Your video game hot take(s) thread

[BrawlMan]

So there was this viral tweet from some game dev or journo or someone about how they want cheaper games that are uglier and smaller and lower tech and pays workers better, and every gamer content creator was quoting it, and folks are saying they are sick of chasing tech and graphics and huge games.

I don't buy it. Games with less than stellar graphics are still knocked for it. Critical darling long games are praised for how much stuff is in them.

Of course I agree with the paying and treating workers better part, but I dunno if just dumping on the idea of tech and graphics and of themselves is honest or productive.

I know the industry is maybe imploding. I know the current situation of spending literally hundreds of millions of dollars and upwards of a decade to make a marquee game is insane. But surely the answer can't just be "make them shittier."

Well I don't mind detail graphics I'm more of a art style and design presentation person. What people want is that, but without having to sacrifice a whole lot but that sacrifice is going to have to come somewhere. Aside from the employees. They should always be treated fairly, better, and given much more pay when it keeps getting sucked out of them. Programming isn't easy, so they deserve an actual hefty paycheck. Especially if you're going to have them crunch or do all that grinding. Neither of that is actually necessary to get a game completed. It's called managing your time and developers people, with reasonable goals! I don't look at Twitter much, and all I'm seeing is just another fad statement. It'll go away within a few weeks or so, and go back to "we need high graphics to justify buying these games!" from some Yahoo or idiot. Or some other contrary variation or whatever. At this point I really don't give a damn. I only play the games I know there aren't going to screw me over and made by people who care. If this industry does implode it's going to be a lot of the high end Western publishers that suffer from this. All I have to say is tell Sony better get their act together as well.

 

[CaitSeith]

People like this deserve spite, as well as mockery, derision and insults. What they don't deserve? Anything they want.

I got the feeling these guys have never seen an average woman's face without any make up on...

 

[Piscian]

I got the feeling these guys have never seen an average woman's face without any make up on...

I feel like thats bad example, she looks like she needs to poop. Everybody looks like they need to poop when you take a picture and they aren't ready.

 

[XsjadoBlayde]

Suicide squad writing is kinda alright actually. The depressing part is the best of it is mostly squeezed into the codex entries, and there are many entries. replace the effort they put in to all that with the effort they wasted on live-service retooling and it could've been something people would've noticed. Was previously a tad too distracted with other news to realise the game had been dragged into tiresome dumb culture war bollocks when it came out, and was kinda confused by the illogical intensity of criticism it was getting towards the precious few areas that visibly elevated it above the countless other live-service failures before it. The story's enjoyable to see unfold too, bit of naughty whimsical buffoonery in cutscenes more memorable than the vast majority of bland one-note cutscenes usually fluffing up videogame runtimes, making the distraction of checking phone notifications the more interesting alternative. The live-service stuff is still too bad to ignore, that is the legitimate shittery. Wouldn't have thought it to be a hot take but here we are.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

Ok... enough parrying. Enough.

Look.. we all love a good parry, right? It's so satisfying to time it right, leave the opponent vulnerable, and go in for a devastating attack. I have waxed on an on around here about how a good parry makes every combat better. But as with anything in this medium, everybody does it and then does it too much and then does it bad and now it's bad.

Sekiro was a hit and certainly my pinnacle of parry-based combat. Wo Long feels like ass. Why? I thought about it a while and it's because of the delay between telegraph and execution. In Sekiro there is the exact right amount of time- the enemy raises his sword then swings it, giving you enough time to react but not too much time to make your overthink. For attacks you can't parry you get a symbol and usually a bit more time but that makes sense to match the larger consequences for failing or succeeding to react appropriately with a dodge or counter or whatever.

Wo Long meanwhile gives you a big red blob on the enemy that says OK NOW YOU GONNA PARRY. But it takes what feels like forever and you'd think that would make it easier but it doesn't, it just makes a moment feel like forever and you overthink instead of react and fight tactically. Well maybe you don't but I do and it stinks.
As with many combat problems these days I blame Elden Ring- those stupid delay and wind-up attacks.

So games were like- ok, people like spazzing out with twitchy delay and windups from Elden Ring and parrying from Sekiro (and of course many other games) so let's put them together in order to ruin Old_Hunter_77's fun. Because it's not like that can't come together somehow theoretically to be interesting and good-challenging but IMO so far it hasn't. You got Bloodborne-but-shitty in Lies of P and now even in the otherwise grand Prince of Persia Lost Crown you get bosses flashing yellow orbs telling me I gotta parry... eventually... any time now... here it comes....

