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happyninja42

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I seem to recall doing everything I thought was right and ultimately there was no way to get a good ending with everyone. Like a damned if you do, damned if you don’t conclusion, so I stopped caring by then.
I mean did they SAY it's possible to get a good ending for everyone? Because you know, sometimes bad things happen to good people, no matter what you do.
 

hanselthecaretaker

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I mean did they SAY it's possible to get a good ending for everyone? Because you know, sometimes bad things happen to good people, no matter what you do.
It’s a game though, and if the main story aspect is being able to choose how things go, one would think all good endings would be an option.
 

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It’s a game though, and if the main story aspect is being able to choose how things go, one would think all good endings would be an option.
It's a good point though it wouldn't be completely unheard for some games to go with either a sudden downer ending or there are no good endings.

Drakengard was apparently infamous for all the endings being bad and they just got worse the more you unlocked. Then again, Drakengard was a very dark game about terrible people in a crapsack world so maybe that's fitting.

The final 100% ending invovled falling through a portal into our world, stopping a giant cosmic horror only to die right afterwards and unleash a magical pandemic on the world which, per NEIR and NEIR AUTOMATA, will eventually lead to humanity going extinct. Thus screwing over two worlds.

And one could argue none of the Soulsborne games have good endings either(if for no other reason that they tend to leave a lot to interpretation). Sekiro has one ending which could be charitably described as "Good".
 
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BrawlMan

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Finally managed to beat mission 19 on DMD in a No Damage, No Death run! The fight was freaking epic!
 
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happyninja42

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It’s a game though, and if the main story aspect is being able to choose how things go, one would think all good endings would be an option.
Not necessarily, some choices might be mutually exclusive. Like choosing to help person X, means you are not there to help person Y in the previous scene.

Plenty of games make you do that. I've never played Detroit so I don't know if that's the case, but I mean that choice tree they show in some of the trailers, and how branching it is...I'd be shocked if there is some "ultimate 100% perfect path" throughout it, given choices make you branch off in other directions. It might just be "do the least harm that you can, or help the ones that you find most compelling."
 

Casual Shinji

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I started a new playthrough of Ghost of Tsushima, as I never finished it, and I went for Lethal mode... Yeah, that didn't last too long. The game really doesn't have enough finesse to its controls to make Lethal a viable difficulty, for me anyway. You get killed so damn quickly, and the controls have the typical jank that comes with open-world games, so it feels like you're fighting the jank as well as the enemies. I was so laser-fucking-focused on not dying within micro-seconds that it was nearly impposible to even remotely play around with the combat in anyway that was fun, and I STILL died, like, fifteen times in a row to the smallest encounters. I switched back to Hard and I started having actual fun again.

I also started playing Alwa's Legacy on the Switch, which is pretty neat so far.
 
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Chupathingy

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It's the 10th anniversary of Fallout: New Vegas's release, and I've started playing my first heavily modded playthrough I spent two weeks preparing. After an hour of playing I've had only one crash and one major glitch. Things are looking up!
 
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NerfedFalcon

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After my attention drifted between three or four games, I've finally managed to settle on replaying the first Danganronpa. There's a lot more going on in there than I remember from... about three years ago, now, I guess. Still a bit clunky compared to the sequels, and its cast isn't as great as the others either, but it's still pretty worth (re)playing, I think.
 

gorfias

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I seem to recall doing everything I thought was right and ultimately there was no way to get a good ending with everyone. Like a damned if you do, damned if you don’t conclusion, so I stopped caring by then. I knew things would go south when the main dude’s love interest just seemed to want anarchy while I was trying to keep the peace. What frustrates me about choice based games is when they pull you in two different directions and typically make you feel like you made the wrong choice.
You do end up with the supermarket syndrome (there are 10 lanes open. The likelihood of choosing the fastest lane is 1/10.) Avoiding spoilers, I have not read through the guides but think you can achieve SOME happy, or happier endings. I think. If the developers made it so you can't get at least 2/3 happy endings with most choices, that's pretty off putting.
 

Xprimentyl

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Picked up Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice yesterday. Haven't had much time with it yet, but I was banking on its similarities to Dark Souls, however, a little research leads me to believe there won't be much in common. Hardest FromSoft game?
 

