Your video game hot take(s) thread

[Dirty Hipsters]

With the major, highly-anticipated games seeming to get bigger, longer and more complicated, the review and coverage cycle has become completely untenable. This year I am seeing major games come out to one kind of reception, then after a couple of weeks- which is not a long time at all but is like a million internet years- change pretty significantly. Certainly significantly enough to effect purchasing decisions for casual gamers who are not obsessed with FOMOing their way through the latest things.

Obviously I'm summarizing extremely as to how I understood it but it's like:

Starfield: first kind of meh, but then actually gets good IF...IF... you're down for it. So the early reviews are kind of useless.
Final Fantasy 16: what an awesome spectacle, GOTY! But wait, end game pacing and side quests etc are poop so, no...
Lies of P: Bloodborne + Sekiro, 10/10! Oh but wait at around the halfway point it's a miserable slog and bullshit unfair and there are issues with even the core mechanics.
Baldur's Gate 3: Technical marvel and brilliant story! Except maybe the final third?
Armored Core 6: Awesome mechanics, control, setting, etc, wow what a game, reviews are out yay! Oh wait, wait.. the bosses introduce INSANE difficulty spikes throughout the game. We should know that going in!

The common thread is that early reviews are basically of the first half of these games. And of course they are- because they're so long and complicated!

Of course as with many negative recent trends, I blame Elden Ring. "Oh sure the last part sucks." Wtf, we just gonna give 'em a pass for that, right? Ok let's keep doing that I guess...

Well, I think the second half of games is just as important as the first half. And I know- way more people play the first half, because people don't finish games. But reviews and analysis to me don't make sense without accounting for the whole game. Yet the early reviews effect the conversation and sales about a game, which effects which future games get made and people's jobs and everything.

If I were a soul-less games exec I would be directing my devs to focus 80% of their efforts on the first 20% of our games. Which... suck, you know? My experiences with Everspace 2 and FF16 has made me really careful about going into games I'm unsure of now unless I read multiple reports of good end games (while I may feel similar about Baldur's Gate 3 and Armored Core 6 and not finish them, at least I understood that risk more because those are games that interest me a lot so I was happy to risk trying them).

I think I just respect the recent Zelda games more, even though I still have no interest in playing them. I am not really hearing much disappointment or negative reaction to the back half of these games.

As a consumer I know to just ignore early reviews, but of course I follow games media a bit to pick up on this trend. Not fair to other people that it's like this.

This isn't a new thing. The last area/last boss in the majority of games tends to be the worst part of the game with the least amount of polish. This has almost always been the case. Games are front loaded. All of the promotional material comes from the beginning/middle of the game, and that's as far as most people play because the majority of people don't finish games.

 

[Specter Von Baren]

If they’re going all in on digital then they better start expanding the internal storage. 1TB isn’t gonna cut it; 2TB needs to be the new minimum standard, and I’d argue that in lieu of the disc drive, the Series X should have like a 4TB SSD (that size bracket is still very expensive at the consumer level) to justify its higher cost.

Mhm. I've actually been rebuying a lot of games I bought digitally on physical just so I can free up space on my Switch without having to constantly delete stuff. Memory space is really premium.

 

[BrawlMan]

Mhm. I've actually been rebuying a lot of games I bought digitally on physical just so I can free up space on my Switch without having to constantly delete stuff. Memory space is really premium.

I don't buy big digital games on my Switch, and I got a 10TB something microSD card in placed in there too.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

This isn't a new thing. The last area/last boss in the majority of games tends to be the worst part of the game with the least amount of polish. This has almost always been the case. Games are front loaded. All of the promotional material comes from the beginning/middle of the game, and that's as far as most people play because the majority of people don't finish games.

Ok sure but I think the fact that games are in general bigger and more complicated and faster makes this much much worse. At least to me, and it's bad enough to be more of a core part of the experience than the old "oh well, games be gaming."

