Video Game Reviews: What Are You Playing?

[Thomas]

When was the last time a Rockstar game came out on time?

[beatlesrule]

I expect RDR 2 in November.

[TobiasFunke]

23 hours ago, beatlesrule said:

I expect RDR 2 in November.

So do I. I hope the game is just as good as the first if not better!

[Jason]

3 hours ago, TobiasFunke said:

So do I. I hope the game is just as good as the first if not better!

It's the only game that I am truly looking forward to

[Brandon]

i honestly am not expecting much as far as release info on rdr2. gta 5 and gta:online is such a monster and pretty much has everything on hold. they keep releasing free content for online and it has it's own world of warcraft ecosystem.....shit, i still play it constantly and the game has been out for almost four years and is still strong in all number aspects. during their quarterly investor call they gave the figures of the what the game is still doing from micro transactions and it's absurd. so i feel like everything is getting pushed back because of the sales of gta 5 and ultimately there are investors that want to maximize profits.

that said, with how badass and the longevity of gta 5, rdr2 should be absolutely amazing. i always am leery of rockstar stories (max payne 3 was pretty dope, though), but hopefully this one is on par with how great the atmosphere will be. they mentioned online being a big component, which should build off what gta 5 did. i was curious about how they would handle the customer base, but came out a while back and basically said that the gta:online ecosystem needs to end at some point (but also recently said they still have a lot of things to come for online)......leading to the transition for rdr2 and the same online community that will come with it, until down the road gta 6 comes out.

with all the delays and surprising numbers gta 5 has put up, i'm really curious to see what rockstar does with rdr2 and online since working out the kinks with gta 5. they pretty much said gta 5 exceeded all expectations and sort of became like a long running top tier tv show where they are writing the next season on the fly and seeing how to implement it, but to their standards.

there is still no information on the game and just click bait sites guessing or making up rumors.....which is still hilarious since rockstar has always been tight lipped on announcements and news.

[Blarg]

On 3/27/2017 at 10:10 AM, cezero said:

Bugie just announce that Destiny 2 will come out on September 8th of this year.
 

Kind of a stupid announcement. Hey kids, we aren't ready and still 6 months away but save your milk money.

[TobiasFunke]

20 hours ago, Jason said:

It's the only game that I am truly looking forward to

Really? 

 

(looks at your avatar)

[mulwin444]

@cezero @TobiasFunke

So, I've hit the 50% completion point (according to the game) in Mass Effect: Andromeda after about 55 hours and I have to say I continue to be impressed by the game.  There is definitely a learning curve in this game in terms of how to use the various maps (on the respective planets, the main facility, the Nexus, and your ship, the Tempest), crafting weapons and armor, using consumables (Inferno Ammo, shield boost, etc), toggling back and forth between the various quests available in the UI...just a lot of "stuff".

A few things:

- I'm having fun switching between the different saved skill set profiles - like changing from Adept (biotic) to a soldier profile on the fly.  The one drawback is that you can't change the load out of weapons along with the profile, so, if you began as a, say, Infiltrator, and you only brought a sniper rifle and a pistol and then you change to the soldier profile, you still have just those weapons which makes it more challenging but I am fine with that "penalty" since it makes sense "in-game".

- Use the fast travel option on the maps as it makes the game pacing a lot easier.  I try to get all the accessible Forward Stations first if I can and then start working through the narrative missions.  There is a LOT of content (I've heard there is a total of 432 side quests) so I just focused on the main, secondary and loyalty missions and do little quests here and there if they happen to be on the way so the facing stays crisp.   

- Crafting is definitely worth it if you can spend a little time getting familiar with it.  You start off with your standardized weapon and armor sets and can buy some different ones through vendors but the best ones are the ones you can craft yourself using Rare and Ultra Rare blueprints.  Your ability to "invest" in research comes points generated through scanning specific areas throughout the game and points fall into three research areas - Milky Way Tech, Hellius Cluster tech, and tech related to a mystery civilization.  You invest the research points into the blueprints and use resources to create the weapon/armor, and using Augments and mods, you can create custom weapons/armor that far outstrips most anything you can buy or find in conainer.

- The Nomad is a blast to drive and the change between 2 wheel and 4 wheel drive seamless.  I didn't have a huge problem with the Mako from ME1 but that damn thing would stall on some steep inclines and you would have traverse your way around until you found an attainable slope.  For the Nomad, unless its almost vertical, you can switch to 4 wheel drive, hit the boost, and it will get you through in most cases.  They really thought that one out in comparison with the issues most people had with the Mako.

