Your video game hot take(s) thread

[BrawlMan]

Hey @Old_Hunter_77, someone is making complaint out of nothing again. I somewhat kid, but Gaming Brit himself mentions how most games let you turn off the checklists or keep them to a minimum. I don't know what games he's been playing, but many of the games I play either don't have them, or keep in the separate menu all the way in the back. He failed to mention Ghost of Tsushima of not only the game allowing you to turn off alll notification, checklists, and indicators, but there are some hidden missions/side missions the game does not tell you about, never appear on the map, and you have to find out for yourself. The easiest solution to his problem is to not play them or ignore them.

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[Old_Hunter_77]

Hey @Old_Hunter_77, someone is making complaint out of nothing again. I somewhat kid, but Gaming Brut himself mentions how most games let you turn off the checklists or keep them to a minimum. I don't know what games he's been playing, but many of the games I play either don't have them, or keep in the separate menu all the way in the back. He failed to mention Ghost of Tsushima of not only the game allowing you to turn off alll notification, checklists, and indicators, but there are some hidden missions/side missions the game does not tell you about, never appear on the map, and you have to find out for yourself. The easiest solution to his problem is to not play them or ignore them.

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hahah, you saw this video and thought of me. I'm... flattered?

I dunno... ok, he doesn't like checklists, good for him I guess. *shrug*

Edit to add: Another Crab's Treasure, the game I'm currently playing, doesn't have checklists. So, I guess we've won!
Also I liked the recent Gods of War a lot so if that makes me some dopamine-chasing dumb gamer- well, hey, I never claimed not to be.

Oh, and crapping on playing games while listening to podcasts- that is like the whole vibe of "cozy" games, one of the pillars of indy gaming now, and indy gaming is supposed to be cool now right?

 

[BrawlMan]

indy gaming is supposed to be cool now right?

Indie gaming was always cool and still is.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

Oh, and crapping on playing games while listening to podcasts- that is like the whole vibe of "cozy" games, one of the pillars of indy gaming now, and indy gaming is supposed to be cool now right?

I watch random Youtube videos will skill grinding in Runescape and sometimes I mute a game's music to listen to something else; far be it from me to diss anyone for their choice of secondary material.

 

[XsjadoBlaydette]

Astor blade of the monolith must be gd game cause it got 2 combats

 

[BrawlMan]

There is a reviewer on Nintendo Life that said Rushing Beat/Rival Turf (SNES) is better than Final Fight (SNES) because it has co-op. Buddy, you need your head examined on that one. FTR, I know the SNES port of FFi/FFi Guy aren't the best and both are missing a whole stage, but either version is at least playable, less cheap and balanced design, and can be beaten in a 1CC run. I can't say the same for Rushing Beat. A 1CC is possible, but it's really tedious, you have to be cheap as fuck, and is not worth the effort. Your chances are better with a friend, but both of you would have to be super brawler/RB fans. There's a couple out there, but not many.

Speaking of the original Final Fight (Arcade), it has aged well. There are plenty of games that surpass or better than it (many from Capcom themselves), but the game is still fun. The character designs and characters themselves are memorable and iconic. The soundtrack is amazing now, despite using MIDIs. The remixes for these songs that show up in various Street Fighter games makes them even better. The GBA port is the 2nd (or 3rd best if you can get a Sharp 68XK running) best port with the Sega CD being best home port. The GBA has the best bonuses though, and becomes even better with the arcade rom hack. The original even trumps the sequels on SNES. Final Fight 2 is a mission pack sequel that is only fun with the increased enemies hack and while Final Fight 3 is better 2, not much else stood out by the time it released late into the SNES's library.

 

[Gergar12]

Chinese gachas don't have enough violence. They should be more like US games.

 

[Gergar12]

Equal rights, equal firings.

 

[BrawlMan]

@hanselthecaretaker2

After seeing the fifteen minute gameplay trailer for Silent Hill 2 Remake, it looks good so far. Bloober Team I don't care for their games, but I don't have major hatred for them either. I get why people hate them for their past works and I do not blame them. Especially when you try to make the sexual abusers/aggressors the bigger victims in your previous work.

Back on point: The game looks and plays good. They are definitely trying. I don't know what people were going on about the faces looking bad. I noticed the usual suspects complaining about Angela or Maria the most. Ignore the imbeciles. The voice acting sounds good too. I don't think the game will be better than RE2R, Evil Within 2, nor Alan Wake 2, but I will take a wait and see approach. I'll give credit to Blooper putting their best in it. I can already see the reception coming from all sides. You'll have those defending the remake and then you'll have the hardcore old school or butt hurt fans trashing it regardless of quality. I despise modern Konami as well, but I don't have the energy anymore for all the rage.Your best bet is to keep playing the games that bring you joy or play the games they outsource to people who know what they are doing. The new Contra game is good and I still have to pick that up.

