Games to look forward to!
- Thread starter Vampire_Hunter_Bob
- Start date
Still underwhelmed by what they've shown of it. For a game that's been in development for 6 years, I felt like they should be able to demonstrate something bigger. Like sure, combining stuff is kind of neat, but I don't particularly give a shit about making a boat—just give me a boat. I understand I COULD build a boat, but why should I have to? How is it an enhancement, you know...?
But of course I've already preordered because I still think they'll deliver something great.
Griffith
With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
I appreciate this lowered expectations approach, "Oooh, you can build a boat... WHO FREAKIN' CARES!!?" *smash cut to release day* "OMG guys, building a boat is a BLAST!" I'm envious in any case because I'm going to have to bum a Switch off a friend in order to play it at all. So here's hoping it sucks and I can just replay BotW if I want instead. I kind of don't; this might have been "at that time and place" sort of phenomenon. I'll see what you think, you're a rare Mario Odyssey skeptic, after all, which made me feel better about missing out. =)
What am I looking forward to... not really Jedi Survivor, done Souls to death (not that I'd turn down an official entry =), and definitely not Street Fighter 6. I was going to be an early adopter but I don't have time for this anymore; if I have to practice as if I'm learning a musical instrument, just to be respectably bad, I might as well actually do that instead (at least in MK I could get good online just playing it). I guess it's just Diablo IV then, because that's essentially mindlessly addictive fun and I can just hide on the PC and do it while my family is preoccupied in the living room.
What am I looking forward to... not really Jedi Survivor, done Souls to death (not that I'd turn down an official entry =), and definitely not Street Fighter 6. I was going to be an early adopter but I don't have time for this anymore; if I have to practice as if I'm learning a musical instrument, just to be respectably bad, I might as well actually do that instead (at least in MK I could get good online just playing it). I guess it's just Diablo IV then, because that's essentially mindlessly addictive fun and I can just hide on the PC and do it while my family is preoccupied in the living room.
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guess I'll just...do something else with my life...
Nazralath: The Fallen World - new souls like game
Lords of the Fallen- A sequel to the previous Lords of the Fallen game. The game looks damn cool.
Lords of the Fallen- A sequel to the previous Lords of the Fallen game. The game looks damn cool.
Judo
Midlands finest
The new LotF looks interesting, but before they show some actual gameplay, I don't know if I actually wanna play it.
The first LotF was pretty bad imo. But since Deck13 improved quite a bit with their The Surge games, I think I will try out Atlas Fallen when it is released in August.
And I guess the game that will finally make me buy a PS5 will be Baldurs Gate 3. I loved BG2 and I loved Divinity: Original Sin 2... so I have pretty high hopes for this one.
The first LotF was pretty bad imo. But since Deck13 improved quite a bit with their The Surge games, I think I will try out Atlas Fallen when it is released in August.
And I guess the game that will finally make me buy a PS5 will be Baldurs Gate 3. I loved BG2 and I loved Divinity: Original Sin 2... so I have pretty high hopes for this one.
It's a sequel with the same title...?
It's on PC, too (out already in early access).
It's probably meant to completely replace/erase the previous game which left a bad taste in one's mouth. The trailer and gifs shown so far look very promising, but I'll wait to see the gameplay.
I'm also looking forward to Dragon Quest XII even though we still known nothing about it.
it does look sick, too bad we cant play it yet
Judo
Midlands finest
It's a sequel with the same title...?
More like a reboot... its a different developer.
And the new one is called The Lords of the Fallen. Totally different name.
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I want to play Hogwarts Legacy, new Zelda and Phantom Liberty for Cyberpunk 2077… this is all that I want now when it comes to games.
Dark Knight
I’ll gnaw right through your arteries!
Hogwarts Legacy is a lot of fun. The game has some design issues that become super apparent during the endgame, but it was a solid 7/10 game for me.
Dark Knight
I’ll gnaw right through your arteries!
