RANDOM VIDEO GAME NEWS

[Lexx]

From the really big titles, I think Witcher 3 was the only really good one. I actually can't even remember any other game...

[HoonDing]

"New" games I played this year + ranking:

 

1. Lightning Returns

2. Dishonored

3. Fallout 4

4. AssCreed 4

5. Risen 3

6. Witcher 3

7. Sudeki

8. Divinity Original Sin

[Luridis]

Just saw this best off game awards thingy and now I won't be able to sleep for a few nights.

 

I'd like to thank you... That video showed me something that I've been missing for a while now. A lot of my angst is directed at what games and gaming has become. I blame a lot of that on big business taking over. But still, I've known there was some other element I was missing, and now I finally understand what that is. Games are no longer directed exclusively at what developers and publishers assume are moderate to very intelligent audiences. In the past, this was the domain of freaks and geeks. And, regardless of which you were, you looked at the world in an entirely different way than "the masses". Now that gaming has gone mainstream, I totally missed that publishers no longer have to consider things like cliche plots and horridly written dialogue. This is because most of "the masses" can't even manage to use an automatic spell checker unless its turned on by default, much less recognize terrible literary snafus in their game narratives.

 

As an example, here's what passed as a Star Wars game back in the day...

 

http://youtu.be/0LLZq5SnBVc

 

 

And this is what passes for the same now...

 

 

 

I think I'll pass on the modern effort. Looks visually impressive, but so do a lot of things that are essentially boring as hell, in spite of their visual appeal.

Edited December 21, 2015 by Luridis

[Humanoid]

Eh, I dunno, back in the day they also had Star Wars: Rebel Assault. If I didn't dislike Star Wars already at that point, that game would have sealed it.

[Fenixp]

No strategy games I care about or like came out

Act of Aggression, Grey Goo, StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void? Technically Homeworld: Remastered Collection and Planetary Annihilation: Titans, but that's cheating a bit. Still, when it comes to RTS games, 2015 was pretty great (Amongst other things on account of next to no RTS games coming out whatsoever past 5 years or so.)

 

Edit: Cities: Skylines and Prison Architect! How on earth could I forget these two management RTS games? They're stellar, both of them, and both for entirely different reasons.

 

no singleplayer first person shooters I care about or like came out

Far Cry 4 got released but that's quite derivative. Wolfenstein: The Old Blood - that one was a lot of fun. And Dying Light's pretty damn great take on the genre - in spite of the zombies. Alien: Isolation is technically game that you're playing in First Person and can shoot men, but it's definitely worth mentioning, because it was absolutely stellar. Dirty Bomb is multiplayer only, but it's the game which made me interested in MP shooters again after 10 years, so of course I'm gonna mention it :-P Not sure how good Vermitide is in SP.

 

no RPGs I care about or like came out

Seriously? What kind of RPGs do you like?

Shadowrun: Hong Kong

Age of Decadence

UnderRail

Pillars of Eternity

Witcher 3

Bloodborne

All of these are fantastic. Well I can't attest for UnderRail as I have not actually played that and then there's Fallout 4 and Dragon Age: Inquisition, still, they should be good. And there's a great selection too - from first person shooty things trough rtwp party-based RPGs to both turn-based party and solo games, from post-apocalyptic trough cyberpunk and Lovecraftian horror to traditional fantasy.

 

The issue with rating 2015 is that so many stuff came out choosing the quality titles was a bit difficult since there's a ton to choose from and it's not that difficult to miss the ones that stand out.

 

From the really big titles, I think Witcher 3 was the only really good one. I actually can't even remember any other game...

To be fair I don't really care about "really big titles" - I care about good games, no matter their size. Edited December 21, 2015 by Fenixp

[Bartimaeus]

Act of Aggression, Grey Goo, StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void? Technically Homeworld: Remastered Collection and Planetary Annihilation: Titans, but that's cheating a bit. Still, when it comes to RTS games, 2015 was pretty great (Amongst other things on account of next to no RTS games coming out whatsoever past 5 years or so.)

 

Edit: Cities: Skylines and Prison Architect! How on earth could I forget these two management RTS games? They're stellar, both of them, and both for entirely different reasons.

