officerdonnz
N3
The Fat Controller
Games: Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, SWTOR, Anthem
Origin: OfficerDonNZ
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Post by officerdonnz on Mar 17, 2019 17:59:13 GMT
For me I think it's both. Once upon a time I liked games like Titan Quest and Grim Dawn but now I just loathe them. Though there is something fun about mindlessly killing things It's the loot grind I hate with a passion. I have the Beamdog versions of Baldur's Gate I and II IWD and NWN 1 which I still enjoy playing. To me their graphics have stoop up pretty well, but then to me graphics aren't the be all and end all like they are to some. My eyesight is pretty bad so I don't get so hung up on flashy graphics but I still like to look at nice things. There are fewer and fewer games coming out that appeal to me so I find myself playing older games to scratch the itch.
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Post by Terminator Force on Mar 18, 2019 17:39:12 GMT
Can easily balance out the changing gaming landscape with retro gaming. I do. ^ a Landstalker town mapped. ^ Bar scene in Shining in the Darkness. ^ Shining Force battle scene. Love the Camelot developed Shining games from the 90s before they had a falling out with Sega. All these game available on Steam (titled SEGA Mega Drive & Genesis Classics). Don't believe you have get it with all games in bundle, as I've bought mine via a Steam sale which came with a 9 games, and the rest can pick and choose what else to add to the Collection for $1.19 Canadian (just yesterday added the Sonic Trilogy as they were on sale for $1.37 each, since the Sonic games normally go for $5.49).
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Cyberstrike
N4
is wanting to have some fun!
Games: Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, Mass Effect Legendary Edition
XBL Gamertag: cyberstrike nTo
PSN: cyberstrike-nTo
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Post by Cyberstrike on Mar 18, 2019 18:36:18 GMT
Then I'll make that my next game - though I guess I'll need to play Tomb Raider Reboot again first just so I can properly plug in to the story.
Also get the Blood Ties DLC for it. It's a very good and very different game to Rise of the Tomb Raider and it's story is very touching.
I would also recommend Life is Strange: Before the Storm and Life is Strange: Season 1 these aren't stealth games and they are many things but "fast paced" isn't one of them.
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Onecrazymonkey1
"A person of any mental quality has ideas of his own. This is common sense." Franz Liszt
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Post by Onecrazymonkey1 on Mar 18, 2019 19:23:50 GMT
Growing up you could almost stick any game down in front of me and I would have fun but those days have long since passed as I've gotten older. I've become less forgiving of the things I don't like, perhaps it's due to the time constraints I have placed on me now or maybe it's because I'm just not the target audience anymore. I'm highly reclusive and like to take things at a slower place so multiplayer and these "live service elements" don't interest me. I want my choices to matter (or at the very least matter for my own pc) and I'm peeved when they don't - I.e my blood mage Hawke appearing in inquisition that for some reason finds blood magic evil.
The most recent game I was able to enjoy non stop until completion was pillars of eternity II, while most others I've gotten fatigued with and stopped mid-way lately. I still enjoy games and look forward to their release but I guess I'd rather not waste the little time I do have playing something I feel is mediocre.
I'd say both have changed but I can't look past that maybe I'm just a grump now.
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ahglock
N5
Games: Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Shattered Steel, Neverwinter Nights, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, SWTOR, Anthem
Origin: ShinobiKillfist
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Post by ahglock on Mar 19, 2019 0:14:12 GMT
I think it’s a bunch of things.
1. When you age your tastes may change. Mine haven’t much at all but I’m immature.
2. Games I think are getting maybe not worse but more predictable. They are more formulaic it’s like they have a checklist of things to knock off instead if creating new content. The nature of a industry no longer being new.
3. I think for me the big switch is how I value the cost of a game. As a youth I’d buy a game and I damn well better play it to death because I wasn’t getting another one for a bit. Th costs are the same but $50-60 means a lot less in general and even if the costs had gone along with inflation the total amount means less to me as I advanced my career. When I retire in a few that may change. But now. If a game isn’t good I have no problem dropping it and doing something else. It was only $50 or more frequently like $10 on steam.
