Your video game hot take(s) thread

[XsjadoBlaydette]

A few years ago I would've not been too bothered if it were just JK doing a bad tweet or two, like whoever was in charge of CDprojectRed's twitter account for that short while. But JK has been determined to go above and beyond anyone else when it comes to proactively causing and inspiring further harm.

Not only has she doubled, tripled, quadrupled - and so forth - down on all her bad takes, not only is she now hanging around and promoting some truly awful examples of human beings who have no interest in women's rights, not only has she been funding building literally exclusionary spaces for the most vulnerable victims of sexual abuse while ignoring any and all debunking of her claims, not only has attacks on trans people gone up since her public doubly-triply-quadabbly bullshit...but now she has been inspiring a new reactionary wing of our fucking Tory party government to push these scapegoats harder along with the aid of our truly despicable mainstream press for whom will always defend money, power and patriotic pride over inconvenient facts. There is no corner here unmolested by her ignorant wine-mum tentacle takes. Our country and society are still being swayed by this bollocks, like actual literal government policies, so I (we?) can't ignore her even if I bloody wanted to. So, yeah, she refuses to learn or listen or stop or slow down, only getting worse with time, it's an ongoing problem. And having no interest in Harry Potter or any other product that fills her bank account is one of the few traits am glad to have accidentally stumbled into.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

Another reason why Morrowind succeeded where subsequent titles failed me is while there was an overarching story of cementing your place as the Nerevarine, there were several, substantially deep questlines for Houses, Guilds, and the expansion stories with Tribunal and Bloodmoon that just made the whole world feel like one you carved your own path in instead of riding the rails until "The END."

This I can easily grant you. (Aside from running fetch quests in the city of Vivec; two-tone boy and his whole shithole metropolis can go drown in a volcano.) I wish the greater potential complexity of the newer games had been harnessed for more sprawling, involved questlines, rather than basically giving you a four-task to-do list and then crowning you Grand High Poobah or whatever.

Shivering Isles was a nice expansion for Oblivion, but it still felt markedly separate from the main game, like a game unto itself to play in addition to Oblivion.

I never did finish SI, but from what I encountered it really did feel that way. It's also one of the reasons I tend to stay away from games that promise "wacky, offbeat humor", because a lot of the characters in SI fell flatter than pancakes for me. Oh ho, he's a Khajiit who's obsessed with dogs! Wakka wakka wakka!

 

[Xprimentyl]

(Aside from running fetch quests in the city of Vivec; two-tone boy and his whole shithole metropolis can go drown in a volcano.)

LOL!! Vivec is probably my least favorite area of Morrowind. In an attempt to give you the feeling of a sprawling, larger-than-life "city of a god," they managed to create a large, confusing, same-y mess with vast spans of nothingness you had to travers in between the remotely interesting bits. Yeah, very few fond memories in Vivec.

 

[BrawlMan]

I am not impressed with Tears Of The Kingdom. I hate to say this, but it looks like a mission pack sequel. 6 years of development, and this is the best they can come up with? Is that why the price hike is now $70+? You know what, feel free to pirate away.

 

[BrawlMan]

Still not big on High On Life's humor. There is a difference, but that doesn't mean much to me when it's done so poorly on both ends. The Devil May Cry series, other than the second game & reboot, does quips the best. Mainly because they're not doing it 24/7 on every single scene. These games know when to have breathing room and do it right.

​

A couple years ago Max and the crew realize that the fighting games of the mid to late 2010s and now are basically live service games. The only difference is that most of them don't get this right. I'm mainly referring to the AAA variety of fighting games. On top of $60+, each season pass is going to cost you anywhere between $30 to $50+, depending on the fighting game. The only fighting games to get this right are Killer instinct 2013, Thems Fighting Herds, and Skullgirls. All 3 of these games are either xbla titles not charged at the $60-$70 premium, and were either $29.99 or less out of the gate. I know fighting games from the higher budget are expensive to make, but if you're going to charge this much at least have a decent single player. NetherRealm Studios got this "right", but I still don't like the charging model they did. Plus, they still released a special and complete edition anyway, with a majority of the dlc. So what's the point of getting the dlc, when some companies still do the whole special, champion, or complete editions? Street Fighter V I did not get until the Champion Edition, because I knew Capcom would pull that crap off.