 

[BrawlMan]

Speaking of last areas of the game, YouTube critics highly exaggerate the final areas of Resident Evil 2 Remake and Resident Evil 3 Remake especially. With the second remake, people exaggerate the lab area. It's only a problem when you don't know what you're doing or where you're supposed to go to first time through. Once you have something memorized or remembered the copy it or take a screenshot, that it is almost practically a breeze. The hardest difficulties is a bit different story, but it's harder difficulty. RE3R got crapped on for just having a simple lab area, but the game is more action focused, so it makes sense. That and certain fans are still complaining about the lack of puzzles, but I'm not going to complain. The original version of 3 had some crappy puzzles that were randomized, and I'm all the more happy that it wasn't as puzzle focused.

 

[Kyrian007]

I guess maybe this belongs here, it sure isn't what I'm playing now. I was expecting to be playing the Baten Kaitos remaster (or at least have it on deck for a break from Starfield) by now. But I haven't purchased it yet, and now I don't think I will. I was looking forward to seeing if they redubbed the horrendous voice acting as well as upgrading the visuals. And even if they didn't, seeing the upgraded visuals paired with the awful voice acting of the original would be really good for a laugh. But before I made the purchase I looked at a review. They removed the option for english audio entirely. I really don't understand that choice at all. Don't get me wrong, the english voice acting was so terrible that playing in Japanese with subtitles was a superior option for those who couldn't get enough comedy enjoyment to overcome the really terrible english voice over. But if you're doing a remaster, why not leave the bad voice over in at least as an option rather than remove it entirely. I get not redubbing it too, that's going to be expensive. But leave the old audio in.

I genuinely liked those games. Well... ok the first one, the prequel wasn't nearly as good. And I don't mind reading subtitles, but if the option exists I'll always chose an english dub. Meaning I should still want this remaster. But still playing Starfield, needing to get back to BG3 at some point, and with My Time at Sandrock's full release dropping soon... I think the lack of an english voice over has dropped this remaster into a "wait until a 50 to 75% off sale" category. Wow, dubs over subs... a classic hot take/unpopular opinion.

 

[BrawlMan]

I get not redubbing it too, that's going to be expensive. But leave the old audio in.

It's exactly why I don't play Code of Princess EX (Switch, PC) as much compared to the 3DS original. The only difference is that the English dubbing is fantastic and even better than the Japanese audio. The latter can be funny, but it plays things a bit more straight. The localization team and the English cast went nuts on this one and knew what type of game they were dealing with. EX does have the surperior gameplay and framerate, but it does not makes sense why it, nor the original Steam release never bothered getting the dub, due to it belonging to a different company. It wouldn't have costed them much on either scale.

Wow, dubs over subs... a classic hot take/unpopular opinion.

Most English dubs are great or surpass the Japanese subs nowadays. It's been that way since the late 2000s and the early 2010s. There's rarely a bad dub nowadays in anime or Japanese games brought to the West.

 

[Kyrian007]

Most Egnlish dubs are great or surpass the Japanese subs nowadays. It's been that way since the late 2000s and the early 2010s. There's rarely a bad dub nowadays in anime or Japanese games brought to the West.

I absolutely agree, but subtitle nazis still dominate anime fandom.

 

[BrawlMan]

I absolutely agree, but subtitle nazis still dominate anime fandom.

That's why I ignore them and tell them to fuck off. The Subtitles Nazis have no real power, nor control. Nobody gives a rat's ass about them.

 

[XsjadoBlayde]

How far into the future is cyberpunk? What do you mean "The year's in the title, dumbass!" Well where the bloody hell are the earphones?? Video calls and magical combat sci-fi powers can be channeled through fancy mind implants, but not the blasted radio? No if your luddite romp wants to chill out with some fine jazz you gotta move that settled n comfy arse to your car!

On an unrelated note, earlier tried to pick the non combative mind hack option of Ping, but accidentally clicked the contagioun one instead. My pacifism did not save them lol.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

Video calls and magical combat sci-fi powers can be channeled through fancy mind implants, but not the blasted radio?

