Lurker > KanzarisKelshen

HeroDelTiempo17 posted...

a what

Hard Man Making Hard Decisions. Y'know, some extremely boring dude agonizing about how he absolutely has to torture someone, conceal things from their loved ones, deny trust to their followers, basically take every possible action to be a lesser human being instead of ever taking a risk on any methods that induce even the slightest potential loss of control and would make him a better person? That. Red Rising is 100% that kind of shit.

Yeah its not a great series. I can go into more detail if necessary but the gist of it is it completely betrays its concept and its thematics are absolutely hollow. It's also a typical HMMHD narrative and the protagonist learns absolutely nothing from his journey to be better, which makes the sequel series absolutely dreadful.

KommunistKoala posted...

I'm guessing people happy about UMVC3 didnt watch the tournament at CEO

hope you're ready for Zero May Cry! granted matches outside the top 8 will probably still be fun to watch

No, Zero May Cry is the point

I want Morridoom destroying fools too, give me all the grimiest shit you got, DAS MAHVEL BABAY

Yeah this is a case of dead game timing

Unless you're Marvel you eventually just totally die off

(holy shit marvel numbers are insane, people LOVE marvel, as well they should)

Also, super impressed by Strive continuing to hold like it does. What an absolutely massive game that was for its franchise. GG has truly finally broken through to a new popularity tier. Not quite mainstream but it's getting there!

UshiromiyaEva posted...

Bold of you to assume the Switch 2 will be much stronger than the Switch 1!

Also *compromises", those games look and run like ass, I'd rather not be able to play them at all than play those versions.

Doom Eternal does not run or look like ass. You picked a bad example for that, it's widely considered an industry standard example of how to do a port to a less powerful console because it maintains extremely seamless FPS and plays great with gyroscopic controls.

pjbasis posted...

Just because a particular strategy is optimal doesn't mean other strategies are n't viable.

Sure, but when the gap is 'do things like thrice as fast and twice as efficiently' it's uh, hard to justify going for something else IMO

Not everything has to be exactly equal, but options should be roughly balanced. Otherwise dispensing with options is legitimately better, because it means the designers can tune things more finely knowing exactly what you're going to have and make combats more spicy.

tcaz2 posted...

Also I fundamentally disagree with the notion that having some bad choices somehow makes all choice irrelevant. If anything it is the opposite- if everything is effective, choices are an illusion.

What is this take

No, if everything is effective choices are truer than ever because they become a matter of player expression instead of system optimization. Choosing between a high DPS style and a debuff heavy style that can both win comfortably says something about you as a person which is the ultimate goal of any given system that allows build construction -- to let you express yourself through it. I appreciate it when games let me play in a way that feels distinctly mine, even if logically speaking other players are doing it too. It engages me more than something like 'oh it's ff6 so imma just cast ultimas and go home, gg'. Not all games need to allow for this kind of broad customization, but if they're trying to at all, this should be the final goal. It's OK if not everything is as good, but the idea is players shouldn't have to have a phd in your game's mechanics to know if something is worth doing or not! It just punishes players who don't datamine and that blows.

Nah 7's system has no depth because using just about all the green materia is a huge trap except for Cure. Enemy Skill just has so much more mp efficiency and damage. You don't get any interesting command materia until the endgame either so no fun to be had there either. I guess Deathblow for Vincent maaaaaybe? But his STR is so mediocre that going for the crit setup isnt worth it.

For comparison's sake, let's look at just Cloud and only Cloud in 7R here. Here's a fairly typical decision tree on what you do with him...

1) Phys or magic weapon? Right off the bat, this instantly changes your combat pattern. Going Hardedge or Buster Sword is going to make you focus more on Braver, Infinity's End and Punisher Mode. Magic will instead favor Operator Mode, Blade Beam and, of course, -Aga spells to blow shit up. As a side consequence of this choice, you also decide if Cloud is going to mostly spend MP nuking or buffing/healing. So we've already set combat role and playstyle off one choice...or so you'd think.

2) Disorder or no? This affects phys builds particularly dramatically, as you're pretty much setting your aggression dial. Do you want to commit to combo cycling? How about using ATB Master or not to fuel your other characters' ATB bars? If you're not disordering, how are you cranking up the stagger bar?

