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General Video Game Thread
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my 11 year old son, watching me FINALLY play the FF7 remake: “Geez Cloud, you really need to learn how to talk to women right.”
what a little goob
it just makes me laugh so much. when I was around his age, playing the original for the first time, all I could think about was how cool Cloud was. times change!!
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Version 2.0 and the big DLC, Phantom Liberty, are out and for a lot of people Cyberpunk is back, baby. Unlike a lot of people I actually had a good experience with Cyberpunk at release. I didn’t have a PS5 and I didn’t have a good computer, but I bought the version on Stadia, which came with a free Chromecast and a free controller, and honestly, it played really well*. It didn’t look quite as good as the PS5/XBSX screenshots, but it looked and played well. I did run into some bugs, but not a lot. I put in a lot of time, but then puttered out as new games arrived and then just never went back.
With 2.0 enough stuff is different that I went ahead and bought it on sale for PS5 and I’ve been playing nothing but since. Will I ever finish FFXVI? Will I get into act 2 of Baldur’s Gate 3? Will Alex Chen ever have closure on the tragedy that took place at the end of the first chapter of Life is Strange 3? WHO KNOWS?! V NEEDS TO ZERO GONKS WITH HER CHOOMS, FUCKOS! VISIT THE RIPPERDOC CHROME UP TO RUN THAT EDGE AND ALSO THE NET AND FLATLINE SOME … SOME GONKS!
I honestly hated the anime. Dogshit animation. Most obvious story ever. Terrible backgrounds. Giancarlo Esposito phone it in in the worst way possible. AH RAH SAH KAH! I gave it a 4 out of 10 initially, since it at least had a good soundtrack and two standout songs, but then it went and won a bunch of awards over much, much better shows and I had to revisit it to give it a 2. So I was a little wary about jumping back in, but goddam the changes to stats and perks and how rep and skills are, are just so great.
On my first run I played as a high int deckhead (it’s too bad the game has no real netrunning, but not many cyberpunk games have, and the netrunning in Shadowrun was not great) and emptied out entire floors of bad guys without even walking into the building. It was a lot of fun, but this time I decided to go another way. Initially I went for Reflexes and Cool to be a stealthy ninja, but I have no patience for stealth, so I respecced my stats (which you are allowed to do once a run through, though you can cash out perks at any time) to be Reflexes and Tech and now I’m a metalhead samurai who goes in loud and solves every problem with a katana and a handful of grenades. Add in the sandy and I can kill six people before the first even realizes his head is missing. Double jumping and air dashing (yes, they’ve added air dashing) is such a fun way to find out of the way spots in the world, and reflecting bullets back at people with a katana never gets boring.
Out are perks that do things like ‘+.5% to control quickhack durations’ and in are big perks that do real changes (like bullet reflection, katana finishers, rages for body focuses characters, focus for rifle focused characters, quickhack queues so you can load a bad guy up with timed attacks and then go on to other things) and then secondary perks rated to the big ones that are just focused on making you look cool when you get the big perks. A new stat, mitigation, makes it more likely you will take less damage when certain conditions are met, and those conditions then encourage you to just do cool, stylish moves, like dashing into battle, or jumping on people from a distance, or use thrown weapons, or punch people so hard their heads fall off.
I’ve yet to get to the DLC, but everyone I know who has played it has said that what you do in the quests there are so different that it really changes things up in a good way. So I’m really looking forward to it. I’ve yet to catch up to where I was in my first playthrough, which had seen me through the Takemura line (such a dreamboat, why can’t I romance that silver fox?) and Judy and Panam, but I’m getting there. I’m also focusing on being nicer to Johnny this time, since I know the best endings are tied to getting his relationship to 70%.
Anyway, it’s great, so people should give it another try if they got burnt out the first time around.
*As a bonus, when Stadia died they gave me my money back, then unlocked Bluetooth on their controllers so I can use it when I plug my Steam Deck into the TV.
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@Wizz said in General Video Game Thread:
my 11 year old son, watching me FINALLY play the FF7 remake: “Geez Cloud, you really need to learn how to talk to women right.”
My kid was mostly concerned that Cloud appears to sleep in full armor, including his gigantic shoulder piece. She was really worried that he was probably tired all the time.
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@Vulgar-Boy said in General Video Game Thread:
I’ve yet to catch up to where I was in my first playthrough, which had seen me through the Takemura line (such a dreamboat, why can’t I romance that silver fox?)THIIIIIIIIIS
Please love me, Takemura. Even if I am going to betray everything you care about.
