Random Gaming Talk Thread

[demi]

[D3RANG3D]

[Himu]

Glad that people that want to play FFXVI are enjoying it.

[D3RANG3D]

[bork]

Sticking to my guns!

But if anything else happens, it gone and the odyssey either ends or I will go with an Alienware X14.

Not sticking to my guns!

Getting the new Razer Blade 14 instead!  Mainly because instead of buying it outright, I can do a monthly plan that is cheap as hell with zero interest.

[Svejk]

Why is Dino Crisis 2 going for this price?! 

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2334524.m570.l1311&_nkw=dino+crisis+2+ps1&_sacat=0&LH_TitleDesc=0&_odkw=alundra+ps1&_osacat=0

[bork]

Why is Dino Crisis 2 going for this price?! 

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2334524.m570.l1311&_nkw=dino+crisis+2+ps1&_sacat=0&LH_TitleDesc=0&_odkw=alundra+ps1&_osacat=0

EVERYTHING IS RARE!!!  *

spoiler (click to show/hide)

*on eBay.

[close]

[demi]

Because its only on ps1, a survival horror on ps1, and a popular series

Nothing really weird about it

[D3RANG3D]

[Coax]

Virtually the entire front is glass, what were they thinking

[MMaRsu]

https://twitter.com/necrosofty/status/1672660903668641793

[bork]

Virtually the entire front is glass, what were they thinking

Don't worry, here's another in this endless line of releases!



One thing I will not do again is purchase anything without at least decent customer support options.  So Steam Deck and ASUS Ally are it.

[D3RANG3D]

[Svejk]

Not gonna lie, I've watched the Starfield deep dive twice now.  Shit looks incredible.  I hope my laptop will run it ok. 

[MMaRsu]

I've already watched it five times lmao

Also started a new Skyrim playthrough with a shitton of mods

[Svejk]

FINALLY broke free from that godforsaken schmapple arcade garbage, and onto PC and consoles November 10, 2023. 

[demi]

Fantasian needs to escape from Apple Arcade next

[bork]

Endless Laptop Odyssey #10?  #11?  I don't even know anymore. 

---

Got the Razer Blade 14 2023.  Never had one of their PCs before.

-The build quality is insane.  It's all-metal.  Even the screen bezels.
-The laptop is noticeably heavier than others because of this.
-The power brick isn't too bad size-wise.  Kind long, but thinner than others.
-The keyboard lighting is fry-your-eyeballs bright.  Shits all over all the others I've tried.
-The trackpad is HUGE!  Biggest one I've ever seen on a laptop.
-The screen is nice, with no noticeable light bleed.  Can't say I feel a difference between 240hz and other 165hz panels.
-The screen is also insanely bright.  Had to turn it down a bit!
-It runs pretty quiet and cool so far.  More than the others I've tried.
-The image came bloat-free apart from what Windows itself has.  This was easily the fastest laptop setup out of all the ones I've tried.  Bonus points for no BIOS updates needed.
-I put it on turbo/boost settings and loaded up CoD.  The fans don't sound too loud when they kick in, but are definitely quite audible.  Typical for a gaming laptop, but also more on the quieter side for one.
-CoD benchmark, at recommended settings/1600P/DLSS on performance gave an average of 153 FPS.  The highest it got was 177 FPS.  Beats out everything else I've tried at this size, but the MSI Stealth 14 came pretty close.
-It's Razer, so I did something I never do and got an extended warranty on it. 

The 2023 model also finally has user-upgradeable RAM.  Cloning the drive to a 2TB now and then will pop in 32GB DDR5 5600 sticks.

[bork]

[Svejk]

Can't say I'm a fan of the art direction.  Last thing a beat'em up needs is SD characters.    That thumbnail art is great though... wish the gameplay had that style.

[Himu]

Why is Dino Crisis 2 going for this price?! 

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2334524.m570.l1311&_nkw=dino+crisis+2+ps1&_sacat=0&LH_TitleDesc=0&_odkw=alundra+ps1&_osacat=0

...

That isn't expensive for psx.

[Svejk]

Physical MGS Collection on Switch will contain no MGS games. Lmao
 

Konami gonna Konami

The Switch version comes in at 24.1GB all up… if you don’t count the bonus videos. Those will add a further 30GB into the mix, bringing the whole package up to 54GB

According to the official website for the Master Collection, 2.4GB of the collection is “front loaded onto cartridge”, while the rest will have to be downloaded.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

This is all tentative right now and may change, however.  I just kinda doubt it.

