JCC Gaming Förceboat Parté - JC G4m3z thr34d (Gaming General Discussion)

The problem for the companies is the biggest benefits of both XBX and PS5 is not the easy-to-demonstrate win of graphics.

PS5 Pro is something that lacks a reason to exist and is confusing both consumers and developers.

 

But you know as well as I do that they'll still come out with it anyway within the next couple of years. It'll come out in time for GTA VI. Lord knows fans of those games would buy the new system in a heartbeat to go along with the top-of-the-line PC graphics that modders have been fooling around with for years with GTA V; among other games.

 

This is might be how each generation is going to be from now on. The gains in graphics noticeable to ordinary people are getting smaller and smaller.

 

Very hard to say how well it'll sell.

PS4 Pro relative to the overall base was supposedly something like 10-15% and that had the 4k sell point in its favour.

I'm sceptical that anything more than a niche audience exists for a +£500 console.

 

With all of the exclusives being made available for PC, the only use I would have for a PS5 is for 4K Blu-rays.

 

Well in fairness, Square sort of did do that with the FFVII trilogy. Remember that came from a single game; now it's individual games split into three separate ones. I'm not saying that they had any notion of developing one massive game for the remake (though there are some people who wanted a straight-up remake; scene for scene, and that might've fit into a single disk).

 

Yeah, I think we've already achieved something akin to "photo-realism." It's hard to truly replicate it and something akin to horsepower or processing power isn't going to cut it, I think.

 

The thing here is SE has gotten some of its best critical response to its smaller, retro character sprites / midern backdrops games like Octopath and Triangle Strategy. Drawing the conclusion they should focus on bigger games only may not be the right one.

 

They also have the most unrealistic sales targets imaginable. Like everyone is going on, ITT and elsewhere, about the second FF7 game underperforming, but like… did it? The first one only sold “okay” by their absurdly lofty standards, bolstered by the general pandemic boost to units, and then the sequel in what everyone can tell is a heavily story driven series sold less, because of course it did, everything about the marketing and naming emphasizes how interconnected this all is, so you can only ever sell fewer units as you shed people who didn’t like or didn’t finish the first entry. A lot of people saw this coming, and they should have since they had a sample of carryover audience sizes from Intergrade. Yet they continue this pattern in project after project, expecting mid-2010s CoD numbers that never come. At this point my question is why does SE expect magical thinking to intervene on behalf of its sales time and time again when this has never worked for them?

Edit: Which I guess just loops back to their need to reign things in a bit.

 

The right bumper on my XBox controller that I use for some games stopped working correctly. I found out that the cheaply made pieces of plastic often break after a while (3 years in my case). I got a $10 repair kit and replaced the bumpers with the guidance of YouTube. Microsoft really does not want people to be able to repair their own controllers, but I showed them! I remember having a Super Nintendo controller that lasted about 15-20 years before giving me issues and kid me definitely subjected it to more abuse. Don't make 'em like they used to. At least I saved money and didn't create unnecessary e-waste.

 

Dragon's Dogma II

Why did I never try theArcher vocation until now? The answer is, based on Fighter / Warrior plays, I never expected it to be auto-aim! I ruled it out because the chance of my landing manually aimed hits on very mobile enemies to be close to zero.

The other big point I missed - augments can be applied to any vocation! I was running a Fighter-Warrior combo, now it's expanded to include an Archer one.

And I'm having quite a time. Done the Elven quests with Glandwyr and his sister, have a pawn who speaks Elvish.

All this is leading me to considering booting up the first game to improve the character and then see if that lets me take out Grigori.

 

Dragon Age: Inquisition GOTY Edition is free on Epic Games Store right now

 

Just for the heck of it I started playing the story mode of Dead or Alive 6. The DOA series is certainly among those fighting game series that have fallen under the radar; and it's not difficult to see why. Known far more for its rather provocative T & A portrayals than combat and story, the games just leave so much to be desired. I bought DOA5 Last Round at a bargain basement price, and I bought newer game at a large discount as well. The story mode is really a cluster#$#@ of different character scenarios going all sorts of directions; and it doesn't help by allowing you to chose which scene you want to play through next. It's like a one-minute cut scene and then a fight. Mortal Kombat, this is not.

