Your video game hot take(s) thread

[Dirty Hipsters]

That's hardly a secret method. Killing a bunch of enemies is a thing you'd do anyway. Intentionally breaking your weapon is something you actually have to figure out.

Most people aren't picking up a weapon and going "wow, this weapon is terrible...I think I'll kill 1000 enemies with it just to see what happens." You'd still need to go out of your way and it would probably end up being a surprise for someone doing a challenge run.

 

[Ezekiel]

Jet Set Radio sequel wouldn't have the high cost of AAA. No photorealistic graphics needed, no extensive voice acting, no giant open world, no complex combat. Improve the mechanics so that it's not just grinding in circle until time runs out and make new maps. Still they opt for the remake. Says so much about the sickness of remake culture, of the publishers' idiotic spending and fear of risk that bores the players.

 

[BrawlMan]

Jet Set Radio sequel wouldn't have the high cost of AAA. No photorealistic graphics needed, no extensive voice acting, no giant open world, no complex combat. Improve the mechanics so that it's not just grinding in circle until time runs out and make new maps. Still they opt for the remake. Says so much about the sickness of remake culture, of the publishers' idiotic spending and fear of risk that bores the players.

Instead of a complaining about it, how about playing the actual spiritual successor, Bombrush Cyberfunk? Made on a low budget, but still looks like a kick ass Dreamcast game. The soundtrack is killer too. The game is available on all consoles and PC. I've played the game and it literally plays better than any of the old Jet Set Radio games.

You have no excuses and I don't want to hear about how it "does not look good enough".

That's said. I always welcome a new official Jet Set Radio game because I'm not spoiled nor constantly cry about petty things. Be happy you're just getting a new one at all. Two technically.

​

 

[Ezekiel]

That doesn't look like Jet Set Radio 3 made twenty years later. Looks like they made the game look crappier than they had to for pointless nostalgia. Made the pipes as angular as a Dreamcast game. Mario has a nose, ears, mustache and eyes even before eating a mushroom in the original Super Mario Brothers, while Celeste has no face. That's indie for you.

 

[BrawlMan]

That doesn't look like Jet Set Radio 3 made twenty years later. Looks like they made the game look crappier than they had to for pointless nostalgia. Made the pipes as angular as a Dreamcast game. Mario has a nose, ears, mustache and eyes even before eating a mushroom in the original Super Mario Brothers, while Celeste has no face. That's indie for you.

Translation: "Waah! Waaah! I didn't get every single thing I wanted even though I'm getting exactly what I want! Everything sucks and nothing is good! I hate shallow nostalgia even though that's exactly what I want but don't want to admit it!".

Spoken like a true spoiled brat and a fake gamer. Be proud of yourself. Take it or leave it. Otherwise you get nothing other than what you already have. The rest of us JSR fans are eating great!

 

[Ezekiel]

Speed-read "spoiled brat," not gonna read it. It's like if Sega made Streets of Rage 4 but made the art as hard to make out as in Streets 2, which, despite being the greatest beat 'em up of all time and my favorite Mega Drive game, is one of the uglier popular games of that generation.

 

[BrawlMan]

A true gamer actually tries and appreciate what is given to them.

 

[BrawlMan]

Some of the reviewers from now or in the past when reviewing Shadows of the Damned, claim that there isn't enough weapon variety. Sure, there's not as many guns like they are in RE4 and RE5, but that's not a bad thing. You start with a pistol and a shotgun, But after you're very first boss fight, you get a machine gun. What these reviewers neglect to nice and/or forgetters. At all three your guns evolve over the course of the 8 hour campaign. You get upgrades and new power ups for each gun. With the shotgun and the machine gun getting the most. 1 for Boner, 4 for Skullcushioner (your shotgun pretty much becomes a glorified grenade launcher when charged all the way), and 2 for the Teether. So that's technically 7 weapons when you think about it. 8, if we're counting the Big Boner segments. Another weapon would have made it unnecessarily complicated and ruined the balance of the game. Besides this game is much shorter than the action heavy RE titles. I will say the upgrades don't do much other than when you're upgrading the damage for each gun or the capacity. The reload upgrade really doesn't matter much. Aside from the shotgun.

 

[BrawlMan]

Other than story and characters: Dragon Age never had a true gameplay identity. The gameplay in pretty much all these games weren't that good. It sucks what happened with the latest entry, but people are lamenting the loss like they lost a family member or something. As people said at this point: there's plenty of other games now that do it better than the franchise ever could. BG3 is a thing now and still gets updates.

