Your video game hot take(s) thread

[hanselthecaretaker2]

Some, sure, but also a bit generalizing and unfair.

Story time..
Back in college I was into the music scene, hung out with musicians and got some positive reaction to some writing and talking I did on the subject. But that was all out of genuine passion and not for money or anything. As soon as I was asked to write formal reviews, I hated it and got bored. There was a chasm of quality between me wanting to write about something that made me think and feel strongly vs just being expected to deliver content.

Games are 100x worse than music in terms of time-wasting. Playing one mediocre triple A game is like listening to 60 mediocre albums.

That’s why the trick is only playing fun games! These days I barely have time for those, so I sure as hell won’t have time for mediocrity or worse. The biggest difference between the two is the amount of dedicated time is far greater with games or hell, pretty much any other medium besides music. Whenever I was swamped at work I would bring some of it home and do it after the kid went to bed, put on a pair of MDR-7506’s and catch up on a bunch of listening I’d been missing. It was kind of therapeutic, getting shit done while getting lost in the music as well.

 

[XsjadoBlaydette]

Marvel's Midnight Suns - you can try claiming that's Tony Stark you got going on here, but all I see is Freddy Mercury. These eyes do not lies!

 

[BrawlMan]

No. Thank you, Max for calling out the dumbest takes on Twitter. People love misremembering shit.

​

 

[sXeth]

Some, sure, but also a bit generalizing and unfair.

Story time..
Back in college I was into the music scene, hung out with musicians and got some positive reaction to some writing and talking I did on the subject. But that was all out of genuine passion and not for money or anything. As soon as I was asked to write formal reviews, I hated it and got bored. There was a chasm of quality between me wanting to write about something that made me think and feel strongly vs just being expected to deliver content.

Games are 100x worse than music in terms of time-wasting. Playing one mediocre triple A game is like listening to 60 mediocre albums.

Yeah, when I was writing music reviews for an actual column it was tremendously dull trying to come up with novel ways to describe the sound of Godsmack/Three Days Grace/et al for like the 50th time in a row.

So this sounds... exactly like their previous album. Same guitar tones, same song structures. Maybe a couple changed the chord progressions. Not even an active dislike of the music, but trying to describe it in any meaningful way is like to tryingn to professionally review Kentucky Fried Chicken. Is Chicken. Much Fried.

 

[XsjadoBlaydette]

Not a fan of booting up various older games only to be greeted with newfound legal documents demanding you sign them before you can access the functioning product you bought ages ago.

 

[BrawlMan]

Remember when Dunkey said R&C: Rift Apart is like the kids version of Doom Eternal in terms of combat? He's not wrong, but I don't see it as insult. I find the combat better here than Eternal. That's not a joke. You're jumping from place to place in vertical combat arenas, and platforming challenges in-between. The only difference is Rift Apart is obviously a 3rd person shooter-platformer and excels at this shit.

 

[BrawlMan]

I've already made my case on this before, so if y'all want to see the link, check the FF 16 thread.

Final Fantasy 16

Isn't it turn based like divinity OS2 though? Those basically are like the trails of series where while, turn based, you can move around and moves have ranges and unique areas of effect on top of the classic FF formula where speed determines turn order, and the trails of series is the definitive...

forums.escapistmagazine.com

More Black video game heroes shouldn’t be a fantasy

Though video games have grown when it comes to diversit, some of the industry's biggest franchises still struggle to center Black heroes.

www.digitaltrends.com

With the most recent trailer shown in Dragon's Dogma II, Square's FFXVI's "realism" excuse becomes even more bullshit and continues to age worse.

Capcom gets it right once again. The usual suspects: don't bother, I am not listening nor in the mood for your usual shit arguments.

​

 

[Casual Shinji]

Demo's really aren't necesary anymore.

Back in the day demo's were really the only way to experience a game before you bought it. Maybe you'd have the occasional games show on TV showing you some gameplay footage of a few minutes, but that was really it. Now with youtube you can pretty much get a clear view of how a game looks, sounds, and moves. Even how a game plays can be gaged well enough from how a character animates and interacts in gameplay footage. It's not one-to-one with an actual demo, but it's close enough for demo's to not really be worth it anymore.