- AVP - Andromeda Viability Points - are earned through completing key mission points which, in turn, can be exchanged for opening the cryo-stasis pods of either scientists, military personnel, or merchants.  Each focus grants you different perks (for example: Military Reconnaissance = Extra Item caches on planets) and, the more pods you open, the more "alive" the Nexus becomes and the more areas it opens up.

- The tone is a lot lighter and, overall, a lot funnier in terms of some of the interactions and squad banter.  While the original trilogy always had the impending threat of the reapers and indoctrination hovering over it, this one is way more "open" and in awe of the unknown.  When you met Shepherd, he/she was already a war hero and a veteran, a commander, while Ryder is a explorer/"pathfinder" and a lot younger at 22/23(?) so there is a lot more uncertainty in terms of their confidence.

Overall, I'm giving this a solid 9 so far and I find that its pretty much on par with the other games.  Where is suffers a bit in polish in terms of animations and glitches, it really shines in its depth and variety.  You can basically dictate how you want to play the game - from superficial depth with focusing main story and secondary quests to full immersion and completionism - which definitely adds to its replayability.  Below is an interesting article:

https://reviewhonesty.wordpress.com/2017/03/26/we-surveyed-250-gamers-with-10-hours-of-gameplay-on-mass-effect-andromeda/?iframe=true&theme_preview=true/amp/

Through the survey, it found that those who actually put time into the game past the first 10 hours really enjoyed their experience.  For me, I'd say it really clicks around 20 hours and you're flying from there.  

            

[Jason]

11 minutes ago, TobiasFunke said:

Really? 

 

(looks at your avatar)

Red Dead Redemption and Skyrim took away a significant portion of my life  

[Thomas]

2 hours ago, Jason said:

Red Dead Redemption and Skyrim took away a significant portion of my life  

[mulwin444]

1 minute ago, cezero said:

Awesome, dude. 

Thanks for all of the info. I just found one of the other arks, so I don't think I'm very far into it. I'm enjoying it, and looking forward to figuring out the crafting and stuff. I'm betting I'm going to enjoy this even more on a 2nd playthrough. 

That's what I'm getting as well.  The first time through I'm usually fumbling with the game mechanics and miss a ton of nuance.

[mulwin444]

1 minute ago, cezero said:

as bad as witcher 3's UI was at launch, it's nothing compared to this. 

there is no logical argument that can be made as to why research/development can't just be combined into one. 

having to fly from one system to another system and then to a planet would be 5X faster if they didn't always do the flying animation between each. would anybody actually miss that if it were eliminated, at least until the final approach to a planet?

these are just 2 things that could be easily simplified. looking forward to them getting it right in upcoming patches. 

 

Yeah, these are my main gripes as well.  They don't hurt the overall experience but they are noticeable.  

Oh God, yeah, I remember the Witcher 3's UI and inventory system.  Luckily, they addressed that quickly through DLC.  Honestly, I have no problem with the partitioning of the quests in the UI, its not great but I can navigate through it quickly.  Also, the skill point distribution for the characters is pretty straight forward.  The crafting system, on the other hand, is unnecessarily complex so I agree with you there.  I mean, I appreciate the ability to make some insane weapons - and you can, I've seen some shotguns that can basically be converted into grenade launchers - but its not very intuitive and discourages use if you just want to fool around with it for a bit.

As for planet traveling, yeah, I don't know why they need to fly to the planet, go in for a close-up and then pull back...all of which takes about 20-25 seconds.  I am assuming that these were designed to replace the usual loading screens they had in original trilogy - for ME1 you just got got a animated screen shot of the Normandy's rockets firing, for ME2 it was a collage of attractive orange hued animations, for ME3 it was animations based on where you were traveling.  So, I am wondering if they needed "something" to put there because there was indeed loading screens of some type and thought they'd give you pretty planets to look at or if that was something intentional, but ultimately unnecessary.  It its the latter they need to kill it swiftly.  Luckily, they seemed to have somewhat perfected the "Planet Scanning" aspect of the game as in past iterations, ME2 especially, it was a chore. 

[Thomas]

2 hours ago, cezero said:

Got an alert saying that Best Buy would have a limited number of Nintendo Switch consoles available when the store opened today.. 

Showed up at open, and there were exactly 3.

Got one, and the other 2 were gone by the time I checked out. 

Now I kinda wish I'd gotten one more so I could ebay it. Oh well. 

 

There is supposedly only a $20 to $30 premium on them after tax. Barely worth it.