I can't help but notice that all of the first ones you said are all sci-fi. Now, that's not necessarily bad, but... 1. StarCraft II is a complete no go, especially in light of the campaign being ...not very good, and the multiplayer custom game system being pretty terrible compared to Warcraft 3, and myself not particularly caring for the ultra-micro-management style of the standard Blizzard RTS gameplay style, 2. Act of Aggression doesn't look that good, 3. 4X is quite possibly my least favorite strategy sub-genre, 4. Grey Goo and Planetary Annihilation look like they could be alright, and 5. I have absolutely zero love for city builders or sims, so I have little interest in your final two suggestions. Overall, I don't have much interest in any these suggestions, probably being the most open to Planetary Annihilation and Grey Goo, but both still elect a sort of "meh" response.

 

Far Cry 4 got released but that's quite derivative. Wolfenstein: The Old Blood - that one was a lot of fun. And Dying Light's pretty damn great take on the genre - in spite of the zombies. Alien: Isolation is technically game that you're playing in First Person and can shoot men, but it's definitely worth mentioning, because it was absolutely stellar. Dirty Bomb is multiplayer only, but it's the game which made me interested in MP shooters again after 10 years, so of course I'm gonna mention it :-P Not sure how good Vermitide is in SP.

Yeah, I don't really enjoy Far Cry, the two newer Wolfensteins look mildly interesting at least gameplay wise (although I haven't actually played them), so I'll give you that...I did not like Dying Light (and the story was laughably bad to boot), and Alien: Isolation was...just O.K., really. It started out pretty good, but the game lasted way too stinking long for its own good, and definitely outstayed its welcome. I don't know about Dirty Bomb.

 

Seriously? What kind of RPGs do you like?

Shadowrun: Hong Kong

Age of Decadence

UnderRail

Pillars of Eternity

Witcher 3

Bloodborne

 

All of these are fantastic. Well I can't attest for UnderRail as I have not actually played that and then there's Fallout 4 and Dragon Age: Inquisition, still, they should be good. And there's a great selection too - from first person shooty things trough rtwp party-based RPGs to both turn-based party and solo games, from post-apocalyptic trough cyberpunk and Lovecraftian horror to traditional fantasy.

Don't have a PS4, otherwise I'd probably at least try Bloodborne (although I despised Dark Souls 2, even though I quite enjoyed Dark Souls 1, so I'm not sure how that would actually turn out), the more I played and tried to enjoy PoE, the more I disliked it, I thought the first Witcher was terrible in gameplay, story, and characters and have never looked back since trying to play through it. I did not like either Fallout 3 or Fallout: New Vegas, and I did not enjoy the first two Dragon Ages, so I'm hardly likely to try new entries in either series. UnderRail, Age of Decadence, and Shadowrun all look like they might be O.K., though: unsure how much they might suffer the same issues I have with PoE.

 

I just don't enjoy the products of the modern gaming industry very much these days. I've probably gotten too much into the mindset of if something doesn't just instantly jump out as seeming appealing to me, I'm probably not gonna like it (which probably becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy), and...hardly anything ever jumps out at me as something that I'd like. I guess my tastes are probably overdeveloped these days, which makes it hard to enjoy anything that doesn't perfectly fit one of my particular niches.

Edited December 21, 2015 by Bartimaeus

[Fenixp]

I can't help but notice that all of the first ones you said are all sci-fi. Now, that's not necessarily bad, but...

The industry has a thing for sci-fi RTS games. I don't understand it either since the genre works perfectly well with fantasy. Eh.

 

1. StarCraft II is a complete no go, especially in light of the campaign being ...not very good, and the multiplayer custom game system being pretty terrible compared to Warcraft 3, and myself not particularly caring for the ultra-micro-management style of the standard Blizzard RTS gameplay style

I don't actually enjoy StarCraft II either, then again I just generally don't enjoy Blizzard titles - they're always too safe for me, not really trying to bring anything innovative to the table. Not necessarily a bad thing, still, by the time Blizzard comes up with something, I've already played it to death in other titles. Nonetheless, I find it generally worth recommending given how popular the game is.