 

Yeah, this statement is giving of some real “ We who are about to die salute you” vibes. And after what happened to Tango Gameworks, there’s zero reason to believe Ninja Theory will be safe even if this game is a success.

 

Meanwhile, Ninja Theory finally released the official launch trailer for HB2.

 

Dragon's Dogma II

To my surprise I finished this and booted up new game plus. The true ending? The unmoored world? Don't care about it. If I hadn't read about them online I wouldn't know they existed. I'm supposed to talk to the enigmatic ghost who I haven't seen for hours and don't remember? Yeah, nope.

The endgame itself was a disaster. It sets up this big, climatic fight of a huge statue walking in from the sea and I'm to fight it....bit it doesn't work that way because after the cutscene my main pawn walks off a cliff and dies! Instead of pursuing the statue I have to go back to town, collect my pawn, then walk all the way back, by which point, as the quest is active the entire time, I can never catch up. Due to stupid pawn AI and the single save slot that it frequently overwrites, in this case, just after my pawn's suicide, I did not get to play it at all.

Walked over to the place, end up in a duel with an idiot that, supposedly, you don't have to kill, but having been killed trying not to kill him, I smoked his arse. A rubbish sequence that was followed by one even worse.

The head honcho, who has been talked of all game but has zero personality or presence, orders his guards and the false Sovran to fight - they are allowed to fire and stun you before the cutscene has ended! Recovered, dodged, killed a few of them but it's another timed sequence. Cue cutscene, dragon turns up, they all get roasted, except wait! Mr Zero Personality survived being roasted.

Dragon then offers to save someone in its claws, but I don't know who that is so don't care about them. Cue flight on dragon bit, this was an improvement as in the first game it was an abomination.

Final fight kicks off and it ends up being easier than expected. There's I'm supposed to use a ballista, but it's facing the wrong way, so it has to be turned then aimed then fired, all against an unknown time limit. Of course it didn't work, but turns out you don't have to use it.

Keep plugging away and the dragon falls! Here's why my win was a surprise - there are other dragons in the game, these drakes turn up in various places. The end boss is a dragon so I should practice on these drakes first, right? Well, no, because the drakes are far more aggressive, have more health and far more dangerous magic then the endgame boss! So very weird.

The ending is minimal too. Was it worth it booting up in NG+? I think so - there's better equipment available at the start, but it is a weird NG+. As endgame sections, this was a total mess. In story terms, it's a poor finale that only emphasises the weakness of it.

 

I completed the three-hour trial of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. My initial impression includes some highs and lows. Rocksteady really went all out on the cutscenes and dialogue. I got to hear a bit of Kevin Conroy as Batman (beyond what you might've seen in the trailer). I enjoyed sitting back and watching the characters' personalities really coming to fruition. But the overall gameplay seems to leave a lot to be desired. I just wanted to enjoy the game; swinging around as Harley and taking out the enemies all over. The mechanics are just confusing; or seem to be. I'm not going to get into the microtransactions because they just don't pertain to me at all.

The game is actually on sale for Playstation's Days of Play; but I'm certainly not in any hurry to buy it. I have my saved game now for whenever the price gets drastically reduced or if it winds up as a PS Plus freebie eventually.

 

Any current or former Giant Bomb fans here? On the most recent episode of Jeff Gerstmann's podcast he and guest Arthur Gies were talking the about dire state of the games media and without mentioning Giant Bomb specifically it sounded like the two of them were speculating that Giant Bomb, among other older game sites might go belly up soon. Ever since Jeff and the founders left Giant Bomb I've been thinking that it would only be a matter of time before the site closed. Seems like Jeff thinks the same thing. I've lost track how many times Giant Bomb has been bought and sold. Seems like every new owner wants to grow site's numbers but then it doesn't happen.

 

What announcements are you all anticipating this month?

Or hope that will happen?

 

Giant Bomb...

 

Silksong obviously.

 

Quick!

Everyone who expects Silksong to be announced say "Silksong!" right now so I can separate the clowns from everyone else here!

 

Nah, the clowns are those still giving money to Star Citizen.