 

[BrawlMan]

I am glad James has a back step and a dodge in SH2R. There are hardcore fans already complaining about this, but I don't see it as a big negative. It's a huge improvement. I don't care how much of a "regular/normal" guy or gal you are, I'm not gonna let some person or some humanoid monstrosity run up on me and attack, while I'll stay standing still and tank the hit. Most people would move out of the way or dodge. Alan Wake and Saga Anderson could dodge monsters just fine, and no one complained about them doing it. One is a writer and the other is an FBI agent. What makes James so special?
To elaborate further on movement and evasion in horror games:

Leon and Claire technically do have a "dodge", but it's only when they get grabbed with no sub weapons equipped. When a zombie grabs you, you push Left Stick in the opposite direction, and Leon/Claire will throw the zombies off of themselves. It's really finicky and not worth doing. Jill and Carlos have the opposite problem. Jill can duck dodge/dodge roll and enter bullet times when pulling off a Just Dodge. Carlos has a punch parry. Yet neither of the two will use self-defense items, despite being more experienced, battle ready, and trained than rookie cop Leon and normal civilian Claire. The only other way for dodging is by running away really hard by pressing the left analog stick in RE2R. RE4R combined the two elements, having the best of all worlds, and shows how annoying the remakes are with this when one loses the other. Leon can duck and gets the button prompt dodges too. Though I will take self-defense items any day over the lack of using them when comparing RE2R and RE3R each other.

Also, Alan and Saga can both dodge, and use self defense items when getting grabbed. At least Remedy learned not to make the same mistake with RE2R and RE3R.

Sebastian (Evil Within 2) gets a back step dodge, but it has be unlocked from the combat section of his skill tree. It's not worth getting nor doing when running is actually better. Worse, is that back step dodge has to be pulled off at the last minute to work.

Ethan Winters has block parry push in RE8, but he still moves to slow for a guy in his late 20s.

Issac Clarke can only run, punch, and stomp, but he can move pretty move quick for someone in a heavy suit. We're not even getting into Jacob (Callisto Protocol). All I can say that mid 30s space trucker moves slower than all of the characters I just mentioned. Keep in mind, Issac and Sebastian are faster than Jacob, even though the former two are older than him!

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

I am glad James has a back step and a dodge in SH2R. There are hardcore fans already complaining about this, but I don't see it as a big negative. It's a huge improvement. I don't care how much of a "regular/normal" guy or gal you are, I'm not gonna let some person or some humanoid monstrosity run up on me and attack, while I'll stay standing still and tank the hit.

But... but he's just an ordinary guy! He doesn't have the military training required to step backwards to avoid being stabbed!

 

[BrawlMan]

Honestly with the availability of roms, rom hacks, or translated rom works, I find it pointless to own certain retro games. Especially if said game suffered from weird censorship, hardware issues, or the game never was brought to Western shores. For example, I went and downloaded the SNES versions of Final Fight, FF Guy, and Final Fight One on GBA (I still own the GBA cart and have a GBA SP) but with the Arcade Colors Remix hack. Making the games look more like the arcade version, and even restored background animations that went missing. Or improving on all gameplay fronts and getting rid of bullshit difficulty spikes. There's a hack of Final Fight 2 that allows to fight 4-5 enemies on screen and getting rid of the 3 enemies bullshit many SNES brawlers suffered from.

There is rom hack of Contra Hard Corps that plays exactly like Japanese version, making the game easier, but so you no longer have to read Japanese text to play it. FTR, the Japanese version of Hard Corps allows you to die in 3 hits. The US/EU versions is one hit and you die. The game is harder for the wrong reasons. Once you play these versions, you'll never want to play their originals ever again. Nor buy them on the retro market, because they are way over priced.

Back to Final Fight. I don't find the SNES versions that bad, despite never playing those a kid. Maybe it's because I am playing the hacked versions, but I find them a bit therapeutic when playing these games on my Myoo Mini+. They work as a nice solo adventure. The arcade and Sega CD versions are still superior, but the (modified) SNES versions can still be fun, if you want to play something short and for funsies.

I've said Final Fight 3 is better than Final Fight 2, but after playing both back to back. I kinda like Final Fight 2 more, because it's faster paced, and doesn't suffer as much slowdown. Granted, I've been playing the hacked version that allow multiple enemies on screen with barely any slowdown. So that's coloring my opinion a little. Even when play the non hacked versions, I find myself having more fun with them than 3. Final Fight 2 Readjusted is the name of the rom hack for those interested. Carlos I don't like playing as. He's wasted potential and nowhere near as fun as Haggar nor Maki. I like his design, but that's all I can say about him.

Killer is Dead I find a better game than DmC (2013). The only thing DmC does better than KiD is that having more juggle options, but KiD is a different type of hack n slash and not exactly Devil May Cry style. That's usually how it is for most Grasshopper style action games. KiD has much better quantity of boss battles too. There's only one bad boss and one mediocre boss battle. The rest are between good and great.