 

[thebobmaster]

Still not big on High On Life's humor. There is a difference, but that doesn't mean much to me when it's done so poorly on both ends. The Devil May Cry series, other than the second game & reboot, does quips the best. Mainly because they're not doing it 24/7 on every single scene. These games know when to have breathing room and do it right.

​

A couple years ago Max and the crew realize that the fighting games of the mid to late 2010s and now are basically live service games. The only difference is that most of them don't get this right. I'm mainly referring to the AAA variety of fighting games. On top of $60+, each season pass is going to cost you anywhere between $30 to $50+, depending on the fighting game. The only fighting games to get this right are Killer instinct 2013, Thems Fighting Herds, and Skullgirls. All 3 of these games are either xbla titles not charged at the $60-$70 premium, and we're either $29.99 or less out of the gate. I know fighting games from the higher budget are expensive to make, but if you're going to charge this much at least have a decent single player. Netherrealm Studios got this right, but I still don't like the charging model they did. Plus, they still released a special and complete edition anyway with a majority of the dlc. So what's the point of eating getting a dlc, when somebody's company still do the whole special, champion, or completed editions. Street Fighter 5 I did not get until the Champion Edition, cuz I knew Capcom, would pull this crap off.

Even with Netherrealm Studios, I've learned my lesson after Mortal Kombat 11. I'll never buy one of their games at launch, because I'll get all the content for cheaper overall just waiting for the Complete/Komplete Edition. Pre-ordered MK 11, because I knew the game would be good, cost me $60. Then another $40 for the Aftermath Expansion...whereas anyone who held out for the Aftermath Expansion could get it bundled with the game for drumroll $60.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

I am not impressed with Tears Of The Kingdom. I hate to say this, but it looks like a mission packs sequel. 6 years of development, and this is the best they can come up with? Is that why the price hike is now $70+. You know what, feel free to pirate away.

Did you love BotW? Gotta keep in mind how freaking huge this game is. I don't mean did you like it, I mean did you LOVE it. Like, some people freaking LOVE it.

I don't have a dog in this fight- I thought it's boring af but if so many love it that much, than I'll just count myself as the weird one. I did laugh at the $70 because it's on an old console. I mean at least with Sony and MS one can argue that with the new hardware and advanced tech, they can "justify" the price hike. But a sequel on the Switch- man, Nintendo know they got their fans by the balls.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

So, I made this point recently in chat on a stream, when Frost was observing that so many games being presented during Steam Next Fest are rogues, and how it was a lot even to him, an avowed fan of the style.

But... rogues are to indies what open world is to AAA, just a way to pad out play time at this point.
Just like AAAs can create these big open worlds with a lot of repeated content as way to dump in 50 hours of extra content, it seems like indy devs can put in some procedurally generated levels as part of their games to call it a roguelike and take something that should take 5 - 10 hours to beat and make it 10x longer because it's setup to murder you ass real hard and you have to keep playing the game from the beginning.

 

[BrawlMan]

Did you love BotW? Gotta keep in mind how freaking huge this game is. I don't mean did you like it, I mean did you LOVE it. Like, some people freaking LOVE it.

I don't have a dog in this fight- I thought it's boring af but if so many love it that much, than I'll just count myself as the weird one. I did laugh at the $70 because it's on an old console. I mean at least with Sony and MS one can argue that with the new hardware and advanced tech, they can "justify" the price hike. But a sequel on the Switch- man, Nintendo know they got their fans by the balls.

I never played Breath Of The Wild. The closest I ever got to was Age Of Calamity. I know the game is big, but the fact that the sequels running on now soon to be ancient hardware does not leave me impressed. Hence why I don't particularly like the price hike either. It's bull crap and they know it. The only reason they're doing this is because Sony and Microsoft "justified" it, so now they got to do it too. And the majority of those Nintendo fans are going to eat it up and make pathetic excuses no different from the Sony fans and the Microsoft fans. I'm sure the game will be fine, but it won't be worth $10 price hike. Indie forever, bitches.

 

[Dalisclock]

I am not impressed with Tears Of The Kingdom. I hate to say this, but it looks like a mission packs sequel. 6 years of development, and this is the best they can come up with? Is that why the price hike is now $70+. You know what, feel free to pirate away.

I'm hoping for some notable innovation with it(considering it took 6 years there needs to be), but am reserving judgment until it's out. I haven't preordered it or anything and I got plenty other games to play in the meantime.