[TobiasFunke]

On ‎3‎/‎29‎/‎2017 at 11:16 AM, Jason said:

Red Dead Redemption and Skyrim took away a significant portion of my life  

Me too bro, me too

[TobiasFunke]

On ‎3‎/‎29‎/‎2017 at 11:07 AM, mulwin444 said:

@cezero @TobiasFunke

So, I've hit the 50% completion point (according to the game) in Mass Effect: Andromeda after about 55 hours and I have to say I continue to be impressed by the game.  There is definitely a learning curve in this game in terms of how to use the various maps (on the respective planets, the main facility, the Nexus, and your ship, the Tempest), crafting weapons and armor, using consumables (Inferno Ammo, shield boost, etc), toggling back and forth between the various quests available in the UI...just a lot of "stuff".

A few things:

- I'm having fun switching between the different saved skill set profiles - like changing from Adept (biotic) to a soldier profile on the fly.  The one drawback is that you can't change the load out of weapons along with the profile, so, if you began as a, say, Infiltrator, and you only brought a sniper rifle and a pistol and then you change to the soldier profile, you still have just those weapons which makes it more challenging but I am fine with that "penalty" since it makes sense "in-game".

- Use the fast travel option on the maps as it makes the game pacing a lot easier.  I try to get all the accessible Forward Stations first if I can and then start working through the narrative missions.  There is a LOT of content (I've heard there is a total of 432 side quests) so I just focused on the main, secondary and loyalty missions and do little quests here and there if they happen to be on the way so the facing stays crisp.   

- Crafting is definitely worth it if you can spend a little time getting familiar with it.  You start off with your standardized weapon and armor sets and can buy some different ones through vendors but the best ones are the ones you can craft yourself using Rare and Ultra Rare blueprints.  Your ability to "invest" in research comes points generated through scanning specific areas throughout the game and points fall into three research areas - Milky Way Tech, Hellius Cluster tech, and tech related to a mystery civilization.  You invest the research points into the blueprints and use resources to create the weapon/armor, and using Augments and mods, you can create custom weapons/armor that far outstrips most anything you can buy or find in conainer.

- The Nomad is a blast to drive and the change between 2 wheel and 4 wheel drive seamless.  I didn't have a huge problem with the Mako from ME1 but that damn thing would stall on some steep inclines and you would have traverse your way around until you found an attainable slope.  For the Nomad, unless its almost vertical, you can switch to 4 wheel drive, hit the boost, and it will get you through in most cases.  They really thought that one out in comparison with the issues most people had with the Mako.

- AVP - Andromeda Viability Points - are earned through completing key mission points which, in turn, can be exchanged for opening the cryo-stasis pods of either scientists, military personnel, or merchants.  Each focus grants you different perks (for example: Military Reconnaissance = Extra Item caches on planets) and, the more pods you open, the more "alive" the Nexus becomes and the more areas it opens up.

- The tone is a lot lighter and, overall, a lot funnier in terms of some of the interactions and squad banter.  While the original trilogy always had the impending threat of the reapers and indoctrination hovering over it, this one is way more "open" and in awe of the unknown.  When you met Shepherd, he/she was already a war hero and a veteran, a commander, while Ryder is a explorer/"pathfinder" and a lot younger at 22/23(?) so there is a lot more uncertainty in terms of their confidence.

Overall, I'm giving this a solid 9 so far and I find that its pretty much on par with the other games.  Where is suffers a bit in polish in terms of animations and glitches, it really shines in its depth and variety.  You can basically dictate how you want to play the game - from superficial depth with focusing main story and secondary quests to full immersion and completionism - which definitely adds to its replayability.  Below is an interesting article:

https://reviewhonesty.wordpress.com/2017/03/26/we-surveyed-250-gamers-with-10-hours-of-gameplay-on-mass-effect-andromeda/?iframe=true&theme_preview=true/amp/

Through the survey, it found that those who actually put time into the game past the first 10 hours really enjoyed their experience.  For me, I'd say it really clicks around 20 hours and you're flying from there.  

            

Great write up Mul, thanks for that. I'm going to be buying The Witcher 3 today (yea yea I know, but better late than never). I feel like once I play and beat that then I'll probably pick up ME.

[mulwin444]

1 hour ago, TobiasFunke said:

Great write up Mul, thanks for that. I'm going to be buying The Witcher 3 today (yea yea I know, but better late than never). I feel like once I play and beat that then I'll probably pick up ME.