 

[hanselthecaretaker2]

Demo's really aren't necesary anymore.

Back in the day demo's were really the only way to experience a game before you bought it. Maybe you'd have the occasional games show on TV showing you some gameplay footage of a few minutes, but that was really it. Now with youtube you can pretty much get a clear view of how a game looks, sounds, and moves. Even how a game plays can be gaged well enough from how a character animates and interacts in gameplay footage. It's not one-to-one with an actual demo, but it's close enough for demo's to not really be worth it anymore.

YMMV depending on the game or personal taste though. Granted barely anyone offers demos anymore, but I still appreciate any early access to at least part of a game whether demo, online beta, etc. without having to pay upfront typical based on YouTuber impressions. Bonus for demos since they’re usually around even after release.

That said it could be considered kind of a bold move these days to release a demo as a show of confidence in the product, especially in an early state. It’s possible a good chunk of people who might’ve boughten it would just say nah without looking back if it doesn’t grab them.

 

[BrawlMan]

Demo's really aren't necesary anymore.

Back in the day demo's were really the only way to experience a game before you bought it. Maybe you'd have the occasional games show on TV showing you some gameplay footage of a few minutes, but that was really it. Now with youtube you can pretty much get a clear view of how a game looks, sounds, and moves. Even how a game plays can be gaged well enough from how a character animates and interacts in gameplay footage. It's not one-to-one with an actual demo, but it's close enough for demo's to not really be worth it anymore.

YMMV depending on the game or personal taste though. Granted barely anyone offers demos anymore, but I still appreciate any early access to at least part of a game whether demo, online beta, etc. without having to pay upfront typical based on YouTuber impressions. Bonus for demos since they’re usually around even after release.

That said it could be considered kind of a bold move these days to release a demo as a show of confidence in the product, especially in an early state. It’s possible a good chunk of people who might’ve boughten it would just say nah without looking back if it doesn’t grab them.

I do get what you both mean, but I'm always for having demos. Especially if the demo is good or the developer learns from their mistakes and make things better for the final product.

In Yahtzee's Robocop: Rouge City review, he laments about how tired he is of retro-throwback shooters now. It was never a matter of if, but when I predicted he would finally have this attitude. Took a long minute. To that I say, I rather have all of these retro/retro-style/or just plain over-the-top FPS, than another shitty cover shooter any day of the week. I am not playing every single FPS of course, and only picking the games that interests me, but it is nice to have options.

 

[Casual Shinji]

YMMV depending on the game or personal taste though. Granted barely anyone offers demos anymore, but I still appreciate any early access to at least part of a game whether demo, online beta, etc. without having to pay upfront typical based on YouTuber impressions. Bonus for demos since they’re usually around even after release.

That said it could be considered kind of a bold move these days to release a demo as a show of confidence in the product, especially in an early state. It’s possible a good chunk of people who might’ve boughten it would just say nah without looking back if it doesn’t grab them.

Early access and beta's are the exception. Those function more as screen tests do for movies.

And another reason why demo's kinda lost much relevance is that most games within a genre kinda play the same now anyway. Controls, input, and camera movement have been standardized across most games. Unless the game is deeply broken somehow, but this is something that nowadays quickly gets exposed on youtube.

I still play demo's myself, but I really can't remember which ones i've played in the last 10 or 15 years. Meanwhile, the demo's for OG Resident Evil 2, Metal Gear Solid 2, God of War, and Shadow of the Colossus are still etched in my memories.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

My hot take for today is that Assassin's Creed Origins had the best portrayal of a romantic relationship I've ever seen in a video game.

Lemme 'splain how my brain got there:

First I came across this Kotaku article celebrating sexual and romantic themes in recent games:

GTA 6 Trailer

Now please just spare me the usual "Kotaku sucks" thing, I know, I get it, this is just an opinion piece that is serving the purpose of sparking thought, so be chill.
The most interesting part of the article is a reference to an even better article:
Everyone Is Beautiful But No One Is Horny

It is also an opinion piece but an interesting one observing at how much of pop culture TV/movies especially superhero stuff shows off exquisite physiques but not genuinely sexually interesting behavior and compares to older pop culture. It's pretty interesting. They not only talk about sex but how homes are portrayed, food, etc- just life stuff being messier and more real back in the day on screen and how sterile and militaristic things seem now.