[close]

Even more Konami gonna Konami, currently they're only releasing a PS5 version, but no PS4 version??   Leaving money on the table.

[Svejk]

Why is Dino Crisis 2 going for this price?! 

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2334524.m570.l1311&_nkw=dino+crisis+2+ps1&_sacat=0&LH_TitleDesc=0&_odkw=alundra+ps1&_osacat=0

...

That isn't expensive for psx.

Game is good, but not that good.  Guess I assumed there was a PC release also, but I was wrong.

[D3RANG3D]

[bork]

https://twitter.com/Gill_F/status/1672639154306584578

[bork]

[bork]

Asus just released the new X13 in the States.  Temptation is...gone! :O

It's not just that the Blade 14 is gonna run games better.  That 0% interest plan just can't be beat.  Thanks, Razer.

[MMaRsu]

PI for FTC denied, MS can close the deal

[demi]

LRG had a showcase, and showed a lot of nostalgia bait:

- Clock Tower (1 - SNES) remaster/port
- Gex Trilogy
- Plumbers dont wear ties (september release date)
- El Shaddai Switch
- Tomba (1) port for Steam/PS/Switch
- Arzette: Jewel of Faramore (game made by some guy who remastered the Zelda CDI games?? has goofy MS Paint cutscenes)
- Jurassic Park collection (just the 8/16 bit games)
- Shantae GBA (unreleased, the official sequel to Shantae)
- Castlevania Advance Collection (yes, even an xbox version)
- Colossal Cave (from Ken/Roberta Williams)

[bork]

Here's the full LRG announcement list and showcase:



Another Crusade
Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore
Castlevania Advance Collection
Chicory
Clock Tower
Colossal Cave
DoubleShake
Dungeons of Aether
El-Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron
Gargoyles Remastered
Gex Trilogy
Jurassic Park
Jurassic Park Classic Games Collection
Jurassic Park: The Chaos Continues
Karateka
Koumajou Remilia: Scarlet Symphony
Kyukyoku Tiger-Heli Collection
Midnight Fight Express
Odencat‘s Paradise
Plumbers Don’t Wear Ties: Definitive Edition
Rise of the Triad Ludicrous Edition
Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 Complete Edition
Rose & Camellia Collection
Shantae Advance: Risky Revolution
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Soundtrack Collection
Tomba!
This Way Madness Lies

[Svejk]

Here's the full LRG announcement list and showcase:



Another Crusade
Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore
Castlevania Advance Collection
Chicory
Clock Tower
Colossal Cave
DoubleShake
Dungeons of Aether
El-Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron
Gargoyles Remastered
Gex Trilogy
Jurassic Park
Jurassic Park Classic Games Collection
Jurassic Park: The Chaos Continues
Karateka
Koumajou Remilia: Scarlet Symphony
Kyukyoku Tiger-Heli Collection
Midnight Fight Express
Odencat‘s Paradise
Plumbers Don’t Wear Ties: Definitive Edition
Rise of the Triad Ludicrous Edition
Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 Complete Edition
Rose & Camellia Collection
Shantae Advance: Risky Revolution
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Soundtrack Collection
Tomba!
This Way Madness Lies

Fuck all that noise, y'all are missing the good shit..

https://limitedrungames.com/collections/rifftrax-the-game

 

[bork]

https://www.gematsu.com/2023/07/blizzard-entertainment-games-coming-to-steam-starting-with-overwatch-2-on-august-10

[Sideshow Raheem]

Excited for the Pikmin. Am definitely a Pikmin 1 person.

https://www.nintendo.com/whatsnew/ask-the-developer-vol-10-pikmin-4-part-1/

[Joe Molotov]

I'm getting pikpilled

[Svejk]

Nintendo still selling Pikmin 3 for $60.

[bork]

Natsume Atari subsidiary Tengo Project has published a new video teasing the announcement of a Shadow of the Ninja remake.

Shadow of the Ninja is a side-scrolling action game originally released for Nintendo Entertainment System in August 1990.

In the video, Tengo Project composer Hiroyuki Iwatsuki visits former Natsume “super composer” Iku Mizutani in Osaka, where he tells Mizutani that Tengo Project is currently working on a remake of one of Natsume Atari’s past titles that Mizutani worked on, and asks Mizutani to handle the music.

When asked if he remembers how the game’s music goes, Mizutani plays a short sample on his guitar, which ends up being the Shadow of the Ninja title screen music.