 

[BrawlMan]

A lot of gaming youtube reviewers aren't much better than the professional gaming journalist nowadays. They're either have their heads of their asses or when they get really popular, they start taking these weird stances and dumb hills to die on. Or get upset at people making gaming choices they disagree with, even when nothing or no one is actually harmed. It's gotten to the point where they became no better or just as bad as the game journalist they wanted to avoid being. Especially when they start making things up and dig into intellectual dishonesty and adding to discourse. Don't even get me started when they get called out or caught being an asshole. They'll either delete their twitter post, then gaslight their audience, or remove their YouTube video or set it to private.

 

[Gordon_4]

Other than story and characters. Dragon Age never had a true gameplay identity. The game play in pretty much all these games weren't that good. It sucks what happened with the latest entry, but people are lamenting the loss like they lost a family member or something. As people said at this point: there's plenty of other games now that do it better than the franchise ever could. BG3 Is a thing now and still gets updates.

Some of the problem with DragonAge is that it has a huge rusted on set who love Origins and only Origins. Now on its own this is fine; I personally much prefer DragonAge II; but a not insignificant portion of that rusted on set are continually wailing and gnashing and rending their clothes because wash new instalment isn’t like Origins. It’s a pathological inability to use pattern recognition. Like, guys, where the fuck have you been?

I’m sure there are legitimate reasons to not like Veilguard - I’ll find out in a week or two - but I’m not listening to the ash and sack cloth brigade because a modern game’s best gameplay is not having to do half the AI programming yourself and micromanage the NPCs.

 

[Drathnoxis]

Some of the problem with DragonAge is that it has a huge rusted on set who love Origins and only Origins. Now on its own this is fine; I personally much prefer DragonAge II; but a not insignificant portion of that rusted on set are continually wailing and gnashing and rending their clothes because wash new instalment isn’t like Origins. It’s a pathological inability to use pattern recognition. Like, guys, where the fuck have you been?

I’m sure there are legitimate reasons to not like Veilguard - I’ll find out in a week or two - but I’m not listening to the ash and sack cloth brigade because a modern game’s best gameplay is not having to do half the AI programming yourself and micromanage the NPCs.

I like Origins and Origins only, but I gave up on the series (and EA published games entirely) after DA2.

 

[Gordon_4]

I like Origins and Origins only, but I gave up on the series (and EA published games entirely) after DA2.

And conversely DAII is the only reason I like the franchise at all. Ain’t life fucking weird?

 

[Drathnoxis]

And conversely DAII is the only reason I like the franchise at all. Ain’t life fucking weird?

Truly bizarre.

 

[Gordon_4]

Truly bizarre.

I agree. Also you totally install the skip the fade mode right? Like I know people love Origins but that part always seemed like the worst idea in the world when people talk about it.

 

[Drathnoxis]

I agree. Also you totally install the skip the fade mode right? Like I know people love Origins but that part always seemed like the worst idea in the world when people talk about it.

I have the game for 360, so no. Really, that section never bothered me that much. It just seemed like a really neat concept to me, exploring the astral dream realm. Okay, yeah it might not have been the best execution, but there were still some decent character moments.

 

[Gordon_4]

I have the game for 360, so no. Really, that section never bothered me that much. It just seemed like a really neat concept to me, exploring the astral dream realm. Okay, yeah it might not have been the best execution, but there were still some decent character moments.

Most people I know who are serial re-players of Origins did it the first time, but decided that once was enough. But to each their own on the subject.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

*sigh*.... PC Master Race

Probably y'all already know this but I believe the phrase was coined by Yahtzee Crawshaw many years ago as a joke- kind of poking fun at hardcore PC gaming enthusiasts, as he himself is primarily a PC gamer (for the indies and such), but it was like a self-mocking dig folks who insist consoles are lame and PC's are better. The traditional reasons are- for those on budget and interested in variety, you have the whole world of Steam et al at your disposal. And for those who want the snaziest grafix and have the coin, you can outperform a console, and up until I would say the last gen that really meant something.

Even though I dabbled with PC gaming because I like to mess around, I was always a console boy. Primarily because I just like to sit on a couch with a controller and use my TV- gaming is just another form of entertainment, like watching TV, in that sense. And that is much easier with a console- plug 'n' play and all that. And I personally did care about exclusivity, as Sony's "movie games" have been something I really enjoy, like Last of Us and such.

Recently I've joined the PC Master Race and now for the first time if someone were to ask me what is the best way to get into gaming, I would first ask them how much they want to play Nintendo exclusives and/or on the go (handheld), and if they say no to either, suggest a PC instead of any console.
(Obviously if they say yes a Switch is for them. I still consider PC handhelds to be very niche and accessories for already-PC-dedicated players).