3) What is your primary defensive option? Counterstance? Blocking? Deadly Dodge? Parry? Are you leaning into Punisher Mode punishes or not? This affects how many 'turns' you and your enemies take, and as any gamer will tell you, action advantage is god...but there's no 100% obvious answer and your choice is fairly committal.

4) How about your healing? Cure or Prayer? Or maybe even Chakra? Or do you sac offensive options and run both?

5) Which summon are you using, and are you just summoning them for their finisher or actually using their commands? Having Bahamut vs Carbuncle makes a huuuuuge diff.

6) Now we can actually talk about the Materia and equipment loadout. What spells and commands do you bring as supplements and why? Do you roll with a berserker ring or do you use Cloud's swordplant to zerk your damage up? Or do you use neither and instead employ something defensive? Or perhaps a Gotterdammerung?

These are all questions you can write multi-paragraph answers about. They're not reducible complexity. And this is for *one character*, without getting into party composition or other pc's loadouts! By contrast, is there a reason you can't mostly sum up ff7 played well with 'use enemy skill, gg' for most of its duration? Maybe I just was a huge baddie and played it wrong but I felt like I chewed through most of that game with my ESs and the other parts of my loadout were.a formality. Are there viable alternatives from Kalm onwards to the start of disk 3 that I missed?

EDIT: To be clear, this isn't me saying FF7 OG is bad, at all. I love it! I just feel the combat system ends up kinda destroyed by ES until the endgame and the alternative choices are so weak comparatively they feel very not-good. It's kinda like how FF8 is one of my top 5 or top 10 games of all time and yet if someone told me that the limit breaks kinda obliterate balance and other options I'd just go '...yeah p much'. It be like that sometimes. The rest of the game is so strong it just makes up for the fact making alternative choices just means picking worse choices, is all.

TomNook7 posted...

this is how i feel about ff7 remake lol

This is an interesting topic to me because I get why FF7 diehards don't like remake at all...but at the same time, I'm not an ff7 diehard (I just enjoy it because it's an excellent game) and mannnnnn 7R just, did a lot of things so much better. You can tell that two decades and change of game design happened inbetween, y'know? It's kind of amazing how 7 gives you this big-ass materia system and yet the only actual options are 'did you equip enemy skill on this character' and then later on 'did you equip 2x/4x cut on this char or did you go quadra magic or kotr spam'.

No matter what I tried in 7R I could always get use of it and that matters a lot to me. Games should not add choices if the choices are traps, and nothing except the baseball bat in 7R is a trap (and the bat is a very obvious joke weapon).

Back on topic though...it's actually crazy how crisp PR makes 3 feel. It's an old game, but it feels lean and clean in a lot of ways that the DS version didn't. It's easy to see why it was such a megahit in Japan and has such an enduring legacy, in hindsight.

Guilty as charged of ranting about how muxh FF3DS sux

It really is just a worse game than an NES game and that is the most damning thing anyone could possibly say about a remake. Like, bro, your base game is from the stone age of gaming and you can't do better? Really????

TomNook7 posted...

Any tips from veterans would be appreciated. Missables, how to break the game, etc

I own the original famicom version and the ds remake, but its been so long that i barely remember either. So this is pretty much gonna be an entirely fresh experience for me

Under no circumstances neglect buff spells. They are absolutely backbreakingly OP for bossfights and IIRC they stack. Use em!!! The game starts making so much sense when you do.

Can I just say I really appreciate the way the writeups replace Cs with Ks? It's very korrect and it adds so much to them, j/s

More Mario + Rabbids too

so like, if you enjoy mario in any way, shape or form, you won this direct

https://imgur.com/ocfSHMo

Oh hey I get to post this old klassic

https://preview.redd.it/x7vw5wmlcqc21.jpg?width=894&auto=webp&v=enabled&s=c412535ce7d5e54c82c764cbf1207e1f8464f973

God bless Kabal, ruining the competitive integrity of every MK he's in, long may he reign

Genisys isn't even the correct Terminator film to put in this poll lmfao

It's Salvation. Salvation is the trashcan garbage Terminator film.