Pfft, wirelessly transmitting music? You think the corpos are gonna allow that? Copyright, baby!

 

[Absent]

Okay shit I might have to confess that hot take.

I'm impressed by Sliding Seas. On the surface it's just some casual childish bejeweldish pay-to-win for android, but if you look deeper, it's... well, yes it's still that. But I'm surprised by how, after a huge lot of levels :

- It still doesn't force you (or makes you want to) buy its dozens of booster thingies. I play at my pace, and win with no trouble without using any of these "actions" that would get replenished by emptying your bank account. I really thought that at some point it would turn into a grind, implicitely forcng you to psy to progress, but it really definitely doesn't.

- It still throws new mechanics at you when you thought that by then you've seen it all.

- The levels are still fun and at some point clearly hand-crafted around new ways to make the environment and mechanics interaction puzzling (like, aha what if there's a column of corals and the pirate ships were all travelling behind it but with mines on their way to give you enough time to intercept them- not a thing that comes from randomized maps).

Anyway, the gameplay is a mix between bejeweled and 2048, you swap tiles to combine them into higher tiers. But the setting is maritime, as you combine shallower water tiles they eventually turn to land, and you have to aim that under the feet of the infinite crew of a shipwreck before they drown. It's nonsensical but satisfying and more strategic than combining tiles anywhere in any order with no other aim than quantity.

Anyway, a "guilty pleasure" in the sense that it belongs to a genre and financial model I'm not too fond of, but still avoids most of the practical reasons I'm not fond of these.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

Anyway, a "guilty pleasure" in the sense that it belongs to a genre and financial model I'm not too fond of, but still avoids most of the practical reasons I'm not fond of these.

This is basically how I feel about Genshin Impact.

 

[XsjadoBlaydette]

The best thing about the new Assassin's Creed - Mirage - is that I've not seen or heard anything about it. Not even one internet ad. This is the way it should be. Like early forest life on young earth, the series has finally evolved the survival trait of shutting the fuck up and politely burying their turds (doing better job than me at them too).

 

[hanselthecaretaker2]

Trophy/Achievement lists these days are increasingly like participation trophies. It seems like almost every big game doesn’t have difficulty based trophies anymore and it’s sort of been superseded by grinding. On one hand it’s no biggie, whatever. Reduces the circlejerk tendencies over bragging rights and all that. On the other, it kinda makes some of them feel pointless in a sense?

A recent example is MK1 gives a trophy for completing the beginner tutorial but nothing for actually completing it 100%. It’s fine though as it reinforces the fact I’m not doing them let alone shouldn’t be doing them just for trophies anyways.

 

[BrawlMan]

Trophy/Achievement lists these days are increasingly like participation trophies. It seems like almost every big game doesn’t have difficulty based trophies anymore and it’s sort of been superseded by grinding. On one hand it’s no biggie, whatever. Reduces the circlejerk tendencies over bragging rights and all that. On the other, it kinda makes some of them feel pointless in a sense?

This is nothing new. Achievements or trophies feeling like participation, have been going on since late 7th generation. It really only got more noticeable around 8th generation. I personally don't care. I stopped caring for most achievements by the time I got my PS4 in 2015. I still appreciated them, but I wouldn't go super crazy over them. Even back when achievements became a thing, I wasn't hyper focused on getting every single one. If I played a game that was great enough or I felt satisfied when I completed everything I wanted to do, then that was it. 100% achievements or not.

While I do think there should still be achievements for beating certain difficulties, they should stack automatically, if you're on the hardest difficulty setting. For example if you beat something on hard mode, you automatically get the achievement for easy and normal mode. Most companies actually do keep up with that, but Capcom still screws this up with DMC.

