Your video game hot take(s) thread

hanselthecaretaker

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It's good enough but you're probably not gonna be impressed if you play FPS's all the time. Other people have pointed out already that the irony is that you have to be interested enough in military FPS games to even get into the game enough to see and get the subversive part. Which kinda works against it on two levels, because people who are into War shooters enough to play it without knowing the true point of the game probably didn't appreciate being called out by it, and people who would appreciate the subversion probably aren't the people who would pick the game up to begin with without knowing there was something different about it.

It's mentioned in the video that Yahtzee may have done a lot to get people aware that this was something a bit different then a lot of the other Brown Modern War Shooters all over the place at the time, though I have no idea how accurate that is. Presumably someone at Jaeger certainly thought so.

AFAIK both Vanquish and Spec Ops are always TPS, unless they pull one of those Deus Ex kinda hybrids. But yeah, FPS has become a rather synonymous term with pretty much anything shooter-oriented in recent years similar to Soulslikes being a catch-all.
 

BrawlMan

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After listening to some of Easy Allies recent Frame Trap; couch co-op will never die. Sure, in the AAA area it's near "dead", but in the smaller gaming spaces, it's driving just fine. Being online is nice and all, but you get to share so many more memories by being in rooms with actual other people. Be they your friends, families, loved ones, significant others, or even just acquaintances.

I'm still not a fan of FF7 Remake being split into three parts.
 
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hanselthecaretaker

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Criticisms on MGSV’s map design are overblown. It serves the gameplay extremely well, and going back to the opening illustrates this contrast perfectly. This is because the worst part of the game by far is the opening act, which is just a scripted cutscene-laden slog through the hospital. But after that it serves up the most free form gameplay the series has ever had. The gear development only expands the possibilities. There are also enough LZ’s scattered about and more can be added after some recon to cut down on excess travel.

I’d also call it more of an open sandbox game than pure open world, seeing as there are two distinct regions and the game encourages the use of drop points. It could’ve really used a “skip intro/outtro” for missions, but other than that it always felt good being pseudo snake.
 
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BrawlMan

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I am with Max on this CRT filters for retro games. Most look horrible and darken the screen too much. The CRT filter makes the pixel art look ugly. So far, only the Beat'em Up Bundle & Ninja Warriors Once Again have seem to do this correctly. What helps in their cases is multiple levels of CRT filters, and two types for BUB's case. I usually never go any further than the second CRT filter. While noticeable, putting on either setting 1 or 2 does not make the screen dark, nor the pixel graphics look ugly.
 
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Specter Von Baren

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I am with Max on this CRT filters for retro games. Most look horrible and darken the screen too much. The CRT filter makes the pixel art look ugly. So far, only the Beat'em Up Bundle & Ninja Warriors Once again have seem to do this correctly. What helps in their cases is multiple levels of CRT filters, and two types for BUB's case. I usually never go any further than the second CRT filter . While noticeable, putting on either setting 1 or 2 does not make the screen dark, nor the pixel graphics look ugly.
I've seen some good ones now and then, 'You Have To Win the Game' is one that had a pretty good filter for it. But yeah, most don't look good.
 
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Chimpzy

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I am with Max on this CRT filters for retro games. Most look horrible and darken the screen too much. The CRT filter makes the pixel art look ugly. So far, only the Beat'em Up Bundle & Ninja Warriors Once again have seem to do this correctly. What helps in their cases is multiple levels of CRT filters, and two types for BUB's case. I usually never go any further than the second CRT filter. While noticeable, putting on either setting 1 or 2 does not make the screen dark, nor the pixel graphics look ugly.
I've seen some good ones now and then, 'You Have To Win the Game' is one that had a pretty good filter for it. But yeah, most don't look good.
Accurately replicating the characteristics of (good) CRT on a modern screen is apparently really tricky, because a CRT achieves its picture in a way that is just fundamentally different from any current tech. So yeah, in most cases it ends up a poor ersatz for the real thing.

That said, I do think how good retro games look on a CRT vs a modern LCD/LED is a little overstated. Because whenever big retro channels show off the difference, they tend to bring out Sony Trinitron broadcast monitors or some other top end screen. And duh, of course that'll look amazing, that's the best of the best. Also hard to find, and cost you a pretty penny, even for broken ones. The average CRT won't look that good tho.
 

BrawlMan

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That said, I do think how good retro games look on a CRT vs a modern LCD/LED is a little overstated. Because whenever big retro channels show off the difference, they tend to bring out Sony Trinitron broadcast monitors or some other top end screen. And duh, of course that'll look amazing, that's the best of the best. Also hard to find, and cost you a pretty penny, even for broken ones. The average CRT won't look that good tho.
Sounds like these bozos parade these specific CRTs around like they're easily available, not that hard to find, and act as if they're inexpensive.
 

Chimpzy

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Sounds like these bozos parade these specific CRTs around like they're easily available, not that hard to find, and act as if they're inexpensive.
Yeah, but also no, most retro enthusiasts know full well that a high end CRT in good shape is neither cheap nor very easy to find unless you're really lucky, but they can't help show off theirs because why wouldn't they? Leading to imo a kind of skewed perception for how good CRTs look. The average retro gamer will not have that good an experience, having to settle for less because of availability or price, or because getting one of those big heavy fragile bastards to your house is just too much of a hassle without either going to pick it up yourself or having a lot of faith in whomever is shipping it.
 