Mizutani then plays more of the music as scenes of the remake are shown in small bursts, before ending with the text, “Please wait for more news!”

[Svejk]

Sony and Nintendo ANNIHILATED.

https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2023/07/24/pizza-scented-xbox-and-tmnt-mutant-mayhem-controller/

Amp Up Your Gaming with TMNT: Mutant Mayhem Pizza-Scented Controller

Satisfy your hunger for kicking butt with the world’s first ever pizza-scented controller! Designed to deliver the smell of the Turtles’ beloved meal to your game time, these exclusive Xbox Wireless Controllers come with a built-in scent diffuser shaped like a slice of delicious New York ‘za.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

[close]

[Joe Molotov]

False advertising, all my controllers are already pizza and cheetos scented.

[Svejk]

Good grief... I was gonna maybe pass on this game and wait for a discount, but this shit looks too good.. this may be a Day Oner...  I got a month to hopefully finish FFXVI. 



I'll be honest, I never really played an AC game.  Was always fascinated with them since the PS2 entries and only dabbled with one or two, but never sat down and sink into one for some reason.

[Beezy]

Same. I love most things mecha though and the first trailer for this looked amazing, so I have to get it day one.

[Joe Molotov]

The gameplay demo looked hot.

[Polident Hive]

Have to wait and see how it is on PC as I don’t think I can play on PS5 at release. But yeah. Only game that can beat Zelda TOTK for me this year. Looks amazing.


Anyway, somehow MAME and arcade emulation has gotten more complicated than it was in the 2000s. Looking up guides, some still recommend the 2003 Plus set. Newer sets are updated and more accurate rips but tend to have various dependencies? After a point different arcade boards need whole different emulators. And even further down the line arcade cabinets just became desktop PCs and potentially sketchy programs bypass DRM to run on windows? Probably easier to stick with the old set. Even if I may miss out on newer versions of Qix for perverts

[Svejk]

Have to wait and see how it is on PC as I don’t think I can play on PS5 at release. But yeah. Only game that can beat Zelda TOTK for me this year. Looks amazing.


Anyway, somehow MAME and arcade emulation has gotten more complicated than it was in the 2000s. Looking up guides, some still recommend the 2003 Plus set. Newer sets are updated and more accurate rips but tend to have various dependencies? After a point different arcade boards need whole different emulators. And even further down the line arcade cabinets just became desktop PCs and potentially sketchy programs bypass DRM to run on windows? Probably easier to stick with the old set. Even if I may miss out on newer versions of Qix for perverts

MAME needs to be streamlined better somehow. It's weird, I can get it running on my Wii U and my phone even, but the PC version, I can't.  The interface is completely different and just doesn't click for me.    I'm too lazy to yt some tutorials.

[Polident Hive]

My limited understanding is they’ve essentially started over a couple times for the sake of accuracy. New versions of MAME need new rom sets. Ignoring MAME and using Finalburn Neo seems easier all around. For me, my nostalgia with arcades ends in the early 2000s. But there are some games I only played once, if ever, like Planet Harriers, Virtua Cop 3, 2 Spicy.

[Svejk]

This may be the best DS clone yet.     The platforming segments being arguably better than a DS with it's Soul Reaver type parts..  It definitely looks gorgeous.

[Himu]

Good grief... I was gonna maybe pass on this game and wait for a discount, but this shit looks too good.. this may be a Day Oner...  I got a month to hopefully finish FFXVI. 



I'll be honest, I never really played an AC game.  Was always fascinated with them since the PS2 entries and only dabbled with one or two, but never sat down and sink into one for some reason.

I want it. I haven't played an Armored Core beyond the demo in PS1 for AC1.

[Svejk]

I think what detered me from the AC games of the past, is that I was too particular about the mech designs.  Like a bunch of us, we grew up with Robotech, Voltron, Tranzor Z and Gundam (if you were lucky.. I wasn't. Gundam came way later for some reason).. I did my damndest to try and draw my own hyper futuristic robot/mech, but as a kid, the skills just weren't developed yet. 

When AC came around, the designs felt so basic with little to no aesthetic flare to them (according to my memory).  Most likely that, when AC came around, I was already extremely fascinated with the hyper xenomorphic, crazy designs of Five Star Stories mechs.  I was lucky to have stumbled across FSS by randomly snagging the movie from a hole in the wall Japanese video store near my neighborhood. (Also how I discovered Project A-ko).  To this day, looking up Nagano Mamoru's designs, they are so ahead of it's time.