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Picked up Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice yesterday. Haven't had much time with it yet, but I was banking on its similarities to Dark Souls, however, a little research leads me to believe there won't be much in common. Hardest FromSoft game?
It's definitely recognizable as a FROM game and has a lot in common with Souls. What makes it really different is that in Souls you could get by without ever learning how to parry and counter, that ain't gonna fly in Sekiro. You have to learn how to use the deflect system if you want to make any progress through the game because I-frames(to my knowledge) aren't a thing and it's almost impossible to get behind a boss to backstab(like one or two exceptions in the game but it's very rare).

With that being said, getting through the areas is a hell of a lot easier then most FROM games because stealth actually works in Sekiro, and you have the ability to platform around/over most threats which makes runs back to bosses normally pretty painless(and that's before you get into the fact that a lot of the idols/bonfires are often very close to the boss/mini-boss).
 
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happyninja42

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Dabbled with Defiance 2050. It's....ok I guess. Didn't really get very far in the newbie zone, as I ran into a progress breaking bug with the very first tutorial mission. I think it might've been an issue with the starting character servers, but 2 objects that I was supposed to scan to progress to the newbie town.....just weren't there. There were no enemies, nothing. I had to wait like 2 hours for it to finally fix, and I progressed. So far I don't really have any opinions on it, positive or negative. It's a newbie zone.

I guess the combat is ok, as it's real aimed combat, I guess similar to stuff like The Division? They have HP, and it takes multiple hits to drop them with most weapons, but if your aim is good enough to hit vitals like the head, they go down much faster. I'll probably try a bit more of it tonight after work, and see how it advances.
 

hanselthecaretaker

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It's a good point though it wouldn't be completely unheard for some games to go with either a sudden downer ending or there are no good endings.

Drakengard was apparently infamous for all the endings being bad and they just got worse the more you unlocked. Then again, Drakengard was a very dark game about terrible people in a crapsack world so maybe that's fitting.

The final 100% ending invovled falling through a portal into our world, stopping a giant cosmic horror only to die right afterwards and unleash a magical pandemic on the world which, per NEIR and NEIR AUTOMATA, will eventually lead to humanity going extinct. Thus screwing over two worlds.

And one could argue none of the Soulsborne games have good endings either(if for no other reason that they tend to leave a lot to interpretation). Sekiro has one ending which could be charitably described as "Good".

FTR I’m completely cool with SoulsBorne style endings (and actually prefer it that way because themes, etc.) as it’s a known entity for what to expect going in. But here with Cage’s games, it feels like a slap in the face trying to do everything morally correct and then BAM! Love interest either dies or ends up hating you, along with nearly the entire citizenry. Plus you die anyways. Not sure what happens if I played as an A-hole but guessing it couldn’t get much worse.

Maybe the lesson there was that the hero stuff only works in comic books.
 

Dalisclock

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There Is No Game: Wrong Dimension(2020)-Draw me a Pixel

There is no Game very much wants you to know that it is not a game. You should go away and uninstall it, because there's nothing to see here. You're told this from the beginning by a not-game program's voice, but should you insist on continuing on, you'll find there most assuredly is a game in this game and in trying to access "The game" which is continually blocked by all matter of obstacles such as walls, locks and unbreakable glass, you'll be playing about 4-5 hours of games in a strange and amusing quest alongside(and much to the annoyance of) the not-game program(whose name is Game).

Confused yet?

There is No Game is an affectionate 4th wall meta-narrative tribute and send up of games of various types and genres which doesn't take itself very seriously and is clearly enjoying it's lack of self seriousness the whole time. It's also essentially a comedic adventure game that is played by interacting with the world rather than controlling a character, which gets weird and trippy at times. In one segment, called "The Legend of the Secret" you are helping THE HERO, who is totally NOT LINK, in game that totally doesn't look anything like an isometric Zelda game(A link to the past in particular) complete his quest to beat the evil overlord, but Not-Link has more courage than brains and you need to help him along by clearing the way for him by positioning lights, changing the size of objects, and helping him flip switches in the right order to proceed.

