character for his next action, it was game over instantly. Utterly NO way to avoid this.