 

4X is quite possibly my least favorite strategy sub-genre

You haven't played Homeworld!? No wonder since you think it's 4X I suppose... Well, it's not. It's... I'm not even sure what to compare it to. Let me start off by saying that I have never played the game's multiplayer, but I guess you don't really care about that so I can skip that particular bit of information.

 

It's a singleplayer, one-of-a-kind RTS game. You collect resources, you upgrade your Mothership which serves as a base along with other construction, research and resource collection ships you might come across and you construct your fleet to crush your opponents. And you go trough an amazing storyline which is much more akin to a mythical legend than a sci-fi story - technology is kind of a given, nobody even stops to think about it, but stories of faraway lands, mysterious beings and themes of exploring the unknown are ever present in the game. To me, playing the game felt almost magical, like reading a Thousand and One Night story which would be an apt comparison given the inspirations this game draws from. And combine that with amazing sense of progression where all your researched technology, credits and built ships carry between missions, this is one of the best RTS games I have ever played.

 

And that's not nostalgia speaking - I could never get into Homeworld due to tiny draw distance before remasters came out, but when they did, everything just clicked for me and I have finished both this year. If you have not played Homeworld, you owe it to yourself to at least try and do so. I do hope this jumps at you as something you'd like since it's not really a product of modern gaming industry :-P

 

4. Grey Goo and Planetary Annihilation look like they could be alright

Planetary Annihilation has a very hit and miss SP mode. I enjoyed it a lot, but you might not. As for Grey Goo, it's great for a single playtrough - pretty good story, fun factions and units, very much in the vein of Command and Conquer games. Still, it's not the best thing ever, the game's "merely" very good.

 

the two newer Wolfensteins look mildly interesting at least gameplay wise (although I haven't actually played them)

Definitely give them a shot. Excellent FPS games, and The New Order even has good narrative with some interesting themes explored - not something I'd ever think I'll say about a Wolfenstein game. All in all, fun, fast-paced, oldschool shooters.

 

Alien: Isolation was...just O.K., really. It started out pretty good, but the game lasted way too stinking long for its own good, and definitely outstayed its welcome.

Definitely wasn't perfect. Had issues. A lot of them. Still, I've never played anything like it and I really value innovation. It's also a game I dreamed of ever since seeing the original Alien, yet all I ever got delivered were shooters. It's a game which respected the original on all accounts and was designed in such a way that it evokes the feeling I've had when watching Alien perfectly - that's what I loved about it.

 

 

UnderRail, Age of Decadence, and Shadowrun all look like they might be O.K., though: unsure how much they might suffer the same issues I have with PoE.

Wait for a sale I suppose. Age of Decadence is fiendishly oldschool and if you have not played Shadowrun, feel free to start with Dragonfall.

[Oerwinde]

 

Act of Aggression, Grey Goo, StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void? Technically Homeworld: Remastered Collection and Planetary Annihilation: Titans, but that's cheating a bit. Still, when it comes to RTS games, 2015 was pretty great (Amongst other things on account of next to no RTS games coming out whatsoever past 5 years or so.)

 

Edit: Cities: Skylines and Prison Architect! How on earth could I forget these two management RTS games? They're stellar, both of them, and both for entirely different reasons.

I can't help but notice that all of the first ones you said are all sci-fi. Now, that's not necessarily bad, but... 1. StarCraft II is a complete no go, especially in light of the campaign being ...not very good, and the multiplayer custom game system being pretty terrible compared to Warcraft 3, and myself not particularly caring for the ultra-micro-management style of the standard Blizzard RTS gameplay style, 2. Act of Aggression doesn't look that good, 3. 4X is quite possibly my least favorite strategy sub-genre, 4. Grey Goo and Planetary Annihilation look like they could be alright, and 5. I have absolutely zero love for city builders or sims, so I have little interest in your final two suggestions. Overall, I don't have much interest in any these suggestions, probably being the most open to Planetary Annihilation and Grey Goo, but both still elect a sort of "meh" response.

 

Far Cry 4 got released but that's quite derivative. Wolfenstein: The Old Blood - that one was a lot of fun. And Dying Light's pretty damn great take on the genre - in spite of the zombies. Alien: Isolation is technically game that you're playing in First Person and can shoot men, but it's definitely worth mentioning, because it was absolutely stellar. Dirty Bomb is multiplayer only, but it's the game which made me interested in MP shooters again after 10 years, so of course I'm gonna mention it :-P Not sure how good Vermitide is in SP.

