Your video game hot take(s) thread

[Worgen]

Nope. Even then with Doom 4/Eternal. people still went back and had their servings of COD, Halo, and Battlefield, add on top of that these lame ass hero/team shooters like Valorant (gets MILLIONS of players daily, btw). If you're gonna talk about just outliers of a certain style of genre that do well versus the rest of the genre being dominated by military style or champion-based abilities, you're proving my point. Even Cyberpunk 2077, a futuristic sci-fi shooter with gunplay similar to COD, gets less people playing it than COD.

I don't know how it stacks up on console but cod pales in comparison to the juggernaut that is Counter Strike 2 and even PUBG. Depending on the time of day Destiny 2 will also be beating it.

 

[XsjadoBlayde]

You know when something's good, everybody else knows it's good, with clear uncut goodness emanating from each minute it imposed upon the human race? Yet no matter what you do, the only feeling it leaves you with whenever you walk away is: what even is the point anymore? A lingering existential depression crash thought dormant or distracted but ultimately always haunting ready for next window to pounce? No? Oh. Well, same, hah. Was just thinking of, uh, a friend. A friend's story about a friend! Yes. Not sure how you arrived at any other conclusion, but moving on...

Maybe unplanned drug decisions, maybe love interest choices, financial splurges (hey just contributing to the economy here mate!), failed attempts at diplomacy or the dreaded "debates" online, paying for expensive vet treatment only for them to die the next day, or having to pay to give them a non painful death. Or maybe it's Spelunky.

Ok I admits it, it's Spelunky. Is there any progression in this at all? Cos I remember the very first mario game on Gameboy that never let you save, I spent so long trying to complete it and when it eventually happened it unlocked a new game plus type mode which so cool but as soon as I lost last life on the revamped first level it straight up restarted the game as if I hadn't done a single bloody thing. One of the earliest memories of personal gaming was that moment: "what's even the fucking point?" Seriously haven't once bothered going back to that title since.

And that kinda how Spelunky feels every time I go back to it for an hour or two only to die making no progress. Yeah it's the essence of the roguelike genre I know, but knowing don't stop the same sinking feeling of despair afterwards as if nothing happened at all. Time robbed with nowt to show. Would it have been more productive to stare longingly up at the ceiling instead? For at least then a chance of a profound thought or two may occur? An extra angle to the book/song/art piece that could've been applied to various background creative endeavours? Or a new hustle? What's even the point anyway?

 

[ExtraWildGames]

You know when something's good, everybody else knows it's good, with clear uncut goodness emanating from each minute it imposed upon the human race? Yet no matter what you do, the only feeling it leaves you with whenever you walk away is: what even is the point anymore? A lingering existential depression crash thought dormant or distracted but ultimately always haunting ready for next window to pounce? No? Oh. Well, same, hah. Was just thinking of, uh, a friend. A friend's story about a friend! Yes. Not sure how you arrived at any other conclusion, but moving on...

Maybe unplanned drug decisions, maybe love interest choices, financial splurges (hey just contributing to the economy here mate!), failed attempts at diplomacy or the dreaded "debates" online, paying for expensive vet treatment only for them to die the next day, or having to pay to give them a non painful death. Or maybe it's Spelunky.

Ok I admits it, it's Spelunky. Is there any progression in this at all? Cos I remember the very first mario game on Gameboy that never let you save, I spent so long trying to complete it and when it eventually happened it unlocked a new game plus type mode which so cool but as soon as I lost last life on the revamped first level it straight up restarted the game as if I hadn't done a single bloody thing. One of the earliest memories of personal gaming was that moment: "what's even the fucking point?" Seriously haven't once bothered going back to that title since.

And that kinda how Spelunky feels every time I go back to it for an hour or two only to die making no progress. Yeah it's the essence of the roguelike genre I know, but knowing don't stop the same sinking feeling of despair afterwards as if nothing happened at all. Time robbed with nowt to show. Would it have been more productive to stare longingly up at the ceiling instead? For at least then a chance of a profound thought or two may occur? An extra angle to the book/song/art piece that could've been applied to various background creative endeavours? Or a new hustle? What's even the point anyway?

If you're saying "playing Spelunky and dying = losing all progress" is a waste of time in your life, what would be the difference if you've went through and beaten it? You still didn't do anything productive and arguably, wasted your time playing a game when you could be doing something else. And that's okay, because what counts as "wasting time" vs "being productive" is subjective on one's circumstances and is kind of a bullshit statement anyways. A lot of people just waste time in their lives, and not a lot of people are doing something grandiose or pretentious like "seeking further evolution" like some mad scientist or tech bro billionaire. You can only really FEEL that you wasted time, and I can't tell you how to feel because that's something only one's self can understand. But do know this; your time is what you make of it, and feeling that you wasted your time on something like trying to beat a game on permadeath or some shit, just know there are people sitting in cubicles trying to scam the elderly and gullible idiots out of their money for a JOB. Look around you and know that you aren't better than other people AND other people aren't better than you.