There's also an interesting subversion and twist in that you're thrown into a redux of the same idea, but the villain, in an effort to stop you, has "Upgraded" the game into a clicker Free2Play game where everything must be purchased, so now you have to find new solutions problems you previously solved. Your non-game companion Game wastes no opportunity to mock the Free2Play BS you have to deal with in that segment. To paraphrase his reaction at one point ""WHAT DO YOU MEAN WE HAVE TO PAY TO UNLOCK THE FINAL DUNGEON? 1 MILLION COINS? *Incoherent screaming""

The game is 4-5 hours and changes things up on a regular basis to keep things from getting stale and manages to throw in a few surprises in there as well. The fact it clearly has a fondness for the games it's sending up(except for Free2Play which it mocks mercilessly) gives it a nice sense of lightness to help smooth over any issues with the plot that might arise and kinda reminded me of "Thomas was alone" in it's broad plot outlines. THe puzzles often manage to be pretty clever and a built in hint system(that unlocks by steps and with a short time delay between each one) help the player from getting stuck on some of the more obtuse puzzles(of which there are a few) though most do follow a certain type of reasonable(albeit video-game logic) such as using a not-bitcoin to unlock an app that requires virtual coins on a computer by dragging an dropping, but only once you've freed up enough memory to obtain the not-bitcoin.

So yeah, It was something I tried on a whim without really knowing what it was and I ended up enjoying it a lot for the comedic meta romp it was.
 
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SilentPony

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Been keeping an eye on that(I've liked all the other Frictional games so far). Please let us know.
Okay so I'm about an hour or so in, which is a fair portion for an Amnesia game, and I'm finding myself in a distinctly uncharitable mood.
The gameplay is so fucking stop/start, which every fucking document need its own flashback, and with like 4 documents per room, room after room, I'm just playing 'Spot the Red Herring'. Maybe we're older, and the Amnesia games don't holdup as much as we think but the writing is very sloppy and obvious, even when its trying to be tricky and spooky its very obvious. They're trying to pull a surprise or Bioshock level twist, but from the get-go you're very much aware what they're not saying and about 1 hour in I'm pretty sure I know the entire story and ending already. The writing/dialogue is so sloppy. You pick up a drawing of a baby, FLASHBACK. A Woman's voice "Oh is that your baby? She's so cute! Did you leave her in Paris?" Character response "...yes."
Literal next document, FLASHBACK "After what happened in Paris with Character we need to keep a close eye on her. The stress of it was almost too much for her and she needs to keep her anxiety under control"
Next document FLASHBACK "Character spent time in an asylum following the events of Paris. She presents a difficult and troubling case"

And you're just like yeah we get it, her child died, she probably killed it somehow and went crazy, or she's not actually Character, but an imposter trying to take over her life after the asylum or something. And I'm not being disingenuous - documents really are just lined up almost in a row like that.

Its feeling a lot like SOMA, and I found that game unbearably slow and dim-witted. And because I'm aware they're trying to present a false narrative so as to spoopy me later I'm not invested in what's going on, because you can hear the retcons coming a mile away.
 

Dalisclock

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And you're just like yeah we get it, her child died, she probably killed it somehow and went crazy, or she's not actually Character, but an imposter trying to take over her life after the asylum or something. And I'm not being disingenuous - documents really are just lined up almost in a row like that.

Its feeling a lot like SOMA, and I found that game unbearably slow and dim-witted. And because I'm aware they're trying to present a false narrative so as to spoopy me later I'm not invested in what's going on, because you can hear the retcons coming a mile away.
I'm getting Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs flashblacks now. The whole twist with His kids being dead the whole time which I saw coming a mile off because it was just too convenient they were running around always ahead of you and getting past obstacles you have to work to circumvent.
 

SilentPony

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I'm getting Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs flashblacks now. The whole twist with His kids being dead the whole time which I saw coming a mile off because it was just too convenient they were running around always ahead of you and getting past obstacles you have to work to circumvent.
See I really loved A Machine For Pigs, in part because I assumed spooky things. Like you I knew from the get-go the kids were dead, but I assumed their ghosts were the ones haunting us. Like an established, if unclear, threat.
The new one, Rebirth(Get it? Children and motherhood and some such) is still making this big song and dance with the dead kid being some sort of twist. I'm an additional 2 hours in and its still playing the "Oh you're just not smart enough to understand" shit that I figured out in the first room.
 

Asita

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Just finished Ori and the Will of the Wisps. It's very much like it's predecessor in that it's a beautiful game and makes me tear up.