Yeah, I don't really enjoy Far Cry, the two newer Wolfensteins look mildly interesting at least gameplay wise (although I haven't actually played them), so I'll give you that...I did not like Dying Light (and the story was laughably bad to boot), and Alien: Isolation was...just O.K., really. It started out pretty good, but the game lasted way too stinking long for its own good, and definitely outstayed its welcome. I don't know about Dirty Bomb.

 

Seriously? What kind of RPGs do you like?

Shadowrun: Hong Kong

Age of Decadence

UnderRail

Pillars of Eternity

Witcher 3

Bloodborne

 

All of these are fantastic. Well I can't attest for UnderRail as I have not actually played that and then there's Fallout 4 and Dragon Age: Inquisition, still, they should be good. And there's a great selection too - from first person shooty things trough rtwp party-based RPGs to both turn-based party and solo games, from post-apocalyptic trough cyberpunk and Lovecraftian horror to traditional fantasy.

Don't have a PS4, otherwise I'd probably at least try Bloodborne (although I despised Dark Souls 2, even though I quite enjoyed Dark Souls 1, so I'm not sure how that would actually turn out), the more I played and tried to enjoy PoE, the more I disliked it, I thought the first Witcher was terrible in gameplay, story, and characters and have never looked back since trying to play through it. I did not like either Fallout 3 or Fallout: New Vegas, and I did not enjoy the first two Dragon Ages, so I'm hardly likely to try new entries in either series. UnderRail, Age of Decadence, and Shadowrun all look like they might be O.K., though: unsure how much they might suffer the same issues I have with PoE.

 

I just don't enjoy the products of the modern gaming industry very much these days. I've probably gotten too much into the mindset of if something doesn't just instantly jump out as seeming appealing to me, I'm probably not gonna like it (which probably becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy), and...hardly anything ever jumps out at me as something that I'd like. I guess my tastes are probably overdeveloped these days, which makes it hard to enjoy anything that doesn't perfectly fit one of my particular niches.

I say give Witcher 2 a go sometime. Story and characters are a big improvement over Witcher 1,gameplay is entirely different, and you can usually grab it on sale at gog for like 2.50 like 6 or 7 times a year.

[Rosbjerg]

I think I'll pass on the modern effort. Looks visually impressive, but so do a lot of things that are essentially boring as hell, in spite of their visual appeal.

It's a question of scale and sampling bias. There are simply more games being released today, both good and bad.. But there are still many intelligent, difficult and well made games. The biggest and most noticable difference is that Atari's ET would, in todays market, be shipped with massive hype and post release patches.

[Serrano]

So how are the three story DLCs for DA: Inquisition? Are they worth the money or are they short and kind of rubbish like Witch Hunt? 

Edited December 23, 2015 by Serrano

[Amentep]

So how are the three story DLCs for DA: Inquisition? Are they worth the money or are they short and kind of rubbish like Witch Hunt? 

 

Haven't played Tresspasser yet, but I understand it as a plot is connected directly to the main story.

 

Jaws of Hakkon adds a very large area, similar to all of the other areas in the game. 

The Decent adds a large Deep Roads segment.

 

I liked both.

[the_dog_days]

So how are the three story DLCs for DA: Inquisition? Are they worth the money or are they short and kind of rubbish like Witch Hunt?

If you bought the base game separately (which is what I did) they're not worth it, unless you're a huge DA fan. They have a Game of the Year edition that comes with all the dlc that's more worth your money.

[Oerwinde]

Kinda wish they had a game of the year upgrade pass like a lot of other games have. So you can buy all the dlc together, because yeah, 55 bucks for the dlc or 50 for the game of the year edition is just mean to early purchasers

[Serrano]

Yeah, if I buy something this month it'll probably be a couple of games rather than the DLCs. I will keep a hawk-like eye on them and hope for a better deal in the meantime.  Thanks for all the info guys.

[GhostofAnakin]

So how are the three story DLCs for DA: Inquisition? Are they worth the money or are they short and kind of rubbish like Witch Hunt? 