So this makes me disagree with the Kotaku writer- she is celebrating sexual and adult themes in games GTA and the like to me are examples of the sterile and juvenile way of doing it which makes it feel more like the kind of thing the second article is criticizing.

I'm generally very skeptical of sex in games- not just as a certified prude, but because it's just corny. As you may have gathered from my recent posts I have less patience for waste and extra crap in media and sex in games is usually like "hur-dur boobies" and I just roll my eyes out of boredom. So I challenged myself to come up an example of romance/sex in games that felt like the kind of fun, real, cool stuff the second article was talking about- hot people actually lusting after each other and having some sort of real relationship.

And I came up with Bayek and Aya. They're rendered beautifully in the game in way to make them look real but no uncanny valley creepy. They're both super hot and do not have that kind of steroids-crash-diet look of Marvel DC superheroes but just genetically awesome and physically strong active people. They lust after each other and the sex scene feel like a real couple who want to fuck. The fact that they have a complicated history that is core to the story also helps.

Baldur's Gate 3 got a lot of attention for its horniness but from what I've seen it is all just very silly? That's fine, whatever, but I'm not impressed by that- BG3 is cool because it's a LOT and that includes all the horny but- and I say this as someone who only played a little and watched clips and follow the discourse- the fun is in the amount of different stuff not the strength of individual moments so much. And with the sex stuff- it's like oh you can fuck this person and see all kinds of silliness including with sex, but in the same way you can find weird little quests and insane characters and whatnot- a smorgasborg of adventures. And it's cool that sex stuff is part of that. But it's not great? It's not like. oh, finally, adult themes in games or whatever.

I love the relationships in Witcher 3 but that's more because of the individual characters- the actual sex scenes are lame and rote. Obviously an improvement over the sex cards in the first game lol. Who know maybe they'll do something interesting in Witcher 4 when that come out in 2029 or whatever. I don't know who can do something interesting with romance/sex in games- maybe when Atreus' balls drop in the next God of War he can sow his oats in an interesting way.

 

[Worgen]

Now please just spare me the usual "Kotaku sucks" thing, I know, I get it, this is just an opinion piece that is serving the purpose of sparking thought, so be chill.
The most interesting part of the article is a reference to an even better article:

Well, I mean Kotaku is one of the more sex positive game sites. They were the first mainstream one I remember that started occasionally covering porn games and they still do it... Well they used to do it more then others, can't really remember the last time they did it.

 

[hanselthecaretaker2]

My hot take for today is that Assassin's Creed Origins had the best portrayal of a romantic relationship I've ever seen in a video game.

Lemme 'splain how my brain got there:

First I came across this Kotaku article celebrating sexual and romantic themes in recent games:

GTA 6 Trailer

Now please just spare me the usual "Kotaku sucks" thing, I know, I get it, this is just an opinion piece that is serving the purpose of sparking thought, so be chill.
The most interesting part of the article is a reference to an even better article:
Everyone Is Beautiful But No One Is Horny

It is also an opinion piece but an interesting one observing at how much of pop culture TV/movies especially superhero stuff shows off exquisite physiques but not genuinely sexually interesting behavior and compares to older pop culture. It's pretty interesting. They not only talk about sex but how homes are portrayed, food, etc- just life stuff being messier and more real back in the day on screen and how sterile and militaristic things seem now.

So this makes me disagree with the Kotaku writer- she is celebrating sexual and adult themes in games GTA and the like to me are examples of the sterile and juvenile way of doing it which makes it feel more like the kind of thing the second article is criticizing.

I'm generally very skeptical of sex in games- not just as a certified prude, but because it's just corny. As you may have gathered from my recent posts I have less patience for waste and extra crap in media and sex in games is usually like "hur-dur boobies" and I just roll my eyes out of boredom. So I challenged myself to come up an example of romance/sex in games that felt like the kind of fun, real, cool stuff the second article was talking about- hot people actually lusting after each other and having some sort of real relationship.