Holy fuck, I just found the trailer that would play after the movie I had on VHS (it was recorded from a lazer disc. lol)


OMG, This just made me tear up.. the nostalgia just pile drived the shit outta me.

Anywho, moving back to recent years, I appreciate the more down to earth mech styles of military practicality that AC has had.  What really adds to the designs now, is the minuscule animated details of ports opening and closing, gears turning, pistons pumping with steam/frost billowing out from ports... It feels like a living, breathing(?) power mech can finally be realized with so many more details that are crucial to make it feel like an immersive, functioning toy/vehicle.   Oh, and the demolition/explosions are on another level in AC6 from what they've shown.  Absolute bliss.   

Also, I'm not sure if AC games always had it, but the bullet hell type segments in this demo made me fill the cup.  After playing the supremely bad-ass Returnal, I've been yearning for more of this. 

[Bebpo]

I've played various AC's since AC1. Usually like the first new one on each new console gen.
I've never finished a single one. And I love mecha stuff.

I just never find the level design, moment by moment combat particularly compelling after a few hours. Being able to assemble your own mech is cool but I always felt like because you can do this the combat and level design could never be tightly designed because it had to allow so many different types of builds to accomplish it.

Compared to like Zone of the Enders where you have a very small movekit and the game is tightly designed around it for great action encounters. I love and finished the ZoEs, but always been lukewarm on AC and its clones.

I still don't believe the new AC will be different enough that it'll finally sell me on an AC game that I actually see through to the ending. But when it's on sale in a year I'll give it a fair shot since From Soft has greatly improved their gameplay quality in the past decade.

And yeah, Five Star Stories has amazing Nagano mech designs.

[Bebpo]

So after FF16, I think I'm gonna do FF rankings again. But I decided it's impossible to rank the games individually, so just gonna use tiers.

Top-Tier: 6/7/8/10  - 6 for all around gameplay+story+visuals even if WoR is flawed, 7 for same, 8 for ambition in both gameplay (though a bit broken) and story and best ost/aesthetic. I want another crazy FF like 8 before the end of my lifetime, 10 for story and visuals

Great-Tier: 1/5/10-2 - 1, especially the PR version, for being an ambitious fun game, great music too and story is honestly solid despite minimal, 5 for great gameplay, 10-2 for great gameplay

Good-Tier: 2/4/9/12/13-2 - 2 for being the first real narrative linear FF and having interesting fun (but insanely busted) gameplay and because the story is kinda crazy (Emperor goes to hell and comes back just to fight you again), 4 for good story and music but simple gameplay brings it down (4r on DS kinda redeems it with better combat), 9 for almost nailing it but having slow boring gameplay bringing it down, great ost and aesthetic though, 12 for being 2/3rds a great game and 1/3rd a shit last tier, 13-2 for being a lot of fun but not quite as fun as 10-2

Solid-Tier: 3/15 - 3 for having a cool job system (that's nowhere near as good as 5/10-2's job system) and airships and multiple world maps, but goddamn the endgame crystal tower shit is awful and unfun and kinda ruins it, 15 for having a fun sandbox map to run around with the bros and also an interesting story and great music, but so-so battle system and last 1/3rd is a disaster of a mess in storytelling.

Weak-Tier: 13/16 - 13 for being a slog with bad characters, bad story and no towns but having the battle system, visuals and music saving it from total worthlessness, 16 for being a slog with bad characters, bad story and no towns but having a battle system, visuals and music saving it from total worthlessness. Though 16 gets credit for having the best English VA track of a native Japanese game ever.

Missing: 13-3 because I still need to play that. The idea of Majora's Mask FF with Lightning who I dislike AND single unit only turn-based combat is just really unappealing in concept to me so I've never bothered.

[Svejk]

I've played various AC's since AC1. Usually like the first new one on each new console gen.
I've never finished a single one. And I love mecha stuff.

I just never find the level design, moment by moment combat particularly compelling after a few hours. Being able to assemble your own mech is cool but I always felt like because you can do this the combat and level design could never be tightly designed because it had to allow so many different types of builds to accomplish it.

Compared to like Zone of the Enders where you have a very small movekit and the game is tightly designed around it for great action encounters. I love and finished the ZoEs, but always been lukewarm on AC and its clones.

I still don't believe the new AC will be different enough that it'll finally sell me on an AC game that I actually see through to the ending. But when it's on sale in a year I'll give it a fair shot since From Soft has greatly improved their gameplay quality in the past decade.