 

[XsjadoBlayde]

If you're saying "playing Spelunky and dying = losing all progress" is a waste of time in your life, what would be the difference if you've went through and beaten it? You still didn't do anything productive and arguably, wasted your time playing a game when you could be doing something else. And that's okay, because what counts as "wasting time" vs "being productive" is subjective on one's circumstances and is kind of a bullshit statement anyways. A lot of people just waste time in their lives, and not a lot of people are doing something grandiose or pretentious like "seeking further evolution" like some mad scientist or tech bro billionaire. You can only really FEEL that you wasted time, and I can't tell you how to feel because that's something only one's self can understand. But do know this; your time is what you make of it, and feeling that you wasted your time on something like trying to beat a game on permadeath or some shit, just know there are people sitting in cubicles trying to scam the elderly and gullible idiots out of their money for a JOB. Look around you and know that you aren't better than other people AND other people aren't better than you.

you ain't gonna convince me Spelunky is a good time using intro level psuedo philosophy, but A for effort at least tbh if we're using the b&w binary of productive vs waste of time, I consider almost all videogames a waste of time already,. is just most are an acceptable trade-off to escape the misery of consciousness within the decaying reality. will happily crawl into a hole and die alone as long as the morphine supply lasts and works

 

[Phoenixmgs]

you ain't gonna convince me Spelunky is a good time using intro level psuedo philosophy, but A for effort at least tbh if we're using the b&w binary of productive vs waste of time, I consider almost all videogames a waste of time already,. is just most are an acceptable trade-off to escape the misery of consciousness within the decaying reality. will happily crawl into a hole and die alone as long as the morphine supply lasts and works

 

[Gergar12]

Hot take, I would have given Ellie to the Fireflies. Then I would have shot myself if I were Joel.

 

[ExtraWildGames]

you ain't gonna convince me Spelunky is a good time using intro level psuedo philosophy, but A for effort at least tbh if we're using the b&w binary of productive vs waste of time, I consider almost all videogames a waste of time already,. is just most are an acceptable trade-off to escape the misery of consciousness within the decaying reality. will happily crawl into a hole and die alone as long as the morphine supply lasts and works

No psuedo philosophy, just saying what I've experienced for myself and feel.

 

[Drathnoxis]

You know when something's good, everybody else knows it's good, with clear uncut goodness emanating from each minute it imposed upon the human race? Yet no matter what you do, the only feeling it leaves you with whenever you walk away is: what even is the point anymore? A lingering existential depression crash thought dormant or distracted but ultimately always haunting ready for next window to pounce? No? Oh. Well, same, hah. Was just thinking of, uh, a friend. A friend's story about a friend! Yes. Not sure how you arrived at any other conclusion, but moving on...

Maybe unplanned drug decisions, maybe love interest choices, financial splurges (hey just contributing to the economy here mate!), failed attempts at diplomacy or the dreaded "debates" online, paying for expensive vet treatment only for them to die the next day, or having to pay to give them a non painful death. Or maybe it's Spelunky.

Ok I admits it, it's Spelunky. Is there any progression in this at all? Cos I remember the very first mario game on Gameboy that never let you save, I spent so long trying to complete it and when it eventually happened it unlocked a new game plus type mode which so cool but as soon as I lost last life on the revamped first level it straight up restarted the game as if I hadn't done a single bloody thing. One of the earliest memories of personal gaming was that moment: "what's even the fucking point?" Seriously haven't once bothered going back to that title since.

And that kinda how Spelunky feels every time I go back to it for an hour or two only to die making no progress. Yeah it's the essence of the roguelike genre I know, but knowing don't stop the same sinking feeling of despair afterwards as if nothing happened at all. Time robbed with nowt to show. Would it have been more productive to stare longingly up at the ceiling instead? For at least then a chance of a profound thought or two may occur? An extra angle to the book/song/art piece that could've been applied to various background creative endeavours? Or a new hustle? What's even the point anyway?

There is a little bit of progression in that you can eventually open up some shortcuts that let you start at later areas, but in general no, the only progression is in your understanding of the game mechanics and skill as a player. Spelunky definitely falls closer to the oldschool style of roguelike in that. You need to have a determined sort of personality to beat roguelikes, and Spelunky isn't easy either, even to just get the normal ending.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

Persona 5: sub > dub.

Goro Akechi: dub > sub.

Edit to clarify - I think that overall Persona 5's original Japanese dub is better than the English one, but Akechi specifically sounds better in English than Japanese. No disrespect to Soichiro Hoshi or his performance, but Robbie Daymond just kills it, and if I could have him in English and everyone else in Japanese I would, but since that isn't an option I just leave it on JP.

 

[BrawlMan]

Rebellion are the masters of straight forward 3rd person shooters, and you got to love them for sticking around this long and perfecting their craft. I may not care much for Sniper Elite, but I love their spin-off arcade shooting games: Strange Brigade and Zombie Army 4. More so the former, and I find SB better than ZA. You can actually activate traps, upgrade weapons, and everyone has their own power up. Both game have the same DNA, but SB obviously came first.

Soldier Blade (TurboGrafx-16/PC-Engine) is one the best SHMUP ever made, and rivals even many modern games from today. Honestly, it's so damn good with its unique mix and match power/weapon system. The closest Serei Senshi Spriggan on the same system, but never made it State side. Get on emulator or the TG/PC-Engine Mini. Both games are available on it.