Your video game hot take(s) thread

[BrawlMan]

Its worst mistake was making parry more unintuitive. The general melee combat still felt delightful though, and the blades never sounded better. Ascension is kinda like the bastard of GoW but I still have fond memories.

Ascension felt like change for the sake of change without the willingness to take the formula apart. So you get this weird game that's sorta more of the same, but with these "odd" changes that trip up that enjoyment of having more of the same. I like some of the new combat changes, like roping enemies with your chains, but it's a detriment to the flow of the combat.

About the usual flaws that are brought up. GB brings these up too, but feels they're not that bad, or just takes getting used to doing. He does bring up why fans would not like these changes and understands. I can't help, but feel that there is some nostalgia goggles going around him on this. He is actually fair and critical, but it's been made clear in the past, that GB prefers Greek-era combat GoW over Norse-era GoW. I would be more forgiving of Ascension's combat, except that a lot of the resources went to the multiplayer hype train, instead of the actual campaign. The campaign almost seems like an after thought. Even Santa Monica had to jump on the "every game needs competitive multiplayer to survive!" lie.

Kratos only gets the one permanent weapon with magical, elemental differences. The "world/universal" weapons are temporary usage and not much else. A good idea in theory (it brings out the old-school brawler fan in me), but Kratos should have gotten at least two more weapons in his tool kit. Bayonetta did this idea so much better in both titles. In addition, you usually have to kill an enemy with a torture attack to pick one up.

The game's story is inconsequential. It can be skipped, and you would literally miss nothing. Everything about it feels we need to make one more before going next-gen. For a guy who claims for supporting video game as art, I find it funny he's that dismissive of MGR's story and politics. GB finds it "unrelatable" and "not all that relevant". With the real world that is going on in the US and the UK GB, it is very fucking relevant! Ok, there are story points and characters beats you disagree with; it does not make the game's point and message any less relevant. He somewhat relented on this, but only when he comparing MGR to Ninja Gaiden 3's story. I hate when he gets dismissive with certain games or what they try to be, but will blindly defend other nonsense. I am glad he's calmed down the past couple of years, but there are some attitudes that still feel arrogant/know-it-all.

 

[Casual Shinji]

About the usual flaws that are brought up. GB brings these up too, but feels they're not that bad, or just takes getting used to doing. He does bring up why fans would not like these changes and understands. I can't help, but feel that there is some nostalgia goggles going around him on this. He is actually fair and critical, but it's been made clear in the past, that GB prefers Greek-era combat GoW over Norse-era GoW. I would be more forgiving of Ascension's combat, except that a lot of the resources went to the multiplayer hype train, instead of the actual campaign. The campaign almost seems like an after thought. Even Santa Monica had to jump on the "every game needs competitive multiplayer to survive!" lie.

I have a soft spot for Ascension, but that's primarily due to the bad taste GoW3 left in my mouth. It was also one of the few Playstations exclussives at the time that didn't feel the need to be bombastic. There weren't background elements constantly vying for your attention, like most Sony games back then (and still now). I know the intro is the usual GoW fair, but once that's done the game just leaves you alone, in a similar way that Sands of Time and Ico made you feel alone.

But just like with Resident Evil 0 you can tell that even the developers were like '*sigh* Here we go again.'

 

[FakeSympathy]

And once again, these out-of-touch shitheads wants to blame gaming for gun violence.

Like, geez, the same games are distributed across the world, and mass shooting doesn't happen too many times in other nations (at least compared to US). But you still want to beat this dead bush?

Sure, whatever

 

[Specter Von Baren]

And once again, these out-of-touch shitheads wants to blame gaming for gun violence.

Like, geez, the same games are distributed across the world, and mass shooting doesn't happen too many times in other nations (at least compared to US). But you still want to beat this dead bush?

Sure, whatever

*siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh*

 

[BrawlMan]

And once again, these out-of-touch shitheads wants to blame gaming for gun violence.

Like, geez, the same games are distributed across the world, and mass shooting doesn't happen too many times in other nations (at least compared to US). But you still want to beat this dead bush?

Sure, whatever

*siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh*

These fools are only trying to distract and shift the blame. They're not even worth paying attention. Definitely not worth the sigh.

 

[Specter Von Baren]

These fools are only trying to distract and shift the blame. They're not even worth paying attention. Definitely not worth the sigh.

I know. I'm a very generous person.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

And once again, these out-of-touch shitheads wants to blame gaming for gun violence.