And I came up with Bayek and Aya. They're rendered beautifully in the game in way to make them look real but no uncanny valley creepy. They're both super hot and do not have that kind of steroids-crash-diet look of Marvel DC superheroes but just genetically awesome and physically strong active people. They lust after each other and the sex scene feel like a real couple who want to fuck. The fact that they have a complicated history that is core to the story also helps.

Baldur's Gate 3 got a lot of attention for its horniness but from what I've seen it is all just very silly? That's fine, whatever, but I'm not impressed by that- BG3 is cool because it's a LOT and that includes all the horny but- and I say this as someone who only played a little and watched clips and follow the discourse- the fun is in the amount of different stuff not the strength of individual moments so much. And with the sex stuff- it's like oh you can fuck this person and see all kinds of silliness including with sex, but in the same way you can find weird little quests and insane characters and whatnot- a smorgasborg of adventures. And it's cool that sex stuff is part of that. But it's not great? It's not like. oh, finally, adult themes in games or whatever.

I love the relationships in Witcher 3 but that's more because of the individual characters- the actual sex scenes are lame and rote. Obviously an improvement over the sex cards in the first game lol. Who know maybe they'll do something interesting in Witcher 4 when that come out in 2029 or whatever. I don't know who can do something interesting with romance/sex in games- maybe when Atreus' balls drop in the next God of War he can sow his oats in an interesting way.

I just think it’s funny that all of the sudden Kotaku is praising a “return” to games getting sexy. Weren’t they among nearly every chaste gaming news outlet shaming all that which helped cause the drought in the first place?

Ehh. People are crazy and my biggest hope for GTA6’s social commentary is that it calls out social media on all the flip-flopping reactionary insanity it helped create.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

I just think it’s funny that all of the sudden Kotaku is praising a “return” to games getting sexy. Weren’t they among nearly every chaste gaming news outlet shaming all that which helped cause the drought in the first place?

Ehh. People are crazy and my biggest hope for GTA6’s social commentary is that it calls out social media on all the flip-flopping reactionary insanity it helped create.

Well let's remember that these are opinion pieces by individuals that work at outlets, not "Kotaku" having some unified position on such things.

 

[BrawlMan]

Weren’t they among nearly every chaste gaming news outlet shaming all that which helped cause the drought in the first place?

Yes.

Well let's remember that these are opinion pieces by individuals that work at outlets, not "Kotaku" having some unified position on such things.

That wasn't the case back between 2012/2013-2018. Especially in the mid 2010s and especially when it came to sexualization or depiction of women (in Japanese media). Let's not ignore the fact that this was still around the time that many professional critics thought it was still in Vogue to hate on anything Japanese or make it as if that Japanese gaming was completely dead. Kotaku play just as much as part of that as well as many other professional sites. They did go after Western media depictions as well, but they usually didn't receive it as harsh. Usually.

 

[Gergar12]

Another attempt at paid mods.

 

[BrawlMan]

MadWorld is the best Wii game ever made. That is a game that use motion controls to its full extent and does it great. Some action command motion inputs issues aside. Definitely does it better than a majority of the first party Nintendo games that forced on motion controls on the console.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

I propose a new game genre called "If You Ain't Wit It, It Ain't 4 U"

Inspired by the Avatar reviews which are like- yo, it's an Avatar game, you know, whatever.

See also: Hogwart's Legacy, the Call of Duty and Assassins Creed franchises, and like all the big sports games. Only worth attention for non-already-fans if they completely shit the bed like that one soccer game that came out last year that was all broken.

 

[Gordon_4]

I propose a new game genre called "If You Ain't Wit It, It Ain't 4 U"

Inspired by the Avatar reviews which are like- yo, it's an Avatar game, you know, whatever.

See also: Hogwart's Legacy, the Call of Duty and Assassins Creed franchises, and like all the big sports games. Only worth attention for non-already-fans if they completely shit the bed like that one soccer game that came out last year that was all broken.

I really want to play Avatar but I don't wanna buy more games of uPlay