Cool...yeah, Witcher 3 is another good one.  This is a good time to buy it as they have patched all the bugs - some of which were game breaking at first - and now have a "Game of the Year" Edition that includes their two expansions, "Heart of Stone" and "Blood and Wine".  I completed it twice to test out some different directions on the game and to go through the two main romance narratives.  Few things to keep in mind: 1)  The difficulty levels are skewed towards the "hard" so, if you are looking for more of a fast paced playthrough, pick one of the first two difficulty levels.  If you are up for a tough battle, you can play with difficulty levels 3 or 4.  I spent most of time on level 3 (Blood and Broken Bones) 2)  The inventory system is...awkward.  Be prepared for seeking out shops and vendors that you not only will be able to sell your extra gear to but will have the money to take on the more advanced stuff you'll find  3)  Alchemy and crafting are complex and elaborate so I'd spend a little time getting used to the mechanic.

Enjoy yourself...its definitely a fun game!

[beatlesrule]

If you haven't played MLB The Show 17 yet, rectify that ASAP!  Game is soooooooo good and improved in many ways over last years version.  Between The Show and BOTW, I am going to lack sleep for a very long time.

[Blarg]

On 3/30/2017 at 10:30 AM, cezero said:

Got an alert saying that Best Buy would have a limited number of Nintendo Switch consoles available when the store opened today.. 

Showed up at open, and there were exactly 3.

Got one, and the other 2 were gone by the time I checked out. 

Now I kinda wish I'd gotten one more so I could ebay it. Oh well. 

 

You suck at capitalism. 

[mulwin444]

@cezero @TobiasFunke There is going to be big patch for ME Andromeda coming this Thursday:

https://www.masseffect.com/news/the-journey-ahead?sf53509845=1

that is attempting to address some of the most obvious complaints BioWare has heard so far about the game.  Included in the patch will be:

 - Allowing you to skip ahead through the cinematics when traveling between planets

 -  Increasing the inventory limits

 - Improving the appearance of eyes for human characters and overall for the Asari in general

 - Improving Lip Sync

 - Improving character running animation

 - Single Player balance changes in terms of ammo crates, armor, weapons, nomad, profiles, attacks and progression

 - Improved logic, timing, and continuity for relationships and story arcs

Also, over the next two months, future patches will include:

 - More options and variety in the character creator 

 - Improvements to hair and general appearance of characters

 - Improvements to male romance options for Scott Ryder

They stated they will continue to support and provide updates to the game based on feedback.  Also, there are notes related to Muliplayer improvements as well if you like that option.

Pretty impressive response two weeks after release.

 

 

[Thomas]

 

19 minutes ago, cezero said:

That'll make it quite a bit better. 

Good lord, it seems like BioWare hates latinos or something. The coloration and animation for Reyes is egregious.  

Coming in 2018 from Bioware
US Border Wall Builder

The first game to blend designing architecture structures, RPG elements, branching gameplay patch based on dialogue choices and of course the rampant racism you've come to expect from Trump's America.

[Brandon]

taking a bunch of time off. going to try and catch up on some games i left out recently.

gonna try to finish last of us based of people's reviews i respect and need to play uncharted 4 just because the other three were solid and worthwhile.

[Make Angels Great Again]

I just finished uncharted 4 on Saturday. I seriously hadn't finished a game since GTA 5 a couple years ago, then got an urge to play the uncharted series. Then I blew through the first 3 in a manner of a month and a half or so, and finished number 4 within a week.

 

Amazing series, can't wait for the movie. Chris Pratt would make such a good Nathan Drake, but I heard he turned down the role.

[mulwin444]

@cezero 1.5 DLC Patch for Mass Effect: Andromeda hit at 8am PST.   BioWare is breaking the patch up so the first one today is actually 2 GB instead of the initial 5+ GB projection.  So far, the difference is pretty noticeable in terms of eyes and animations.

[Richard]

On 4/3/2017 at 8:21 PM, beatlesrule said:

If you haven't played MLB The Show 17 yet, rectify that ASAP!  Game is soooooooo good and improved in many ways over last years version.  Between The Show and BOTW, I am going to lack sleep for a very long time.

Still getting through my first season at AA for the Marlins. 

Got moved from Center to Second base and promptly air mailed a throw into the stands in my first game.

[beatlesrule]

4 hours ago, Richard said:

Still getting through my first season at AA for the Marlins. 

Got moved from Center to Second base and promptly air mailed a throw into the stands in my first game.

I haven't touched RTTS yet.  DD has a lot of stuff to do but I will get to RTTS and Franchise eventually.