Like, geez, the same games are distributed across the world, and mass shooting doesn't happen too many times in other nations (at least compared to US). But you still want to beat this dead bush?

Sure, whatever

I knew it! Just knew these ignoranuses would blame evil videogames. Never mind the plethora of real world social ills often perpetuated by the fact these people are that bloody stupid in the fist place.


*edit* Well I was half right.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

I knew it! Just knew these ignoranuses would blame evil videogames. Never mind the plethora of real world social ills often perpetuated by the fact these people are that bloody stupid in the fist place.


*edit* Well I was half right.

And one of these social ills is how many g-damn guns there are, in large due to outlets like Fox News promoting it and fearmongering (gun sales go UP under Democrat presidents directly because of right-wing reactionary propaganda).
What is really tricky for us is there is a big overlap between gamer culture and gun culture. Young men, etc, lots of those who love both, and of course shooter games with guns are maybe the most popular style outside of maybe sports games.

I mean... video games DO glorify gun violence, it's true. But you know what glorifies gun violence way more? Guns. And violence (war, hate-speech, division, bigotry, sexism). Games, like movies and TV and books, are a reflection of society. We fucking love violence all around in this stupid country. Fox News' entire business model is understanding this.
It is funny though that there are still enough entrenched old-timers in Fox and other organizations like that that see video games as some new-fangled youthful scapegoat and not the mainstream, all-ages entertainment it is.

But then I'm also reminded of relatively young congressman Josh Hollaway complaining about games and porn, sounding like an old man. So maybe I shouldn't be blaming age, just the inherent lameness of being an arch-counter-culture-conservative.

 

[BrawlMan]

But then I'm also reminded of relatively young congressman Josh Hollaway complaining about games and porn, sounding like an old man. So maybe I shouldn't be blaming age, just the inherent lameness of being an arch-counter-culture-conservative.

And this guy is just a sheltered douchebag. You are correct of course, but I am just adding to it.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

And one of these social ills is how many g-damn guns there are, in large due to outlets like Fox News promoting it and fearmongering (gun sales go UP under Democrat presidents directly because of right-wing reactionary propaganda).
What is really tricky for us is there is a big overlap between gamer culture and gun culture. Young men, etc, lots of those who love both, and of course shooter games with guns are maybe the most popular style outside of maybe sports games.

I mean... video games DO glorify gun violence, it's true. But you know what glorifies gun violence way more? Guns. And violence (war, hate-speech, division, bigotry, sexism). Games, like movies and TV and books, are a reflection of society. We fucking love violence all around in this stupid country. Fox News' entire business model is understanding this.
It is funny though that there are still enough entrenched old-timers in Fox and other organizations like that that see video games as some new-fangled youthful scapegoat and not the mainstream, all-ages entertainment it is.

But then I'm also reminded of relatively young congressman Josh Hollaway complaining about games and porn, sounding like an old man. So maybe I shouldn't be blaming age, just the inherent lameness of being an arch-counter-culture-conservative.

We’ll never get rid of guns as long as wars produce profit, and the black market will ensure that. Even regarding civilian use, better screening for unstable individuals isn’t close to fool proof and can be exploited. The cat’s basically out of the bag and the “civilized” world ain’t gonna be changing anytime soon.

These shootings always make headlines because of the setting but why isn’t there an equal outcry over inner city gun violence, where firearm incidents number in the thousands with hundreds of deaths per year (per major city), with demands that it needs to end?

It’s because the solution to rectifying the problem isn’t happening and at the very least it would cost too much time, money and effort to make it happen. Hence, the scapegoating so the powers that be can continue the shitshow ad infinitum.

Really, these asshats should be thanking videogames.

Relationship Between Video Games and Gun Violence Is Not What You Think

Recent research by Ofir Turel, professor of information systems and decision sciences, challenges the notion that any amount of gaming is linked to increased gun violence.

news.fullerton.edu

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

There is plenty of outcry over inner city gun violence, from local news reporting (and, frankly, over-reporting in a way that would really de-rail this thread to get into), to all sorts of activist, community, and civil rights actions to address it. And the stats about mass shooting and gun violence do include these shootings.

It is weird that "inner city" gun violence is just assumed to not be part of the calculation included in trying to reduce gun prevalence in the country, that's kind of a strawman argument but it's a common one used all-too-often to deflect the issue.
Maybe it's impossible to curtail but maybe so are racism and climate change and everything else.