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@Pyrephox said in General Video Game Thread:
Please love me, Takemura.
He’s the very definition of married to his work.
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If you like Oxygen Not Included and Don’t Starve (Together). Klei has a public playtest of a new game about managing a magic school for magic people.
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@Cobalt this game was ridiculously fun
I’m stopping the playtest to leave the real game ready to enjoy thoroughly when it’s out, but it definitely sucked me in.
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SLAY THE PRINCESS! Might be my game of the year. PLAY IT!
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I’m looking for a game to surprise my husband with, but I know nothing and he has had the poor taste not to tell me about any he wants.
It would be nice if the game was on the PS5 or Switch.
He likes Batman, Spiderman, Zelda, and Metroids.
Anyone have suggestions?
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@junipersky I will consult my husband (not that one, the other one)
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@junipersky Spiderman 2 just recently came out on the PS5. My kids are having a great time playing it … I think they’ve beat the game twice and are working on 100% completion.
I loved the Batman Arkham games but they are pretty old now. Still can buy a copy of it on Amazon, they have the trilogy for both PS4 and Switch but I would probably recommend the PS4 (which is cross-compatible with the PS5).
I’m not a fan of Zelda but my son is. He enjoyed Skyward Sword and Tears of the Kingdom.
Hope that helps
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@junipersky I’m going to ASSUME he probably has all the Batman Arkham games if you specifically noted that, as well as things like the newest Zelda games (BotW and TotK). But if not, those are easy ones!
Any of the Zeldas he doesn’t have on Switch, maybe? There are a couple of older ones that were remade or remastered for the Switch, such as Skyward Sword and Link’s Awakening.
Tunic (on PS5) is very much inspired by the older/classic Zelda games, and very highly rated.
How about the Horizon games? (Horizon Zero Dawn and Horizon Forbidden West.) They’re similarly action adventure games with a little bit of puzzle, really fun stories. They’re PS4/PS5 games.
Does he like cowboys? Red Dead Redemption 2 is absolutely fantastic, available on PS5.
A couple other highly rated action adventure series would be Assassin’s Creed and Yakuza. I think that Yakuza 0 is generally figured to be the best one to start with in that series. (I’ve only played a bit of a couple Yakuza games but honestly they’re really fun and funny.) Assassin’s Creed I think all the games are fairly standalone, I don’t know what people might suggest as the best one for someone new.
Final Fantasy has turned more towards action RPG in their last couple titles (15, 7R, and 16). I enjoy all three of them a lot!
These aren’t all games I’ve played through entirely, but I’m happy to talk more in-depth about any of them that I can!
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@junipersky Verdict:
Metroid Dread and Zelda Tears of the Kingdom
“God of War and God of War Ragnarok are great for ppl who like the Batman/Spiderman fighting style”
“And ofc Spiderman 2 for PS5 if he hasn’t already bought it”
“But all those seem super obvious so if he already has everything there I can get into some deeper cuts”
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@Snackness Oh now I feel silly I didn’t think of God of War!
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If he’s into Star Wars there’s also Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, which I really enjoyed (or at least, I enjoyed the first one and am somewhat through the second)
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I’m gonna go out on a soon-to-be-removed limb and say Mortal Kombat 1 if he’s into fighting games. Plays like an absolute dream and looks amazing.
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@junipersky said in General Video Game Thread:
Metroids
Ori and the Blind Forest, and Ori and the Will of the Wisps. Both available on Switch. The sequel is pretty much standalone and has much better gameplay but the story will hit harder if he plays them both.
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World of Warcraft ramble time.
Between Dragonflight being a really solid expansion and just a great group of people, my raid group hit 25 raiders tonight. Those were the numbers we were seeing at the start of the expansion – over halfway through, that’s crazy. We have a bunch of people who jump in regularly cross-server, and we have our solid core.
Meanwhile, legitimately everyone is getting better. We don’t raid at the top level and I made it explicit we never will, but instead I try my hardest to make sure that everyone who wants to raid, who puts in the effort and has a good attitude about it, has a place with us. And I’m seeing drastic improvement and a fire lighting in people to do better just because they want to help the group. It’s awesome! And new people are coming in and seem hype to be with us.
I’m just really proud of these nerds and what we’ve made here.
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Honestly, couldn’t have asked for a better way to end the expansion than Amir’Drassil. It’s one of the most respectful raids of peoples’ time in recent memory, and the barrier for entry is pretty low while the tippy top-end is brutal. Just a great, balanced experience.
Your group sounds like a particularly wonderful way to experience it!
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Alan Wake 2 is a solid 10/10. My god.
