Your video game hot take(s) thread

Dalisclock

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For extra irony, Telltale nearly killed the adventure game genre again. You got some that still exist, but it's Supermassive Games that are pumping these products out now.
Wadeyejet is one of the biggies for indie adventure games at this point, ether developing or publishing. I haven't played any of the Dark picture games.
 

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I ended up stumbling onto some videos about Clive Barker's Jericho, a PS3 FPS where you can switch between bodies in your squad as you go back through time to confront an ancient primal being trying to escape from it's extra dimensional prison(Basically God created a being and then locked it away because it was too..weird, or something, before creating humans). It's actually a really cool concept and the body switching mechanic is neat, since each of the squaddies has their own weapons and specialities and I love the idea that each time this primal being tries to break out of it's prison, someone has to go in, fight through each of the previous time periods where the dimensional breach occurred to seal it once again(WW2, The crusades, the Roman Empire, and Sumeria). Also each group that goes to seal the breach gets trapped upon doing so, and they're still trapped in there forever. Basically DOOM mixed with Serious Sam but with SCP overtones(Jericho might as well be an Foundation MTF). Also Steven Blum voices the player character, which is always nice.

Now the downside is that it's a PS3 game, so all the levels are BROWN and MORE BROWN, not to mention linear as fuck. And because it's a CLIVE BARKER game, every enemy is basically gross body horror with metal bits integrated into it's flesh, and all the levels are full of Blood and shit and it gets really, really old really fast. Also the intro dialogue about how mankind is THIS CLOSE to being swallowed by evil is the most "edgy" thing I've heard in awhile, so much my eyes were rolling fast enough to power a generator from the cringe. Also, my inner historian needs to point out that Sumeria doesn't really overlap with any of the Crusades, German reach in WW2(not by a fucking long shot) or the Roman empire and they appear to have confused it with Babylon at times(they're similar but not the same), like there's a lot of middle east between where Sumeria was and where any of those empires could reasonably be expected to hold any power(and they're building bases and castles and palaces on top of the ruins so it's not like it's a matter of just getting there). Also, Jericho are described as 'witches" but also "special" members of the US Army Chaplain Corps and possibly also members of the catholic church and one of their members calls herself an atheist despite routinely dealing with supernatural shit and those don't really mix in any plausible way because the writing is shit, this is basically just throwing terms together and hoping nobody fucking notices that they don't really make sense.

I didn't play it so it's not a review and honestly I'm glad I never played it because the actual gameplay looks really dumb, I just kinda wish the concept was attached to a better game.
 
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Dalisclock

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I ended up getting it on Steam at a deep discount and played it for a bit more than an hour. Still a complete waste of money. The friendly AI is as dumb as half a brick and the combat is just tedious.
Yeah, the combat looked really fucking tedious and as much as the friendly AI shoots it doesn't look like it does any appreciable damage to enemies. Though it's hard to tell from having watched gameplay footage.
 
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Of the two, I preferred most Taito games over Data East.

Lumines and Meteos are best puzzle games of all time.
 

Specter Von Baren

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I'm not any kind of fan of adventure games, but it's got to suck to have a single company propping up your entire preferred genre.
I don't mean this to sound aggressive but the fact that you think Telltale was propping up the genre does indeed show you aren't a fan of it. Indies have been the ones propping the genre up, Telltales games were linear, brainless stuff. Like watch someone replay the Wolf Among Us multiple times, the choices mean nothing.
 
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Gyrobot

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Chinese published mobile games are the apex of soulless weeaboo pandering at its finest, relying on the most problematic tropes so this generation can get a taste of what has disappeared from the west.

Blue archive is probably the worst about this.
 

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I don't mean this to sound aggressive but the fact that you think Telltale was propping up the genre does indeed show you aren't a fan of it. Indies have been the ones propping the genre up, Telltales games were linear, brainless stuff. Like watch someone replay the Wolf Among Us multiple times, the choices mean nothing.
I'd argue Telltale brought it back from near death and got people interested again, but the real work has been done by a number of other studios since then while TT went on to get obsessed by their IP driven visual novels.

TT early games were quality P+C adventure games(I have a great fondness for the Sam and Max seasons) but Walking Dead pretty much caused them to stop caring about anything but IP $ chasing.
 
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I'd argue Telltale brought it back from near death and got people interested again, but the real work has been done by a number of other studios since then while TT went on to get obsessed by their IP driven visual novels.

TT early games were quality P+C adventure games(I have a great fondness for the Sam and Max seasons) bur Walking Dead pretty much caused them to stop caring about anything but IP $ chasing.
That's fair. Certainly their earlier works were much more in the spirit of the classics.
 
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Hades

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My spicy Ghost of Tsushima hot takes.

The Samurai playstyle is where the game truly shines. The multiple stances, resolve points and combat arts make for a very satisfying flow of combat. Its not the deepest combat system ever but it has some depth and is altogether an enjoyable combat system. The ninja mechanics on the other hand are kinda bog standard. Play one open world style with stealth mechanics and you've seen most of what the ninja style has to offer.