 

I found all three underwhelming.  One was just more open world crap, one was a slog through the deep roads (but even more limiting, IMO, with a boring story), and one was kind of traveling through various Eluvians-->fight some more -->travel through Eluvians -->fight some more.

 

Kind of ironic that for all the hate DA2 gets, at least its story DLC were interesting.

[majestic]

DA2 wasn't that bad except for the reused assets and I'm not really talking about the fact that most of it plays in three seperate acts within the same area, a city won't completely change its face (barring some cataclysmic event) within a few years, but the fact that seperate caves and houses had the exact same layout all the time no matter where you went.

 

Okay, no, the act three story climax was pretty terrible as well what with the way the templar/mage war started. No, that did not completely freel contrived, and no, certain people certainly did not start to act completely out of character so we can have RAAARGH DEMON BLOODMAGE because we wanted to reuse the Flesh Golem model from DA:O. Oh, and boom goes the Chantry.

[Humanoid]

You could buy the GOTY version from Origin Mexico for $20USD at the moment. Still feels a bit expensive if it's only being done to get DLC though.

[Mamoulian War]

Looks like FFVII Remake, will be also censored

 

http://www.siliconera.com/2015/12/21/final-fantasy-vii-remake-developers-on-what-to-change-and-what-to-keep/

 

The more I read about it, the more I wish, that they would never cave in to the OMGREMAEKNAU crowd :-/

[Blodhemn]

I say give Witcher 2 a go sometime. Story and characters are a big improvement over Witcher 1,gameplay is entirely different, and you can usually grab it on sale at gog for like 2.50 like 6 or 7 times a year.

I feel the opposite. Witcher 2 has the most bloated, overly wordy dialogue, which makes Bethesda written games come off as a work of literary art. I'd say it was the single worst game I've ever played for dialogue. I see no reason for someone to play it if they didn't like the first game. Save your time for something else...

[Keyrock]

I say give Witcher 2 a go sometime. Story and characters are a big improvement over Witcher 1,gameplay is entirely different, and you can usually grab it on sale at gog for like 2.50 like 6 or 7 times a year.

 

I thought the gameplay, particularly the combat, in TW2 was an order of magnitude better than in TW1, and the voice acting and dialogue were much superior too.  As far as the actual story, though, I though TW1 was significantly better.  Overall, though, I definitely think TW2 is better than TW1.

[GhostofAnakin]

 

I say give Witcher 2 a go sometime. Story and characters are a big improvement over Witcher 1,gameplay is entirely different, and you can usually grab it on sale at gog for like 2.50 like 6 or 7 times a year.

 

I thought the gameplay, particularly the combat, in TW2 was an order of magnitude better than in TW1, and the voice acting and dialogue were much superior too.  As far as the actual story, though, I though TW1 was significantly better.  Overall, though, I definitely think TW2 is better than TW1.

 

 

I liked the branching story in TW2.  I liked how you could play through a completely different 2nd and 3rd chapter based on your decision in chapter 1.

[Oerwinde]

 

 

 

 

I say give Witcher 2 a go sometime. Story and characters are a big improvement over Witcher 1,gameplay is entirely different, and you can usually grab it on sale at gog for like 2.50 like 6 or 7 times a year.

 

I thought the gameplay, particularly the combat, in TW2 was an order of magnitude better than in TW1, and the voice acting and dialogue were much superior too. As far as the actual story, though, I though TW1 was significantly better. Overall, though, I definitely think TW2 is better than TW1.

I liked the branching story in TW2. I liked how you could play through a completely different 2nd and 3rd chapter based on your decision in chapter 1.

This.

[Lexx]

Looks like something is going on with Steam right now. People are able to login to other accounts and stuff.

 

https://twitter.com/SteamDB/status/680490823226671104

[Flouride]

Yep, just what I wanted random people getting access to my account and address info. Thanks Valve.

Apparently some people have had their accounts used to purchase stuff as well...

Edited December 25, 2015 by Flouride

[Darkpriest]

Nice Christmas present from Lord Gaben to all the other poors on the interwebz. You all people should be happy to share with others!!!

 

On a more serious note. F.U. Valve and your long response. I hope someone in US will sue you for big bucks for such a long response to this.