And yeah, Five Star Stories has amazing Nagano mech designs.

Yeah, I'm hoping with the know how, and the amount of time they had to create levels around all sorts of builds, the designs will be a blast to play.  Also the scale they can pull off now too.. That was always a factor that would deter me.  Seems like the potential can be fully realized now. 

But I may wait in this also.  Got so much on my plate already, but it'll be hard to resist if the reviews gush over it.    What Vaati was explaining in that vid, was the replay value of trying missions with different builds and trying to achieve an S rank on missions, none of that would interest me tbh. I just want a neat story, cool bosses and have the freedom of going in and out of places; entering a base or boss to take it out from the inside and escape, a la death star style.  That may be a far stretch, but man... I want that. Lol

[Bebpo]

Oh and I guess I should count the MMOs. I never played more than a dozen hours of FFXI so no comment on that besides amazing music.

For FF14 I'd say:

Top-Tier: Heavensward/Shadowbringers - Great story, great fights, great music, great job stories, great world to explore, great music
Great-Tier: Stormblood/Endwalker, Stormblood for the fanservice and great music and gameplay and decent story, Endwalker for the good story with an epic conclusion to the series, great music, great fights
Solid-tier: A Realm Reborn - good job stories, some great fights at the time (Odin Extreme), cool world, slog of a storyline

[demi]

FF14 finally coming to Xbox. Now I can play it

[Himu]

I've played various AC's since AC1. Usually like the first new one on each new console gen.
I've never finished a single one. And I love mecha stuff.

I just never find the level design, moment by moment combat particularly compelling after a few hours. Being able to assemble your own mech is cool but I always felt like because you can do this the combat and level design could never be tightly designed because it had to allow so many different types of builds to accomplish it.

Compared to like Zone of the Enders where you have a very small movekit and the game is tightly designed around it for great action encounters. I love and finished the ZoEs, but always been lukewarm on AC and its clones.

I still don't believe the new AC will be different enough that it'll finally sell me on an AC game that I actually see through to the ending. But when it's on sale in a year I'll give it a fair shot since From Soft has greatly improved their gameplay quality in the past decade.

And yeah, Five Star Stories has amazing Nagano mech designs.

Yeah I tried the AC1 demo that came with my original PSX and...what was on there was super boring. Like you picked mech. Then you picked rollout. Then you fought mech in a forest. Or you took out mechs in some warehouse. It was really boring and forgettable iirc.

[Bebpo]

FF14 finally coming to Xbox. Now I can play it

It's good. Very, very good.

But like some of these games where you need to play "x" hours until it gets good,
you need to play like 50-70 hours before it gets good. But they keep making that 50-70 hour portion go faster and faster every year, so maybe it's more like 30 hours by this point.

Also because of the ways MMOs work, the older expansions that were great at their release time are now way less engaging because you're overpowered, your movesets are simplified and no one is doing the zone content anymore. They're still good stories, but they're not going to hit as hard as at the time of release.

[Himu]

It's an MMO and a waste of life, Demi. It takes 200 hours to get good. MMO players are weirdos. 50 hours in you'll probably choose to watch the cutscenes on youtube instead.

[Bebpo]

It's an MMO and a waste of life, Demi. It takes 200 hours to get good. MMO players are weirdos. 50 hours in you'll probably choose to watch the cutscenes on youtube instead.

I mean FF14 is essentially a single player rpg at this point with each expansion being a full fledged mainline FF game around 50 hours...

You can solo the entire games with bot party members.

[Rahxephon91]

It does not take 200 hours to get good.

If you focus on MSQ ARR is an ok 40hour-ish JRPG. Same for the other expansions.

[demi]

I'm not planning on being a MMO god gamer hardcore raider, I just want to check out the main story.

[Himu]

It does not take 200 hours to get good.

If you focus on MSQ ARR is an ok 40hour-ish JRPG. Same for the other expansions.

I couldn't get through ARR without falling asleep. Some people say it doesn't get good until even after after ARR? So, 100 hours rather than 200?

Then there's the actual gameplay. The quests are banal. Dungeons are piss poor. Being forced with dumb kids that rage ahead as a white mage made me want to die. It has good ideas that are similar to FFXII but then the rest is full of doo doo.

I've tried multiple times to get into FFXIV and just gave up. I legitimately dislike the MMO genre.

[demi]

There is a free trial that goes through the first few campaigns so I just stop playing if I lose interest. No harm no foul