Your video game hot take(s) thread

Jun 11, 2023
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MGSV can be added to that list too, even if it was cut short. What was there worked well and got its point across without having to drop a deuce in the player’s cereal for good measure.
 
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Casual Shinji

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Stephanie Sterling's recent vid s***s on the PS5 Pro and she goes into a whole a thing about how she and most people can't tell the difference between the high-est end graphics stuff and, more important, performance modes are inherently more "quality" than quality modes because frame rates and consistency make the games look better than any ray-tracing and such.

Probably it's not a hot take to either prefer "performance" modes and agree with Sterling but... well, yeah, ray-tracing is not worth the effort.

So why are people buying 4090's (gaming I mean obviously I'm not talking about crypto or AI or non-gaming stuff) and all this expensive graphical stuff such a driving force?

Yes I bought a PS5 and I'm sure I'll buy a PS6 but it's not for the better graphics it's to literally just be able to play games (and yes in retrospect I concede I should have waited longer to buy the PS5 given how many games were also playable on PS4).

The Switch 2 will likely be comparable in power to a PS4 and it will sell a million billion units.
In PC gaming that's a choice. You don't have to go for the most cutting edge of graphics, but should you choose to you can. With the PS5 it's built into it. And it's mainly console games succumbing to their own graphics rather than high end graphics itself that's the issue. Both Horizon: Forbidden West and Spider-Man 2 suffered from a lot of dithering, and Capcom notoriously and very obviously cuts the frame rate in half for characters moving in a distance. The smearing/tracing effect is also in nearly every AAA game on consoles. It's counter productive for console games to push graphics so hard only for those graphics to trip up visual fidelity and frame rate.

Also budgets. This graphical arms race is starting to really take its toll on a lot of big studios. *cough* Square Enix

God of War Ragnarok and The Last of Us 2 are freaking awesome games. Absolutely two of the most fun, immersive, exciting, intense, wonderful games I've ever played.
Yes, but also heavily bogged down by their own ambition, and really lacking in momentum. I really like God of War '18 and Ragnarok is alright too, but thinking back to the classic games, they had a drive the newer ones miss. Once you started, you were going, and it wasn't going to stop for the next 8 to 10 hours. However, this then got criticized as 'not enough bang for your buck' because it was seen as too short, so studios started craft these 30 to 40 hour long behemoths that crammed themselves full to bursting.
 
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However, this then got criticized as 'not enough bang for your buck' because it was seen as too short, so studios started craft these 30 to 40 hour long behemoths that crammed themselves full to bursting.
Which doesn't even make sense as most of these critics (Most of them the same) were praising the Greek games for their 8-10+ hour length. The only time somebody from the old days complained about the Greek games being too short were one of the PSP games. That was X play being dumb asses. Though my problem with some of the old greek games of was, they dragged too but in a different way. The mainline trilogy, especially had segments or chapters, that could have been cut, shortened, or outright removed. I really feel this with GoW III especially. Ironic enough, both PSP games suffer from this the least. Especially Ghost of Sparta.
 
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The new GoW games had to adopt a more “mature” tone, since *old Kratos* was pretty played out with the unchecked rage, tiddy games and whatnot. It was fun for a while but it can only go so far. I recall even around Ascension wishing he’d be given more dramatic depth because it was clearly there to develop in capable hands (similar to how I feel about the Killzone series that was never done proper justice).

Gameplay-wise is far more hit and miss IMHO. Most of the added length boils down to slow moving narrative immersion sections for cinematic flare (which is still less artistically effective than the old games were with their camera work alone), and progression/gear gating with grindy skill trees and XP. There must not be an effective way of mitigating this tedium yet because it seems to be par for the course in combat heavy action/adventure games now, where it’s creeping into RPG territory.
 
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course in combat heavy action/adventure games now, where it’s creeping into RPG territory.
Yes and no. The combat heavy action games or mainly combat games that have little or no RPG elements usually avoid this.

  • Hi-Fi Rush - One chapter does it a few times in the museum stage. But that's the only level to do this. It doed get annoying or repeat playthroughs.
  • Evil West
  • Devil May Cry 5 - Does it for about four seconds and never again
  • Oneechanbara Origin
  • Gungrave GORE
  • A lot of action games from the indie side that follows in the steps of DMC.
  • Most Soul/Soul style games or Fromsoft games in general.
Dynasty Warriors Origins will sell great, but I can already hear people complaining about the custom nameless hero character for the main campaign or the fact that you technically can't choose the heroes without partnering with one of them. Unless you're in free mode. So long as they have little to none move set clones, the game should be fine. I might pick this up next year just to have some crazy fun again with this franchise.
 
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@hanselthecaretaker2, Max has pretty good nuanced take on video game remakes I wish more gamers, and gaming critics especially, would abide by, learn, and except. Not all remakes are not created equally and remade for various, but usually the right reasons.

 
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@hanselthecaretaker2, Max has pretty good nuanced take on video game remakes I wish more gamers, and gaming critics especially, would abide by, learn, and except. Not all remakes are not created equally and remade for various, but usually the right reasons.

Still hard to believe considering the way Konami has been the last decade, that not one but two highly coveted games are getting remakes that actually look damn good.
 
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These days Konami do their best work when they let someone else do all the work.
Sega with their lesser know or lesser focused IPs. The only difference being Sega was smarter to realize it earlier enough and continue to do so.

Kinkymation with Horizon hot takes:

  • She finds Aloy sexy in both games. Keep in mind, Kinky is bi-sexual. She tolds the haters and the sexist assholes to fuck off.
  • She considers both games to have some of the greatest stories in gaming, but more so the first game.
Story wise I disagree, but sine she has much joy in the games, I have no major problems. Her opinion.