Specter Von Baren

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I still believe that the choice of 8-bit pixel aesthetics stems from devs realising that directly rubbing shit in the eyes of each player is an unrealistic goal and going with the closest alternative.
It depends on the game. The best retro graphics are those that replicate the "essence" of the graphics but with modern techniques, knowledge and resources put behind it.

Like how Shovel Knight looks like a MegaMan game but doesn't have sprites that flicker out or disappear when they get near the edge of the screen and has a much wider color pallette.
 

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I have a counter hot take. There are some people already nostalgic for E3. It's dead, it's never coming back, and the gaming community is all the better for it. I get where some of the Easy Allies guys are coming from, and while there are some human moments that are missed, it still doesn't make up for the fact, a lot of the shows' events are just not good. Or there's only so few good moments that stand out in a muck of crap. That was the biggest downfall of E3: it's just one giant advertisement where everyone pats themselves on the back. As one of the guys pointed out: most people just want to see the trailers or the gameplay. Enough with the fluff and just go straight to the point! Don't waste everybody's time on some dumb celebrity endorsement, or skit that's never that good to begin with.

 
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The Rogue Wolf

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I have a counter hot take. There are some people already nostalgic for E3. It's dead and it's never coming back, and the gaming community is all the better for it. I get where some of the Easy Allies guys are coming from, and while there are some human moments that are missed, that still doesn't make up for the fact that a lot of the show events are just not that good. Or there's only so few good moments that stand out in a muck of crap. And that was the biggest downfall of E3, is just one giant advertisement where everyone pass themselves on the back. As one of the guys pointed out, most people just want to see the trailers or the gameplay. Enough with the fluff and just go straight to the point and not waste everybody's time on some dumb celebrity endorsement, or skit that's never that good to begin with.

I was saying this for years while E3 was still active. It had become nothing more than a pageant for an industry desperately in love with its own bullshit, finding new ways to lie to people who wanted to be lied to, full of sound and celebrity cameos and in the end signifying nothing. We're better off without it.
 

Dalisclock

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I was saying this for years while E3 was still active. It had become nothing more than a pageant for an industry desperately in love with its own bullshit, finding new ways to lie to people who wanted to be lied to, full of sound and celebrity cameos and in the end signifying nothing. We're better off without it.
You're not the only one. Prior to Covid, E3 was already having a hard time justifying why it existed other then letting the Games Industry circle jerk for a couple days. Covid was the mercy kill to the sick man it had become.
 

BrawlMan

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With 2D Brawlers being big again, I see no reason to bother with Dynasty Warriors games from KT any more. They don't even seem to care much anymore, unless they're partnering with Nintendo.
 

Specter Von Baren

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Hhm. I soft disagree about E3. It's something I noticed with Games Done Quick, having it so that was no longer a bi-yearly event but instead something that dribbled and dripped out all year made me less interested in it and made me less inclined to watch it.

There's benefits for having a big event showcase and while I don't think that needs to be, or even should be, E3, I do think at some point we'll see some kind of event take it's place as some kind of big thing people gather for. It may be a while but I think eventually more people will find they have a desire for something like that still.
 

BrawlMan

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Top Hat, no! It's not only the game journalists complaining about the lack of continues options in Final Vendetta. Plenty of regular and hardcore gamers who just want to do a regular playthrough without the bullshit have legit complaints as well. There is nothing wrong with having difficulty options. Them adding continues does not personally affect you, nor will stop you from the playing the standard hard modes. You can add him to the list of douchebags with the "GIT GUD, SCRUB!" attitude. You are so better than this. I have my dislikes with most journalists, but even the ones are bad at their jobs will have a point once in a long while. Your complaints and hoping the developers won't patch are null in void. They already working on the patch update and balance of the game to be fairer. I am surprised to see such behavior come from him.

 

hanselthecaretaker

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Top Hat, no! It's not only the game journalists complaining about the lack of continues options in Final Vendetta. Plenty of regular and hardcore gamers who just want to do a regular playthrough without the bullshit have legit complaints as well. There is nothing wrong with having difficulty options. Them adding continues does not personally affect you, nor will stop you from the playing the standard hard modes. You can add him to the list of douchebags with the "GIT GUD, SCRUB!" attitude. You are so better than this. I have my dislikes with most journalists, but even the ones are bad at their jobs will have a point once in a long while. Your complaints and hoping the developers won't patch are null in void. They already working on the patch update and balance of the game to be fairer. I am surprised to see such behavior come from him.

Just wanna say I’m loving the new avatar!
 

BrawlMan

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Just wanna say I’m loving the new avatar!
Same. Feels like a better fit than the last one.
Thanks. I always like to change it up. I actually found this at random in by accident. The site that used to have it is no longer there, but you can still get it through Google images. I made sure to download it and keep it. It's going to be up there for a long time.
 

BrawlMan

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People biatch too much at change. Capcom wants to do something different; get over yourselves haters. These themes are awesome.