And my main hot take is that I think the devs kinda wrote themselves into a corner. The story is about Jin abandoning the way of the Samurai in favor of the Ghost and the game makes it very clear that rather than a Samurai of clan Sakai Jin shall forever be the Ghost. So any future installment are incentivised to expand on the ghost aspect despite this not being where the game shines.

I also think that the Mongols shouldn't return in future installments. There were two Mongol invasions so it would be tempting to set the sequel into the second Mongol invasion, but the story plays up a conflict between the ghost and the Shogunate, and I just don't think the Mongols would have a place in that conflict.
 

Ezekiel

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Lithium ion batteries are garbage and gamers are dumb for lambasting console designers for selling controllers that use AA/AAA batteries. Decided to play my Switch at home for the first time in maybe six weeks and it wouldn't even turn on with the Pro controller until I plugged it in. I recharge the DualShock 4 connected to my PC pretty often too. It only lasts like seven hours if I'm lucky. Yet my wireless keyboard has used the same non-rechargeable AAA batteries since June of 2018! I don't use it as much as the wired keyboard on my desk, but still every day. Lithium ion batteries apparently also break down much more slowly and so are more harmful to the environment.
 
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Decided to play my Switch at home for the first time in maybe six weeks and it wouldn't even turn on with the Pro controller until I plugged it in.
For Switch controllers I recommend the 3rd party controllers or the non-rechargeable models with usb cords that are not detachable.

Wireless Switch Controllers Compatible with Nintendo Switch/Lite/OLED Game Console, Switch Pro Controller w/Turbo, Rumble, Motion Control, Screenshot, Echo Red/Blue Switch Remote Controllers
 
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Fallen Soldier

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I don't care what the tryhards call me, make the stealth sections optimal. Anytime I have to do a stealth section I hate it. I was just playing Bright Memory Infinite, I defeated a serious boss, and got a bunch of upgrades, instant stealth section. Minus the shaking the games actually pretty good.
I agree! They’re forcing stealth sections into games that shouldn’t have it. Take Astral Blade for the switch. I love the game, but it has an annoying mandatory stealth section that you have to do. A stealth section in an action rpg oh you have to be kidding me.
 

Specter Von Baren

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I agree! They’re forcing stealth sections into games that shouldn’t have it. Take Astral Blade for the switch. I love the game, but it has an annoying mandatory stealth section that you have to do. A stealth section in an action rpg oh you have to be kidding me.
You mean Astral Chain? And I felt like the stealth segment was fine in that game since it's really easy. Almost all of the guards never intersect on their paths so you can just go through and knock them out one by one and have no problem with it. For me, stealth sections in games that aren't about stealth are fine so long as it doesn't show up much.
 

The Rogue Wolf

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They’re forcing stealth sections into games that shouldn’t have it.
As someone who has a strong affinity for stealth gameplay, I'm in complete agreement. Unless the game is deliberately built around the stealth experience, it seldom gives you the proper tools or opportunities for proper stealth gameplay, and instead either insta-fails you for being spotted when your visibility isn't clear, or begins what Yahtzee colorfully describes as "the cock-up cascade" where the game pretends you still have a chance even as the situation spirals completely beyond recovery.

If you can't do it right, don't do it, is my philosophy. Unfortunately, a lot of developers just check things off on a list. "Stealth section? The kids are into that these days. Plus it'll make a nice screenshot for Marketing."
 

Fallen Soldier

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You mean Astral Chain? And I felt like the stealth segment was fine in that game since it's really easy. Almost all of the guards never intersect on their paths so you can just go through and knock them out one by one and have no problem with it. For me, stealth sections in games that aren't about stealth are fine so long as it doesn't show up much.
To me one time is enough. I don’t like the stealth genre much, but to see it in other genres where it doesn’t belong is madness.
 
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Specter Von Baren

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To me one time is enough. I don’t like the stealth genre much, but to see it in other genres where it doesn’t belong is madness.
I still rather like the Gerudo Fortress segment in Ocarina of Time, as an example. I think there's room for a stealth section in a game so long as it's used as a novelty for a specific area in a game that's going for varied experiences. I certainly agree that a lot of games, shooters in particular, do it poorly and would be better off without it outside of heavily scripted scenes meant to evoke a feeling rather than be an actual aspect of the gameplay.
 

Chimpzy

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Lithium ion batteries are garbage and gamers are dumb for lambasting console designers for selling controllers that use AA/AAA batteries. Decided to play my Switch at home for the first time in maybe six weeks and it wouldn't even turn on with the Pro controller until I plugged it in. I recharge the DualShock 4 connected to my PC pretty often too. It only lasts like seven hours if I'm lucky. Yet my wireless keyboard has used the same non-rechargeable AAA batteries since June of 2018! I don't use it as much as the wired keyboard on my desk, but still every day. Lithium ion batteries apparently also break down much more slowly and so are more harmful to the environment.
I take it a step further than that, and still use wired peripherals whenever I can. Keyboard? Wired. Mouse? Wired. Headphones? Yup. Dualshock 4? You betcha. Because I absolutely despise having to halt a session to swap batteries or charge a device.