 

[BrawlMan]

I'm glad this video exists. Eggman has always been a good villain. Thankfully, most writers know how to use them properly.

​

 

[BrawlMan]

Other than TLOUS remake, I don't know what the hell he is going on about. Sounds like Damien's just crying for sake of it. Whining over spilled milk, and expecting everything to be "subversive and different" for the sake of it. No thanks.

Video Game Remakes Are Too Damn Timid

Video game remakes are too timid in how they actually remake things, from The Last of Us Part I to Dead Space to Resident Evil 4.

www.escapistmagazine.com

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

Other than TLOUS remake, I don't know what the hell is going on about. Sounds like Damien's just crying for sake of it. Whining over spilled milk, and expecting everything to be "subversive and different" for the sake of it. No thanks.

Video Game Remakes Are Too Damn Timid

Video game remakes are too timid in how they actually remake things, from The Last of Us Part I to Dead Space to Resident Evil 4.

www.escapistmagazine.com

Well it seems to be an emotional outburst reaction to how much remakes and visual updates are getting as much/more attention than interesting new games and ideas, and it's an emotion I sympathize with.

 

[BrawlMan]

Well it seems to be an emotional outburst reaction to how much remakes and visual updates are getting as much/more attention than interesting new games and ideas, and it's an emotion I sympathize with

The thing is that it's not that much different from the past few years. I know there been a couple of crappy remakes and remasters, but most of them have been good or above good. There's still plenty of original games or sequels coming out there. Yes, even the AAA space has some games that aren't remakes. I know remakes seem hot this year, but it's mostly coincidental for a few of them. The Dead Space Remake was in development since 2020. RE4 Remake had been in development for least 3-4 years, because Capcom tried to outsource originally, but they had to do develop internally, (like they should have done in the first place) cuz it wasn't working right.

There's still plenty of new games that aren't remakes coming out either soon or later this year, so the guys literally crying over nothing. And if he's sick and tired of the AAA, that's what the AA and Indies are for. They got more than enough original content. Damien needs to look harder. I find it specially ironic after coming off the heels of "there's too many games to play & review!" nonsense a lot of professional critics and journalists were going on about.

I'm all for original IPs or sequels that build off the previous game better, but it's pretty clear he's crying over something that's not that big a deal. There are plenty of other games out there. He just hasn't been looking hard enough, or as expecting too much from remakes completely built from the ground up.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

The thing is that it's not that much different from the past few years. I know there been a couple of crappy remakes and remasters, but most of them have been good or above good. There's still plenty of original games or sequels coming out there. Yes, even the AAA space has some games that aren't remakes. I know remakes seem hot this year, but it's mostly coincidental for a few of them. The Dead Space remake was in development since 2020. RE4 Remake had been in development for least 3-4 years, because Capcom tried to outsource originally, but they had to do develop internally, (like they should have done in the first place) cuz it wasn't working right.

There's still plenty of new games that aren't remakes coming out either soon or later this year, so the guys literally crying over nothing. And if he's sick and tired of the AAA, that's what the AA and Indies are for. They got more than enough original content. Damien needs to look harder. I find it specially ironic after coming off the heels of "there's too many games to play & review!" nonsense a lot of professional critics and journalists were going on about.

I'm all for original IPS or sequels that build off the previous game better, but it's pretty clear he's crying over something that's not that big a deal. There are plenty of other games out there. He just hasn't been looking hard enough, or as expecting too much from remakes completely built from the ground up.

That's all well and good and true from a logical argument standpoint, that's why I was just making the emotional observation. Believe me I'm not crying over the remakes.
But I do just think it's funny/sad that I heard a couple reviewers use the term "potential early Game of the Year contender" when talking about the Dead Space remake. Like, come on, it's a remake, lol. Or when one of the promised features of the Resident Evil 4 remake is "side quests." Yeah, that's what we need, side quests, as if we honestly have faith that most games' side quests aren't lame (I guess one reason I keep replaying Witcher 3 is the actually good side quests).

All just a reminder that the things we'll like and remember most will be the things we don't actually see coming.