Dragon's Dogma II overview:
Phantom Blade 0 trailer:
Prince of Persia: the Lost Crown:
I'm glad they brought PoP back, but I'm not too thrilled at it being 2D again. Still, looking forward to this.
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These last two aren't available for PS, so I won't play them, but man they look cool.
Jusant:
Avowed:
Phantom Blade 0 trailer:
Prince of Persia: the Lost Crown:
I'm glad they brought PoP back, but I'm not too thrilled at it being 2D again. Still, looking forward to this.
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These last two aren't available for PS, so I won't play them, but man they look cool.
Jusant:
Avowed:
Griffith
With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
My boy is finally back and all glown up like a real character, even making a good guy face turn(!):
People even want to fuck him now! Who knew!?
Anyway, they basically nailed it beyond my wildest expectations. After his treatment the last decade I thought hoping Reptile got a real story besides being a jobber henchman, let alone actually turning him into a good guy (for now), was pure fanfiction, but here we are, and with both his full human and reptile forms represented and looking great in tandem! They totally threaded the needle. The irony is that my complaint about this game and its overall aesthetics has been everything looks too pretty, including the hip, young character designs... until they gave the same treatment to my fave and now it's great!
I'll be playing Sub-Zero (Bi-Han!) in the beta with the Frost Kameo and then him, Reptile, and Shang when it releases next month. Interested in Havik too of course. Otherwise, we'll see, I hope it finds a happy middle ground between MKX and MK11 that new and high level players will both find accessible for their needs. That's the trick though, how low can you make the floor without lowering the ceiling? Street Fighter 6 did it with "Modern Controls," and MK was already somewhere between with its heavily direction based inputs, dial-a-combo history rather than Street Fighter's more demanding motion controls and frame perfect timing on combos. Basically, I wonder if MK1 will have its own equivalent to Modern Controls.
People even want to fuck him now! Who knew!?
Anyway, they basically nailed it beyond my wildest expectations. After his treatment the last decade I thought hoping Reptile got a real story besides being a jobber henchman, let alone actually turning him into a good guy (for now), was pure fanfiction, but here we are, and with both his full human and reptile forms represented and looking great in tandem! They totally threaded the needle. The irony is that my complaint about this game and its overall aesthetics has been everything looks too pretty, including the hip, young character designs... until they gave the same treatment to my fave and now it's great!
I'll be playing Sub-Zero (Bi-Han!) in the beta with the Frost Kameo and then him, Reptile, and Shang when it releases next month. Interested in Havik too of course. Otherwise, we'll see, I hope it finds a happy middle ground between MKX and MK11 that new and high level players will both find accessible for their needs. That's the trick though, how low can you make the floor without lowering the ceiling? Street Fighter 6 did it with "Modern Controls," and MK was already somewhere between with its heavily direction based inputs, dial-a-combo history rather than Street Fighter's more demanding motion controls and frame perfect timing on combos. Basically, I wonder if MK1 will have its own equivalent to Modern Controls.
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Dragon's Dogma II is out March 22, 2024: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2054970/?snr=1_5_9__205
guuuuuuuuts
Excited for the next chapter!
Risk of Rain Returns.
I loved the original game, so happy to see it now will include actual online coop.
I loved the original game, so happy to see it now will include actual online coop.
I played a few hours of Sword of Convallaria's demo version after @Lawliet asked me about the game. I figured I'd make a proper post about my impressions rather than write a novel in the chat. I'd make a dedicated thread but I doubt it would get much engagement, so I'm dumping it here instead.
It's a tactical RPG that's strongly inspired by Tactics Ogre and Final Fantasy Tactics, made by a Chinese company called "X.D. Network Inc". It's got a decent budget, with full voice acting in Chinese and Japanese, and a soundtrack composed by Hitoshi Sakimoto. The graphics are "2.5D", inspired by the Octopath Traveller style. From the pixel art to the animation, it looks really nice.