Reasons are:
1- Exclusivity has been losing value
Sony is going to be putting everything except AstroBot on PC now. I had this realization when the reveal for the Ghost of Tsushima- probably my favorite AAA game since the Witcher 3- with a sick-ass trailer and my first reaction was "ah, the PS5 actually does have value!" and then I remembered Tsushima is on PC so this will be too.
Yes, it will be exclusive for a while at first. But as games get bigger and buggier, I just have less interest in playing on release. I'm also smug about how I just don't care so much about spoiler so I'm fine with listening to reviews or streams about it until I play it.

AstroBot was great but honestly it's just a freaking Mario game lol. The last actually IMPORTANT exclusive I can think of is of course Bloodborne, one of two games that redefined modern gaming for me. But that was last gen! I guess I'm just betting that there will never be an exclusive as impactful as that ever again.

Meanwhile XBox... lol... do I even need to go on? They have no exclusives worth a damn, none, and I don't see one happening any time soon. Fable? Avowed? Please. Halo, Starfield, and Redfall showed us the joke of XBox exclusivity. And even though we are shown the evidence of corporate idiocy every day, I still can't bring myself to believe they will actually ever make CoD exlusive. Heck even Elder Scrolls 6, if that ever comes out, will at best be a timed exclusive Sony style, I'm guessing.

Of course Nintendo is their own thing and yeah if you wanna Mario you gotta get one, that will never change.

2- Ease of use.
My new PC has replaced my PS5, or living mini-PC, and my old non-work laptop. Selling all those, using the funds to buy parts, assembling them and configuring in like 2 hours. Even picking the parts was easy, there are so many resources like PC Parts Picker to ensure everything is compatible. The array of annoying little front panel cables have been grouped neatly, and hard drives are now little cards that you snap into a motherboard. RAM is cheap, memory is cheap, cases come with pre-installed fans and modular power supplies make cable management so much easier than the olden days.

The only major drawback is WAF- this is an antiquated acronym I got from my audiophile/stereo obsessive days but Wife Approval Factor means if hobby equipment looks nice in a living room. Consoles can fit in a shelving unit or TV stand while PC's look like they belong in an office. And I just don't the HTPC form factors have gotten good enough to support a gaming capable rig yet.
One the other hand, look at the PS5 lol.
My solution (I actually care about WAF more than my for-real W) was to get a nice looking case that matches the TV and stand- it was the only component I splurged a little on. There's just no easy around this issue. But since all consoles except the new XBox Series S are eyesores now this is just something everyone has to deal with.

3- Graphics schmaphics
I just don't see the incremental improvements of graphics at all at this point. I don't care any more. My PC is mid, I'm playing DA: Veilguard on medium settings and it looks absolutely gorgeous to me. At this point I don't care if I never see another ray traced again in my life, I don't care any more. Who is that crap really for? I don't think I managed to stay awake through an entire Digital Foundry video in the last 5 years.

4- Deals
Amazon Prime and Epic have monthly free games. Steam sales and Gamepass offer cheap alternatives.

4a- Pay to play online
Actually the straw that broke the camel's back for me as well. I mostly don't play online stuff but once in a while I wanna try something and the gall of PS+ or XBox Live/gamepass/whatever it's called to pay a subscription to simply be able to play online when you're already paying for internet! Ugh.

PC Master Race! Toss the (non-Switch) consoles into the sea!

 

[BrawlMan]

- Pay to play online
Actually the straw that broke the camel's back for me as well. I mostly don't play online stuff but once in a while I wanna try something and the gall of PS+ or XBox Live/gamepass/whatever it's called to pay a subscription to simply be able to play online when you're already paying for internet! Ugh.

I game on my laptop for some online stuff. I have not paid for PS plus in about two years now.

Steam sales and Gamepass offer cheap alternatives.

I prefer steam sales. Game pass is not a much better alternative unless you're playing exclusively on PC. Epic still has a crappy store though.

Graphics schmaphics

I stopped caring for graphics right around late eighth generation. So long as the game has a good looking or great looking art style and plays good, then I'm fine. I keep my PS5 around so I can play PS5 and PS4 games. The Xbox I don't even touch much anymore. Unless I wanna play something really old.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

I prefer steam sales. Game pass is not a much better alternative unless you're playing exclusively on PC. Epic still has a crappy store though.

Agreed, especially since I've come to just really resent any subscription, but I do get the value prop for Gamepass for some folks and I am a big fan of jumping on and off monthly subscription services (i.e., I always advocate for folks to do TV streaming services one month at a time- that is, join AppleTV+ for a month, watch everything, quit, then jump to Paramount+, same, etc, as a way to watch everything).

I was just calling out the first two PC gaming things that came to mind. GoG, ItchIO, etc- there's just more options, is the important point. I just like browsing them even when I don't buy anything.