Maybe enough with the parries for a while?

 

[BrawlMan]

Maybe enough with the parries for a while?

Stellar Blade has parrying, Lies of P came out a few months ago, so it's probably going to be a good minute before everybody stops. Parrying pretty much we came at standard in most action games now. Especially ones that are melee based. Even a lot of 2D/2.5D games have a counter or parry mechanic now. Not all of course, but a good amount. Honestly though, it's the non-Souls action games that usually do counter moves the best. DMC 3-5, Bayonetta when you have that specific item equipped, and Metal Gear Rising. Also, the feeling of counter-attacking someone or pairing it goes all the way back to the street fighter days Street Fighter Alphas Alpha counters and Parries in the Street Fighter 3 Series.

 

[hanselthecaretaker2]

Ehh…parrying in FROM games didn’t start being difficult with Elden Ring. For me it was always riskier or less reliable than dodge rolling. Hell even with Bloodborne I only used gun parry on a handful of enemies who were otherwise too spongy without using it. Looking at you ogres and guy on the Cainhurst rooftop.

Yeah they all had bs delayed attacks too including Sekiro (always struggled fighting the drunk A-hole) but the difference between these games and Elden Ring is the latter always has other ways of dealing with the bs effectively. Even with parrying there’s different ashes that increase active parry frames to make it easier like Golden Parry, Storm Wall or Carian Retaliation. It’s best to pick and choose what enemies are even worth parrying imo.


In terms of action games, usually there’s a rhythm that’s easier to pick up on in a lot of games too, so parrying feels more natural. Sekiro was like that more often than not. Fighting games are probably the purest form though in terms of reaction, but also most difficult since that what they demand. Usually if I get perfect blocks in MK1 it feels like a happy accident because my reaction speed is typically pretty ass as it is lol.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

On the positive side, and I guess not a hot take but just a strong impression, is to express love the Training Guy.
Some games have a dude whose who job it is to give you combat tutorials and challenges. Sometimes these are redundant but sometimes helpful and Price of Persia Lost Crown does it the best I've ever seen.
I found him a couple hours into the game, probably I just missed him at first, but he's in the center hub with various upgrade and vendor folks, you know the drill. Will the combat in the game is a little more involved than it first seemed me, it being a 2D platformer and all, and you can do various combos and air juggling and such. I didn't pick on the fact that you can melee attack vertically as well.
So the training challenges are separate but if you do them in order they logically leed into each other. Dedicating half-hour to it really opened up my combat and helped me out in the game- beyond just learning moves and combos more importantly it helped me get used to the pacing and timing (I realized I was smashing everything too fast, the combat is actually rather deliberate).

So, games should do that more and do it like that.

 

[XsjadoBlayde]

On the positive side, and I guess not a hot take but just a strong impression, is to express love the Training Guy.
Some games have a dude whose who job it is to give you combat tutorials and challenges. Sometimes these are redundant but sometimes helpful and Price of Persia Lost Crown does it the best I've ever seen.
I found him a couple hours into the game, probably I just missed him at first, but he's in the center hub with various upgrade and vendor folks, you know the drill. Will the combat in the game is a little more involved than it first seemed me, it being a 2D platformer and all, and you can do various combos and air juggling and such. I didn't pick on the fact that you can melee attack vertically as well.
So the training challenges are separate but if you do them in order they logically leed into each other. Dedicating half-hour to it really opened up my combat and helped me out in the game- beyond just learning moves and combos more importantly it helped me get used to the pacing and timing (I realized I was smashing everything too fast, the combat is actually rather deliberate).

So, games should do that more and do it like that.

Have you discovered being able to parry your own returning boomerang attack to keep it going indefinitely yet? Is restricted in direction and damage but hasn't stopped me from doing just to look cool (usually followed by the enemy getting a solid hit in lol)

 

[BrawlMan]

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[BrawlMan]

I like Resident Evil 5 more than Resident Evil 4 (2005). AI issues aside; which is not even a big deal in 8th gen ports, because it's better there. You get more melee action commands, a much wider camera on PC/8th gen versions, and it's just fun to shoot stuff. The story I find much better and more interesting, even though RE4's can be entertaining. Having D.C Douglas hamming it up as Wesker helps. RE5 has got much better bonus campaigns and even better Mercenaries Mode.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

So there was this viral tweet from some game dev or journo or someone about how they want cheaper games that are uglier and smaller and lower tech and pays workers better, and every gamer content creator was quoting it, and folks are saying they are sick of chasing tech and graphics and huge games.