But is it good as a game, though? The first thing you should know is that this is being built as a mobile game. I played it on Steam, but it's clear to me that the UI and systems were created with smartphone touchscreens in mind. As a result, playing with a controller doesn't feel particularly good. The developers say they're looking at consoles in the future, but nothing's guaranteed at this point.
The second thing to know is that it's "free to play". Monetization is achieved through in-app purchases. You have a gacha mechanic for recruitment of characters as well as special currencies you can purchase. The game uses a system called "Endurance" that controls how many hours you can play each day. If you want to replenish this gauge, you need to use a special potion, and that potion costs crystals. You also need keys to unlock new paths in the main story. Likewise, these can be obtained in game, or purchased. In addition there's a bunch of currencies for advancing abilities, gear, etc.
As is typical of these types of games, there's menus upon menus for all this stuff, to the point where it feels like a distraction from the game proper. That's because it's essential for the devs that you spend money in there, so it's got to be front and center. Meanwhile, the actual customization feels pretty basic. Each character can have up to four abilities (including their standard attack), three pieces of equipment, and can gain levels. You can accelerate the leveling up by spending yet another form of currency. There's also class traits, skins... A whole bunch of stuff that doesn't fundamentally alter how the characters play.
As far as the gameplay is concerned, it's extremely basic and very easy, to the point where losing is something you'd have to do on purpose. The tactical aspects mostly come from two elements. First, there's a rock-paper-scissors aspect to the classes, where each is strong against one and weak against another. There's no real rhyme or reason to it, it's just the way it is. Second, there are explosive barrels or giant boulders laying around the levels that can take out a bunch of enemies at once.
Except for bosses, enemies are one hit kills most of the time, two if the character you use is weak against them. For the section I played through, character mobility didn't play much of a role. You do get to use elevation to send boulders rolling and the like, but it also feels fairly basic. Ranged attacks hardly seem to matter, except to explode barrels. Ah, and despite the game being made in 3D in Unity, the player's viewpoint is fixed, you can't rotate the camera. Likely to keep things simple for smartphone users.
Story-wise, things are divided between the main storyline, which you can progress by spending keys, and the "Sea of Chaos" where you basically grind to raise your stats and find items. You kill "phantoms" of enemies from the campaign in similar looking environments with slight tweaks as to the placement of enemies, barrels, crates, etc. While there's some attempt to connect these two modes in the introduction, they've got different progression trees, character levels and so on, so they feel quite separate in the end, even though they reuse the same assets.
The story itself revolves around tarot cards and fate (it really doesn't shy away from its Tactics Ogre inspiration), where you play a "tactician" who gets to command a group of mercenaries, the titular "Sword of Convallaria", who are from the town of Convallaria. A pretty lame name in my opinion, but what do I know. That band has essentially 3 real characters and a handful of generic soldiers in it. The background is the usual troubled kingdom with war about to break out over a struggle for power. It's not exactly fresh, and you can tell pretty much right away that the second in line for the throne instigated the troubles in order to seize power.
Anyway, you have to manage the town's stability by doing various missions, and there's again tons of systems: weeks that go by, characters who need to rest after a number of missions, you can only undertake a certain number of missions per week, etc. The voice acting helps make the characters feel a little less generic, but the dialogue is frankly not very inspiring overall. I guess that's about it. The developers say they're working on PVP, on a "trade mode", and have another campaign (unrelated to the main one) in the works. The idea is to have this be a live service game of sorts, with new content coming in all the time to keep players hooked.
To conclude this long-winded post, I'd say that this game isn't very interesting to me as far as T-RPGs go. It does a great job of looking like one, but it's not challenging, the game mechanics aren't compelling, and the story feels like a rehash. Anyone interested in the genre should rather play Tactics Ogre Reborn.
It's a tactical RPG that's strongly inspired by Tactics Ogre and Final Fantasy Tactics, made by a Chinese company called "X.D. Network Inc". It's got a decent budget, with full voice acting in Chinese and Japanese, and a soundtrack composed by Hitoshi Sakimoto. The graphics are "2.5D", inspired by the Octopath Traveller style. From the pixel art to the animation, it looks really nice.