Maybe Chicory and Wandersong? They're very cute and comfy titles IMO

Yeah but X doesn't have the fundamental structural flaws 7 had where the plot fell off a cliff after the Kalm flashback (or if we're being kindly, after reaching Nibelheim)

That's a lot of the reason a 7 remake was worth it -- a ton of the game's runtime is just aimless roaming without a real cohesive story structure. You have a goal of 'we're chasing Sephiroth', but not a tight plotline that explains how you get from point A to point E and it feels more like a series of vignettes.

(This is also why deviating from what OG 7 was is worth it in turn. There's actually not a lot of meat on those bones once you look past the memorable scenes. Lots and lots and loooooots of dead air)

X very much feels like a story that was told the exact way it was supposed to be told. You could do minor edits and improvements, but it doesn't really need significant changes. I like it less than 7 but it's a much more cohesive product. Same goes for FF9 actually. I feel like if you wanted to update anything, FF6 and FF8 are much better choices, since the former has the World of Ruin sandbox, and the latter just needs to be sewn up a little bit tighter plotwise, with more mandatory scenes to explain Squall's growth since apparently a lot of people missed some of the key side chats that make it all click.

There's nothing sappy and pathetic about that take Tangy

Like...that's kind of what Dark Souls is about. When Nook said 'it's not about having fun' earlier he was correct. Souls games ARE fun, but the point of Dark Souls is achievement and fulfillment. That's worth preserving, since it's very important and arguably the very core of the experience (as explained by Miyazaki himself talking about the whole 'people in a snowstorm helping each other push their cars forward' thing that inspired souls). It's also why pausing isn't enabled in most of them, since they have to be ready to swap to online at a moment's notice so people can both surprise you, troll you and help you. It's about forming connections with people you've never met before by happenstance, and not being able to opt out of that does make the game stronger in several ways, in spite of the downsides it also creates. There's value to choices that don't automatically make games frictionless, if done with some meaningful intent.

I'm not trying to be mean here but do you not have people knock on your door ever? Or call you? Almost all other home entertainment accommodates this. Every book, every movie/TV show, almost every video game with some exceptions, like JRPGs where you can't pause during cutscenes (which sucks!)

Yeah, I do. I also set time aside though, and don't do any of those things if I expect there's gonna be significant interruptions. Like sometimes something comes up, but if I think I'm gonna be interrupted more than once in a given block of a couple hours I will go do something else that doesn't get disrupted so badly.

I'm not sure what that has to do with the fact stop-start play is going to make it very hard to get into a game's cadence unless it actually is designed for stopping and starting easily. No Final Fantasy game is gonna land its story perfectly if a phone call takes you out of the game for thirty minutes and alters your emotional state away from what it was at the moment a surprising betrayal took place, to name one example. That's not lack of empathy, that's just facts. It may still be good, but I don't think there's a cohesive argument for games being played at their best while plagued by interruptions?

ctesjbuvf posted...

I think you're still missing the point about it being more than just minutes lost.

I'm not talking about minutes lost though. I'm talking about the severe loss of immersion, attachment to the narrative, and ability to dedicate your full focus to the media you're consuming. You can't do that if IRL is calling you away constantly, wouldn't you agree? At that point, if you're truly interested in the thing you're exploring, you should just...not indulge until you have time.

ctesjbuvf posted...

Nah this is missing the point entirely and it's also wrong. You might lose souls/runes/whatever worth way more than minutes. But you may also have lost a good attempt. You might also not have as much time to game that a few of these incidents would be a huge loss. You can say it's deliberate and good and whatever, but you're downplaying the point being made.

If you have so little time to game that losing five minutes (or hell, ten) of progress is a massive setback, then maybe entertainment in general isn't a great idea? I don't read nor watch movies nor game when I might get called away after just a few minutes, because you can't properly enjoy anything if outside concerns are on the back of your mind as you try to immerse. It's not even that it's disrespectful to the media being consumed or anything...it's that you're selling your own me time short if you don't actually block off a little time for yourself to enjoy things properly.