 

[BrawlMan]

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No Yahtzee, video game violence has not "jumped the shark". If that was the case, then you would have to go all the way back to the late 90s and early 2000s. As for Mortal Kombat: you are either into the gore and fatality, or you are not. While they can be excessive, they don't bother me much. If you're not into it then just don't play it. You stated you don't like fighting games. I don't know why you're crying over it now. Do note: I have not seen the video yet, but we all know Yahtzee at this point.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

Trophy/Achievement lists these days are increasingly like participation trophies. It seems like almost every big game doesn’t have difficulty based trophies anymore and it’s sort of been superseded by grinding. On one hand it’s no biggie, whatever. Reduces the circlejerk tendencies over bragging rights and all that. On the other, it kinda makes some of them feel pointless in a sense?

A recent example is MK1 gives a trophy for completing the beginner tutorial but nothing for actually completing it 100%. It’s fine though as it reinforces the fact I’m not doing them let alone shouldn’t be doing them just for trophies anyways.

Interesting.
I see where you're coming from but as the self-proclaimed forum Scrub King, I kind of like that I racked up a bunch of platinum trophies without difficulty dependency. I have about 30 or so and only one that required beating on hardest difficulty, my beloved WItcher 3 (a game that is very easy even on hardest difficulty once you get used to the combat and controls and especially after you've beat the game once let alone 20x like I have).

As with almost every game design thing- you know, it depends on the game.
PlayStation first party games especially are geared towards casual gamers. We like our stories and cinematics and world exploring. So the trophies are geared towards "doing all the stuff," not being particularly skilled. Most markedly you see the transition in the Last of Us series (original games has trophy for hardest difficulty, second does not). Your Horizons and Tsushimas and Spidermans and whatnot- it's basically a platinum for doing all the things on any difficulty. I think that just suits the games. It is similar for the Assassins Creed series. I don't play those games for the hardcore experience.

Meanwhile I have all the FromSoftware trophies and as we all know those games don't technically have difficulty trophies but they are difficult so getting platinum means doing crazy hard shit like NG++ and clearing chalice dungeons and that dark fire underground boss thing form DS2 dear lord lol...
And, you know, that is just really appropriate for those games, too.

So I guess I kind of agree with you, but I wouldn't apply it universally. If they were to, say, put difficulty based trophies in Horizon games I wouldn't be mad, but I wouldn't pursue them either. Trophies are just.. there.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

​

No Yahtzee, video game violence has not "jumped the shark". If that was the case, then you would have to go all the way back to the late 90s and early 2000s. As for Mortal Kombat: you are either into the gore and fatality, or you are not. While they can be excessive, they don't bother me much.; If you're not into it then just don't play it. You stated you don't like fighting games I don't know why you're driving over it now. Do note: I have not seen the video yet, but we all know Yahtzee at this point.

Well if you do end up watching SSE you'll see the first super chat as mine trying to make that maturing tastes affect how one sees things. Marty and Yahtzee make extremely clear from the get-go that they are not saying any game violence is "wrong" or anything, they're just talking about their tastes, their experience of the games and trends.

And yeah- I agree that Mortal Kombat games are pretty stupid with those fatalities. You don't have to tell people not to play something they don't like- we all know this. But Yahtzee is a game reviewer/critic, he's gonna play it, lol. When you see his Zero Punctuation you'll see he just talks about the campaign story and characters and visuals, the only part he cares about. That's a valid viewpoint but no serious fighting game enthusiast is going to care 'cause they're in it for the online.

If we're going to praise Street Fighter 6 for welcoming new players, we can criticize Mortal Kombat 1 for doing the opposite if that is the impression a non-fighting-game-pro has.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

The best thing about the new Assassin's Creed - Mirage - is that I've not seen or heard anything about it. Not even one internet ad. This is the way it should be. Like early forest life on young earth, the series has finally evolved the survival trait of shutting the fuck up and politely burying their turds (doing better job than me at them too).

Well this is a "minor" game, originally set to be a DLC. I'm sure we'll see a much bigger marketing push for the one following that is set in Japan.

Personally I'm looking forward to spending the weekend of 10/13 with it.