But is it good as a game, though? The first thing you should know is that this is being built as a mobile game. I played it on Steam, but it's clear to me that the UI and systems were created with smartphone touchscreens in mind. As a result, playing with a controller doesn't feel particularly good. The developers say they're looking at consoles in the future, but nothing's guaranteed at this point.
The second thing to know is that it's "free to play". Monetization is achieved through in-app purchases. You have a gacha mechanic for recruitment of characters as well as special currencies you can purchase. The game uses a system called "Endurance" that controls how many hours you can play each day. If you want to replenish this gauge, you need to use a special potion, and that potion costs crystals. You also need keys to unlock new paths in the main story. Likewise, these can be obtained in game, or purchased. In addition there's a bunch of currencies for advancing abilities, gear, etc.
As is typical of these types of games, there's menus upon menus for all this stuff, to the point where it feels like a distraction from the game proper. That's because it's essential for the devs that you spend money in there, so it's got to be front and center. Meanwhile, the actual customization feels pretty basic. Each character can have up to four abilities (including their standard attack), three pieces of equipment, and can gain levels. You can accelerate the leveling up by spending yet another form of currency. There's also class traits, skins... A whole bunch of stuff that doesn't fundamentally alter how the characters play.
As far as the gameplay is concerned, it's extremely basic and very easy, to the point where losing is something you'd have to do on purpose. The tactical aspects mostly come from two elements. First, there's a rock-paper-scissors aspect to the classes, where each is strong against one and weak against another. There's no real rhyme or reason to it, it's just the way it is. Second, there are explosive barrels or giant boulders laying around the levels that can take out a bunch of enemies at once.
Except for bosses, enemies are one hit kills most of the time, two if the character you use is weak against them. For the section I played through, character mobility didn't play much of a role. You do get to use elevation to send boulders rolling and the like, but it also feels fairly basic. Ranged attacks hardly seem to matter, except to explode barrels. Ah, and despite the game being made in 3D in Unity, the player's viewpoint is fixed, you can't rotate the camera. Likely to keep things simple for smartphone users.
Story-wise, things are divided between the main storyline, which you can progress by spending keys, and the "Sea of Chaos" where you basically grind to raise your stats and find items. You kill "phantoms" of enemies from the campaign in similar looking environments with slight tweaks as to the placement of enemies, barrels, crates, etc. While there's some attempt to connect these two modes in the introduction, they've got different progression trees, character levels and so on, so they feel quite separate in the end, even though they reuse the same assets.
The story itself revolves around tarot cards and fate (it really doesn't shy away from its Tactics Ogre inspiration), where you play a "tactician" who gets to command a group of mercenaries, the titular "Sword of Convallaria", who are from the town of Convallaria. A pretty lame name in my opinion, but what do I know. That band has essentially 3 real characters and a handful of generic soldiers in it. The background is the usual troubled kingdom with war about to break out over a struggle for power. It's not exactly fresh, and you can tell pretty much right away that the second in line for the throne instigated the troubles in order to seize power.
Anyway, you have to manage the town's stability by doing various missions, and there's again tons of systems: weeks that go by, characters who need to rest after a number of missions, you can only undertake a certain number of missions per week, etc. The voice acting helps make the characters feel a little less generic, but the dialogue is frankly not very inspiring overall. I guess that's about it. The developers say they're working on PVP, on a "trade mode", and have another campaign (unrelated to the main one) in the works. The idea is to have this be a live service game of sorts, with new content coming in all the time to keep players hooked.
To conclude this long-winded post, I'd say that this game isn't very interesting to me as far as T-RPGs go. It does a great job of looking like one, but it's not challenging, the game mechanics aren't compelling, and the story feels like a rehash. Anyone interested in the genre should rather play Tactics Ogre Reborn.