 

[BrawlMan]

To get back in the swing of things, I actually don't mind that they didn't put any other Battletoads games on the Rare Replay Collection. The omission of the Double Dragon crossover makes sense. There is not much point putting in the first Game Boy version, though it is a different game. The second Game Boy game is just a water down version of the first game. Battle Maniacs is a glorified remake of the first game, but on the Super Nintendo. If they were put into the collection (or later via update), I wouldn't mind either. I think the only reason Microsoft and Rare bothered to put just in the NES game and the Arcade Game, is those two are the most iconic and everything distilled about the franchise. The Arcade Game is still the best in the franchise for me. No gimmicky stages or events for the most part; just mostly pure, raw, brawling.

 

[thebobmaster]

Another reason for not including the Double Dragon crossover is that Rare wanted to focus on their own created universes rather than their licensed works, which is also partially responsible for why there is no Goldeneye 007, and why there is no Donkey Kong Country or Diddy Kong Racing.

 

[BrawlMan]

hich is also partially responsible for why there is no Goldeneye 007, and why there is no Donkey Kong Country or Diddy Kong Racing.

Those are obvious givens. 007 is a copyright nightmare, and the Perfect Dark games are both spiritual successors to Golden Eye. its inclusion would have been redundant. Nintendo owns DK and its characters, and would never let them appear on a non-Nintendo console or competitor.

 

[thebobmaster]

Those are obvious givens. 007 is a copyright nightmare, and the Perfect Dark games are both spiritual successors to Golden Eye. its inclusion would have been redundant. Nintendo owns DK and its characters, and would never let them appear on a non-Nintendo console or competitor.

That was also part of it, but the creative director who chose the games said in an interview that even if rights hadn't been an issue, those games would likely not have made the cut for the reason I gave.

 

[BrawlMan]

Another hot take on the Battletoads franchise is that it should focus way more on the brawling, than the other genre roulette gameplay. From what I heard of the reboot game, people love the brawler sections, but it's going to be loving or hated on anything else. I wouldn't mind these gameplay divergences so much, except they drag or go on for way too long at times, depending on the game. You can have platforming sections, don't get me wrong, but enough with the one hit kills or hazards that drain half your health so fast, that you don't get time to blink.

Since I now have an Xbox One X, I might pick the game up on a sale. Right now I can't afford Xbox Live Gold, nor I'm in the mood for Game Pass right now. I already got plenty of old games that I have physically, or I already have on different consoles. It's just a waste of money when I'm already paying for PS Plus/PSN.

 

[Worgen]

Ugh, no. I have zero sympathy for the Quarians.

If your solution to *not* enslaving a emergent sentient race is to try an exterminate them then you don't get to play the victims.

I thought the Quarians had no idea their tech was becoming sentiant and ended up freaking out when it started looking like it might be. Cause I can totally see us doing that, our society isn't setup very well for us accidently creating intelligence that is just better then we are. For instance, if you create music, it needs to have a human create it, you can't have a computer do it without human input. There is a good reason for this, someone already used an ai to create every single melody and if they could just copywrite that then anyone who makes any music would have to pay them to do it. How could we on the outside know that an ai was truly intelligent or if it was just mimicking it and if it could do similar should it even be allowed to?

 

[Worgen]

Another hot take on the Battletoads franchise is that it should focus way more on the brawling, than the other genre roulette gameplay. From what I heard of the reboot game, he will love the brawler sections, but it's going to be loving or hated on anything else. I wouldn't mind these gameplay divergences so much, except they drag or go on for way too long at times, depending on the game. You can have platforming sections, don't get me wrong, but enough with the one hit kills or hazards that drain half your health so fast, that you don't get time to blink.

Since I now have an Xbox One X, I might pick the game up on a sale. Right now I can't afford Xbox Live Gold, new nor I'm in the mood for Game Pass right now. I already got plenty of old games that I have physically, or I already have on different consoles. It's just a waste of money when I'm already paying for PS Plus/PSN.

I thought that was most peoples take? Most people like the fighting and a bit of the weird battletoads levels, but that the series goes too far into bullshit.

 

[BrawlMan]

I thought that was most peoples take? Most people like the fighting and a bit of the weird battletoads levels, but that the series goes too far into bullshit.

That's the thing though, it depends on what part of the fan base you are talking about. If it's non fans or casual fans, a majority of them don't like the other sections. With the hardcore fans, it's a base breaker. You either love them or hate them. There's almost no in between. The only thing you can get the hardcore fans, the casual fans, and the non fans all agree on, is the first game went way overboard on hazards and traps in non-brawler sections.

 

[BrawlMan]

Asura's Wrath has the best QTEs of all time.