 

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This used to be one of my favorite companies. Nepotism isn't great for a large MNC.
 

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There you go, the original is better, as usual.
Yeah, I don't care about Yahtzee opinion. Also, he can be a contrarian biatch when it comes to most remake, so I am gnoring him. I already saw the review on wednesday and posted it in the gaming articles thread. He seemed to like it well enough anyway, so more power to him.

I'm still getting the remake. By the way, counterpoints:


 
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BrawlMan

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This game is too linear diatribe is bullshit some people are trying to start again. I saw some of Electric Underground's Gungrave Gore review. I am glad he likes the game, but this is the contradictory bullshit with him, and why I don't like him. You cried about games like Norse God of War being too scripty, walkie, and too non-linear, yet here is game that has exactly what you've been asking for all this time, and apparently it's "too linear".

EU...have you ever actually played the previous mainline GG games? They are never about exploration nor finding hidden paths. The franchise has always been and defined itself as a Stylish Action Arcade 3rd Person Shooter. Since when the game or franchise market itself as that. If you're expecting off the beaten path exploration in GG GORE, then you've come to the wrong game. You already have that with so many other titles. And even non-rpg action games exploration usually boils down to find a hidden/off-beat path, get collectible/item/hidden mission/currency/more XP. Once you get those collectibles, those hidden paths become useless, because you already got them before starting the NG+ and will more than likely not need again, or they will never spawn ever again.

Crying about a game being too linear, when deep exploration was never the intent, is like crying about Evil West, Ninja Saviors, DMC5, or Streets of Rage 4 (a game you praised at one point, but decided to shit on, because it wasn't Streets of Rage Remake) being too linear. Sure, some of the games I mentioned have some super minor exploration, but you're only going to do them the one time, and won't be needed again on concurrent playthroughs. People like you really need to learn to shut up, because you don't know what you want, and constantly gripe due to a game not feeding your every petty whim.
 
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Drathnoxis

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RPG mechanics may have been one of the worst ideas ideas in gaming. It can be passable in a turn based RPG where the game is essentially a puzzle to figure out the optimal strategies and equipment, although it can easily make the game a grind if not done well. However, they're just purely awful in action games. You've essentially thrown balance out the window for no advantage. Skill becomes meaningless because a difficult fight doesn't mean you need to execute your actions better, it just means you need to come back when you have better stats or a higher level. It also kills the pacing because you need to constantly stop every time you pick up a new bit of equipment to decide whether it's better for your build or not. Sometimes I just want to play a game and not have to agonize over skill trees and stats. I understand that RPG mechanics, along with crafting materials, are tantalizing to game developers because they are easy ways to reward exploration and side quests, and thus increase the length of your game, but it sucks in practice.
 
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Concord's character designs really aren't that bad.

Sure, something like Overwatch blows it away, but compared to everything else I've seen from hero shooters Concord looks equally generic.
 

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RPG mechanics may have been one of the worst ideas ideas in gaming. It can be passable in a turn based RPG where the game is essentially a puzzle to figure out the optimal strategies and equipment, although it can easily make the game a grind if not done well. However, they're just purely awful in action games. You've essentially thrown balance out the window for no advantage. Skill becomes meaningless because a difficult fight doesn't mean you need to execute your actions better, it just means you need to come back when you have better stats or a higher level. It also kills the pacing because you need to constantly stop every time you pick up a new bit of equipment to decide whether it's better for your build or not. Sometimes I just want to play a game and not have to agonize over skill trees and stats. I understand that RPG mechanics, along with crafting materials, are tantalizing to game developers because they are easy ways to reward exploration and side quests, and thus increase the length of your game, but it sucks in practice.
I usually don't mins RPG mechanics in action games, but most don't get them right. The only game to truly perfect this, is Guardian Heroes. What's cool is that your stats reset, every time you start a new playthrough, so you can level up however you please. Though at some point, most players will learn to upgrade their Luck stat (in place of Defense) to be high as possible to get through the tougher sections of the game.
 

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Concord's character designs really aren't that bad.

Sure, something like Overwatch blows it away, but compared to everything else I've seen from hero shooters Concord looks equally generic.
I've heard the critique that Concord's characters look like they'd be background characters in an Overwatch cinematic.
If anyone really want to know someone who talks about intricate details on character design and color theory, look no further than Kinkymation.

 

Drathnoxis

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One of the things I hate most about remakes is that they cover up the original. You have a game that was created by a team of extraordinarily talented people, every aspect of the game is filtered through their personalities and vision and comes out in a particular way as a result of the individuals that created it and their mental state at the time of creation. Now, it happens that people like the particular way that the game turned out and the popularity persists 5-10 years until the publisher decides that there is money in remaking the game. So they hire a new team to remake the game, and they use the latest technology to paper over the original with new textures, animations, voice acting, etc. until you have a new game that ostensibly resembles the original, but in fact is a different game entirely.

Now a person comes along and wants to play the game because it's very popular and they've heard much about it, so they pick up the remake because it's more available. Now they feel that they've played the game, despite the fact that the original artistry may have been significantly altered or lost entirely. I think that's just awful. Just think of the effort and imagination that the original team put in, which was good enough to create a lasting popularity, that is being forced out by what is essentially a counterfeit made by people that think they can do it better. And this is an acceptable and even lauded practice. Just imagine if people of antiquity did the same thing and were constantly re-imagining works of art. Imagine if the Mona Lisa got re-painted every 10 years in a new style and everybody always went to see the new one and never had a thought for the original. Would that painting have remained in the public consciousness for centuries if that had been the case? I don't think so. The very idea is ludicrous.
 
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