Yeah there's very very few games where dying matters

Even dying and losing 20 mins of progress isn't terribly important in practice, and that only happens in some very few games these days, none of which are From games. It's whatever. Going again and doing better is fun! It's one of the many things gaming is about.

edit: Also "The World Ends With You" is a solid contender not because it's stupid or anything but because it doesn't really make sense with the themes of the game compared to the JP title which is more directly "It's A Wonderful World" or something like that

Disagree on that because the whole idea of TWEWY is that everybody has their own inner world (ie their own set of convictions, beliefs, life experiences) and you can't ever fully know others -- but by reaching out beyond yourself to try to contact others, your mingled worlds will clash, change, and be enriched. It means the world you can conceive of only ends where you say it does, and if you keep pushing to expand it, it will continue to grow. It's not a coincidence that NEO TWEWY has a song that includes the line "I'm taking back control, the world ends with me" and no JP lyric of any kind. It's a valid title.

---

On the topic of, well, the topic itself, it HAS to be Various Daylife. It's probably very fitting but man it sounds silly anyways. No contest IMO.

DS vs PR is tricky to me because DS is objectively a much more interesting game mechanicswise and yet I feel like I would never recommend it to anyone who wasn't already a pretty hardcore gamer. It's too hard at baseline and it gets way harder if you miss the augments, like Ry said. It also mixes things up in ways where it's very clear it expects you (and I feel even wants you) to have played a version of FF4 other than it. The CPU with adds boss is the big example that comes to mind for me, since iirc it works exactly opposite to how it does in every other version and is clearly playing with your expectations. Pixel Remaster by contrast feels...pure, for lack of a better term. It's nothing but a fairly early SNES game, just polished to the point it shines like a cut diamond. The leveling curve is beautifully tuned so you never have to grind because just battling normally through a zone will always get you to the right level, the translation is deliberately kept simple and solid, and oh my god the music dawgggggggg

Like...I almost feel like these days, FF4 should be experienced by playing Pixel Remaster, then immediately playing the DS version, back to back. DS version is like FF4's own Master Quest. FF4 is such a foundational and timeless game in its SNES version that it deserves to be experienced as close to how it was once upon a time as possible with just a solid polish pass layered on top for good measure, then you try the remake that modernizes the gameplay to add decades of gameplay design experience to it. They're not games competing to be better than each other, it's more like PR is FF4 as you would experience it as a child or young teen, and DS is FF4 as seen through adult eyes, if that makes any sense.

DS or Pixel Remaster are the correct choices imo

depends on what you value more, but they're matchless

KamikazePotato posted...

https://i.redd.it/5fspvk348h1b1.jpg

this man understands

transience posted...

oh yeah I have bionic commando/strider/lost planet codes as well, I guess if anyone wants them and somehow doesn't own them by now

Received, thanks! (was away all day so couldn't check, sry!)

I'd take a Strider code! Always wanted to give that one a shot, if that's ok

TomNook posted...

Are there people who care about storyline in fighting games?

My experience every time with a fighting game:
1. Scan the select screen and pick the coolest looking or hottest character.
2. Try them out. If I like their playstyle, I stick with them. If not, I try out the next coolest looking or hottest.
3. After I find a playstyle I like from doing that, I consider them to be my favorite character.

Yes. Story mode is what drives engagement. People get serious about the game after they fall in love with characters and good story makes it a lot easier.

Yeah that checks out for sure, Cassie really stuck the landing as a character because she was a very natural extension of the story of two already beloved characters, and Erron Black is a cool gunslinger dude, no surprise either of t hem made a splash

I wouldn't be shocked if we saw Erron in particular since he'd be easier to insert. Cassie maybe as noncanon DLC?

Shinkiro's art is goated, y'all trippin

Xiahou_Shake posted...

Was not expecting all the Zone of the Enders looking stuff in that trailer! I've never played an AC game but I was under the impression it had more grounded, heavy, slow mechs. Have I just been totally wrong or is this a major shift?

Short answer. "It varies".

Long answer: AC has changed significantly over time. The PSX trilogy was fairly landbound, with ACs being able to fly but not being particularly nimble while doing so. AC2 introduced more mobility, but combat was still fairly grounded. Every subsequent numbered game increased the speed and action the games were capable of, and this reached its apex in Armored Core 4: For Answer, here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRjZjDpCpPU

Armored Core 5 and its followup, Verdict Day, were once gain more landbound and restrained. A lot of the fanbase is not fond of those games, because they dialed shit way down compared to For Answer and some of its predecessor games. This game looks like it's closer to For Answer than V Day, while not being quite as zippy.