I don't buy it. Games with less than stellar graphics are still knocked for it. Critical darling long games are praised for how much stuff is in them.

Of course I agree with the paying and treating workers better part, but I dunno if just dumping on the idea of tech and graphics and of themselves is honest or productive.

I know the industry is maybe imploding. I know the current situation of spending literally hundreds of millions of dollars and upwards of a decade to make a marquee game is insane. But surely the answer can't just be "make them shittier."

My favorite games of last year were Hi-Fi Rush, a short cartoony action game with a unique gameplay hook, and Armored Core 6, a level based robot action shooter that visually looks like it could have come out a generation ago.

Of course I'm impressed by the shiny graphics of RE4 Remake, or the massive scope of BG3, but frankly I don't need graphics to improve any further nor do I need 15 giant 100+ hour open word games to come out every year because I barely have enough time for one of them.

I really would prefer for 20 AA games like Hi-Fi Rush or the new Prince of Persia to get released over one more Assassin's Creed game.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

I feel like thats bad example, she looks like she needs to poop. Everybody looks like they need to poop when you take a picture and they aren't ready.

The picture on the left isn't even from the game. It's a mod that someone made to make the character fat.

Here's what her face actually looks like in the game:



That's the dumbest part of all of this "controversy." It's based off a mod that some guy made because he likes chubby chicks.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

Have you discovered being able to parry your own returning boomerang attack to keep it going indefinitely yet? Is restricted in direction and damage but hasn't stopped me from doing just to look cool (usually followed by the enemy getting a solid hit in lol)

Yep.

I tried using the chakram in battle regularly to feel like Xena Warrior Princess but it's not too practical. Probably didn't help that I put all my upgrade material into the swords so my range attack remains weak.

My biggest pet peeve of the boss combat is that I can't parry more things. I mean like when fighting the forrest queen, I parried her spinning staff attack and with the charm that adds a time bubble that really gave me an edge, and it felt great because I was combining skill (parry timing) with battle prep (charm). Then a later boss has a similar attack but it's not parryable. I dunno... kind of lame.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Buying something off a merchant shouldn't automatically kick you out of the store. Neither should backing out of a purchase. Same for backing out of the map after zoning in on a marker.

These all sound like no-brainers but here we are.

 

[BrawlMan]

Buying something off a merchant shouldn't automatically kick you out of the store. Neither should backing out of a purchase. Same for backing out of the map after zoning in on a marker.

These all sound like no-brainers but here we are.

Which games are doing that now? I highly doubt you talking about Resident Evil 4 or 8.

 

[Casual Shinji]

The picture on the left isn't even from the game. It's a mod that someone made to make the character fat.

Here's what her face actually looks like in the game:

View attachment 10855

That's the dumbest part of all of this "controversy." It's based off a mod that some guy made because he likes chubby chicks.

Actually that's from a pre rendered TV spot. The picture on the left IS from the game - that mod I think you're talking about is her looking super obese as a jab - but like with every game with realistic looking faces there's going to be some wonky expressions. And the 'made ugly on purpose' crowd specifically chose the shot that made her look borish for a few seconds.

Spoiler: Here's her face looking like it does 99% of the time.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

that mod I think you're talking about is her looking super obese as a jab -

No, the mod I'm thinking about is this one:

Horizon Zero Dawn chubby Aloy project.

Hey! I was told that it might be a good idea to mention my project here so… here I am. I make chubby mods for video games and my current project is, as the title says, to make a complete chubbification of Aloy for Horizon Zero Dawn. So far I’ve done four outfits but the plan is to mod all...

forum.weightgaming.com

Spoiler

There's a different obese mod.

Trolls have been using the chubby mod and then pretending that's what the character normally looks like.

 

[Casual Shinji]

No, the mod I'm thinking about is this one:

Horizon Zero Dawn chubby Aloy project.

Hey! I was told that it might be a good idea to mention my project here so… here I am. I make chubby mods for video games and my current project is, as the title says, to make a complete chubbification of Aloy for Horizon Zero Dawn. So far I’ve done four outfits but the plan is to mod all...

forum.weightgaming.com

Spoiler

View attachment 10881

There's a different obese mod.

Trolls have been using the chubby mod and then pretending that's what the character normally looks like.

Yeah, but that's a mod from the first game, right? That picture on the left is in the updated engine from Forbidden West.

 

[Worgen]

Trolls have been using the chubby mod and then pretending that's what the character normally looks like.

She does look good with some extra on her.