 

[BrawlMan]

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[Old_Hunter_77]

This video games hot take is more of a video games related media literacy "well actually" lecture that I didn't want to clutter up the showcases or news threads but summer games fest and the reactions are what triggered this one...

Marketing of games showing trailers now constantly get met with complaints about lack of gameplay. The general reason for this is correct and understandable because if we're buying games we wanna know how they're going to play and folks have been burnt by flashy trailers that belie weak games. Ok, fine.

But, as with everything- context!

If there is a reveal, the first time showing something new, and it's not coming out for a while- it's actually ok to not show much or any gameplay. It's ok to promote the vibe, the intention, the style of something.

This is very different from a game that's already well into its marketing cycle that is still not showing gameplay close to release. I think that is the case with the Indiana Jones game, and was recently the case with Hellblade 2.

But sometimes it's whining like "why are they talking" and "NO GAMEPLAY!" It's one of those rallying cries that started from a good place and is now often a way to sound smart. If one is going to consume marketing on purpose like watching showcases and such then one should at least have a basic understanding of how marketing works which involves a ramp-up cycle.

I'll use Star Wars Outlaws as an example. IIRC it was revealed last fall maybe during game awards season and it was all cinematics and flashy visuals and reaction was "NO GAMEPLAY BOO." Of course it being a Ubisoft release invites more "I'm so clever" gamr vitriol. But those early trailers showed me everything I needed to know at the time- that there will be a new Star Wars game and it will not be Jedi focused but rather a 3rd person shooter type Han Solo vibe. This early in the marketing cycle, no reasonable person needs to decide absolutely if or when they'll buy it.
Now they're showing gameplay, details, etc- after we got an actual release date. Now I can make the informed decision personally to decide that, at this moment, I am interested enough to consider a full price purchase if time/budget/schedule/circumstance allow for it.

I don't wanna get hung up on that particular game here I was just using an example how effective and fair marketing works and why some of the reactions are so silly. Yes, we should be shown gameplay, and consumers are correct to be skeptical of pre-release marketing that excludes it. But we should also be receptive to the context of marketing stages and not rush to declarations in order to sound clever.

 

[BrawlMan]

Snip

Last time I ever got excited for an all CG trailer was Lollipop Chainsaw back in 2011. At this point I won't even rant or complain. I ignore until I see actual gameplay footage. I don't blame people for being upset. Considering the cycle has been going on and on decades on and still happens. You have your points, but the industry is to blame to begin with for starting all this crap or constantly expecting people to be invested only to have the rug pulled underneath them.

Even if a game is really early in development, I'll let it slide some of the time, but you might as well, not even bother with the CG trailer and call it a concept trailer and move on. At least we can't play footage. Nobody's time is usually wasted and you get the gist of what supposed to be going on. Things always change in the development cycle of course, but there are so many similar or different stories and variables. Though at this point most people can tell when someone's gonna come out good or not.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

With the gameplay reveals, I think Star Wars Outlaws, Dragon Age Veilguard, and Assassin's Creed Shadows looking f'n awesome. And the bitching and whining in response from The Gamrs is a collection of cheap internet points for shitting on big studios with the same complaints we been making for a decade, meaningless nonsense like trailer music, and faux-concern-trolling woke wars.

One can be excited for big games without pre-ordering or simping.

 

[BrawlMan]

The Gamrs is a collection of cheap internet points for shitting on big studios with the same complaints we been making for a decade, meaningless nonsense like trailer music, and faux-concern-trolling woke wars.

There are people already complaining about one of Yasuke's combat sections Having some hip hop in it, Even though the trailer music pretty much implied using it for both characters at certain points. Nao's stealth segment while more subdued with the music. Still has some minor hip-hop if you listen close enough. I wasn't offended or upset. I was like whatever. Not that big a deal, but I get why people are complaining. Invoking bad musical stereotypes, but this honestly does nothing to me. Where the hell were you all when Afro Samurai came out?

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

There are people already complaining about one of Yasuke's combat sections Having some hip hop in it, Even though the trailer music pretty much implied using it for both characters at certain points. Nao's stealth segment while more subdued with the music. Still has some minor hip-hop if you listen close enough. I wasn't offended or upset. I was like whatever. Not that big a deal, but I get why people are complaining. Invoking bad musical stereotypes, but this honestly does nothing to me. Where the hell were we all when Afro Samurai came out?

lol.. oh yeah if there's two things that were never mixed it's samurai stuff and hip-hop

We know what they're really complaining about.

 

[hanselthecaretaker2]

Choose the sword, and you will join me.




What’s more, there’s apparently a spiritual successor action RPG in the works tentatively called Project Shaolin.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

I can't deny that I'm amused at how much PC gamers rue cross play now. Back in the heyday of multiplayer FPS games, all you would hear about was how controllers couldn't possibly compete with PC. These days, people are clamoring for KBM-only servers.

Yes, yes, I know that this is because game devs have made aim assist way too overpowered, but the irony is fun.