 

[BrawlMan]

potential early Game of the Year contender" when talking about the Dead Space remake. Like, come on, it's a remake, lol. Or when one of the promised features of the Resident Evil 4 remake is "side quests." Yeah, that's what we need, side quests, as if we honestly have faith that most games' side quests

1. So what? This isn't new. You know how many times professional critics have done this or overly blind and devoted fans? Same crap, different day. That's why I don't bother or trust with most professionals. Now, it's their opinion and they can do it however they like. Dead Space remake is great, but it's not my GOTY. That goes to Hi-Fi Rush.
2. Resident Evil has always done side quests and secondary objectives. This is nothing new here. RE4 original has side quests as well.

All just a reminder that the things we'll like and remember most will be the things we don't actually see coming.

Like Hi-Fi Rush. To me right now, that is still the biggest surprise game and event for 2023.

 

[Drathnoxis]

That's all well and good and true from a logical argument standpoint, that's why I was just making the emotional observation. Believe me I'm not crying over the remakes.
But I do just think it's funny/sad that I heard a couple reviewers use the term "potential early Game of the Year contender" when talking about the Dead Space remake. Like, come on, it's a remake, lol. Or when one of the promised features of the Resident Evil 4 remake is "side quests." Yeah, that's what we need, side quests, as if we honestly have faith that most games' side quests aren't lame (I guess one reason I keep replaying Witcher 3 is the actually good side quests).

All just a reminder that the things we'll like and remember most will be the things we don't actually see coming.

Didn't Resident Evil 4 already have side quests?

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

Didn't Resident Evil 4 already have side quests?

I dunno I'm just repeating what I heard, I never played RE4. I guess.. more side quests?

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

I see the upcoming Slightly Something Else will be about the cost of video games which is something I was thinking about, especially after my last two aborted game starts of Dead Space remake and Hi-Fi Rush.

Cost is a HUGE factor in expectations. I mean, I guess this is obvious and not much of a hot take but I guess my hot take is that a good reviewer should factor that in. The nice folks at Escapist like Marty and Frost have said they're uncomfortable determining if a game is "worth" a certain dollar amount because everyone's financial situation is different, and worth is very subjective. And this is a fair point. But maybe it's too fair?

I think one day I will complete Dead Space remake and Hi-Fi Rush. But I jumped on the hype train for both out of boredom even though these aren't really my favorite types of games. So I felt silly paying for them on release. So I was able to return them, no harm no foul.

So what kind of games will I personally pay full price for? Well that's the franchise ones. Spiderman 2 and Jedi Survivor are sequels where I will look forward to getting a shiny disc to put in my console 'cause I know they will be at least good, they have a head start operating in my personal wheelhouse. But if reviews for Survivor come out and say it's broken and doesn't really add much to the first game, I may hesitate and say hey that's not worth $70 right now, especially if a trusted reviewer or two say "maybe hold off for a discount."

I really like what the Completionist does- he rates games by how much you should play of it. The highest rating is "complete it" which means do all the achievements and hardest difficulty etc, and "finish it" means play through the critical path. That is way more meaningful than 7/10 vs 8/10 or 4 ****. I think there is justification for a similar scale of economics, where the highest rating is MSRP and the lowest rating is "don't even play it if it's literally gifted to you."

 

[BrawlMan]

But maybe it's too fair?

No. Especially nowadays where everybody's following Sony and Microsoft's price hike. All because it's the same grift they pulled off back when the HD era first started. The only difference is now is that they can use covid as an excuse to do all the price hikes. Controllers cost $70 now. The same price as a fucking game. Meaning I'm only going to get these controllers during Black Friday in addition with a gift card or a coupon.

really like what the Completionist does- he rates games by how much you should play of it. The highest rating is "complete it" which means do all the achievements and hardest difficulty etc, and "finish it" means play through the critical path. That is way more meaningful than 7/10 vs 8/10 or 4 ****. I think there is justification for a similar scale of economics, where the highest rating is MSRP and the lowest rating is "don't even play it if it's literally gifted to you."

As much as I like the Completionist, his method ain't exactly foolproof either. It's better than the whole systematic numbers thing. Which never meant anything, but for people to seek validations on their purchases, as those numbers can never fully accumulate someone's true feelings on a game. I said before, economics and everybody has their own value on what's important to them or not. I usually prefer the scale of buy it (with caution and being understanding that everybody has their own financial situation), wait for a sale, wait for a deep sale, rental, "never touch it/some ol' bullshit", and "fuck you" (when the product is really that bad).