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ALTBOULI
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Games: Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, KOTOR, Jade Empire
Origin: ALTBOULI313
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Post by ALTBOULI on Mar 20, 2019 12:03:13 GMT
For a couple of years now I seem to have been left feeling alienated by most of what I'd class as 'modern games'. They just aren't grabbing me, something seems to be missing, I'm not feeling it. I occasionally try new games, but this is getting less frequent - last year I tried one single new game: Prey, thought the concept seemed interesting but was bored after an hour, there were no other games I was particularly interested in playing. Before that I tried Mass Effect Andromeda - it was OK, in that I actually completed it, but I never felt any real desire to replay it, large parts of it seemed like a slog. Doom 2016 left me utterly cold - I actively hated that one. In fact the only recent game I can think of that I actually felt gripped by, and truly enjoyed was Wolfenstein The New Colossus. That's one single game in almost three years. Now I'm looking at the new titles planned for 2019 - and there's not even one I have any interest in playing. They leave me utterly indifferent. It never used to be like this. I remember reading about upcoming games in the late 1990s and early-to-mid noughties and feeling excitement and anticipation. There were so many pending releases that I just couldn't wait to try - and for the most part, I'd enjoy playing them once purchased. Now I feel nothing. It's not that I no longer enjoy gaming - I still love playing my older games, but it seems that's all I want to play. So - is it me? Have I changed? Are these new releases actually fantastic games, but I've changed too much to appreciate them? Or are modern games becoming increasingly homogenised, rote, dulled-down and stripped of the thing that used to make gaming good? Does anyone else feel like this, or am I just an old whining git moaning about how 'things were better in my day'? I honestly can't tell. Old games > new games, thought it was nostalgia but in recent times I have played some of the older Final Fantasy games (7 and 9) as well as KOTOR 1 and 2. These games keep me interested far more than most modern games simply because the story, pacing and general feel of those games are great. I hear great things about the new Tomb raider and games like Horizon zero dawn, but I simply cant play them for too long without starting to feel like it's a chore. Thought it was because I was just getting older and I'm not as interested in games as I once was (and that is definitely 1 aspect) but it's also because I cant relate to most of these modern games, most don't have great stories to them and if they do they are let down by pacing or other factors, then you have the plethora of games companies who try to make you only play their games (games as a live service is a double edged sword and more often than not fails miserably due to corporate greed). What happened to those polished single player games that were 30-40 hours long? Content wasnt cut to make way for future DLC and so the stories were completed within that 30-40 hour period. Games like this are few and far between
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...lives for biotic explosions. And cheesecake!
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Post by Kappa Neko on Mar 20, 2019 14:59:04 GMT
Yes, I want 40h of tight narrative back! Not these open world busywork games. I DO like open world but now EVERY AAA game is open world and all about wasting hundreds of hours of your life. I just want another Mass Effect trilogy experience where I'm basically playing the hero of a long interactive action movie with choices.
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Post by clips7 on Mar 21, 2019 3:38:50 GMT
Growing up you could almost stick any game down in front of me and I would have fun but those days have long since passed as I've gotten older. I've become less forgiving of the things I don't like, perhaps it's due to the time constraints I have placed on me now or maybe it's because I'm just not the target audience anymore. I'm highly reclusive and like to take things at a slower place so multiplayer and these "live service elements" don't interest me. I want my choices to matter (or at the very least matter for my own pc) and I'm peeved when they don't - I.e my blood mage Hawke appearing in inquisition that for some reason finds blood magic evil. Completely agree.... I hear great things about the new Tomb raider and games like Horizon zero dawn, but I simply cant play them for too long without starting to feel like it's a chore. Could not agree more especially about Horizon....i'm playing that game now, and the story is not really pulling me in, the open world and side stories (while some are ok) it feels like alot of busy work....i was almost ready to give up on it, but i'm going to just try and stay on the main story path and see if that keeps me interested....as far as Tomb Raider goes?...i thought the first reboot was great....Rise was ok, but for me the story was a bit boring.....i have Shadow of the Tomb Raider, but haven't played it yet. Yes, I want 40h of tight narrative back! Not these open world busywork games. I DO like open world but now EVERY AAA game is open world and all about wasting hundreds of hours of your life. I just want another Mass Effect trilogy experience where I'm basically playing the hero of a long interactive action movie with choices. I agree....i'm not really a fan of open world,...i like tight story driven SP games that focus on characters and story.....for me God of War was absolutely stunning, in visuals, narrative and characters..the Growth of Kratos from his earlier games was such a massive improvement....the writers did an amazing job with his character. I'm with you as far as tight narrative driven content....i'm a horror fan so i loved the Evil Within 2....and even tho the setup was a bit open world, it was done in a way that still kept everything interesting because the side missions you did, tied some backstory information into the main story which was still an option and you didn't really miss anything if you didn't perform them. I liked "Until Dawn" and i was fond of "Little Nightmares"..i also loved the most recently released Resident Evil 2.... I still find myself playing last gen games like the Dead Space trilogy....Mass Effect 2 & 3....and Resident Evil ReMake...and Spec Ops The Line...Last of Us... Overall i find that i don't have the patience to rack my brains on puzzles or super difficult games...i just want to experience a great SP game with enemies that present a challenge, but nothing insanely difficult. Back in the day i used to be up for those challenges...not any more....i just want a nice smooth enjoying experience...and games like the ones mentioned above, i can get a satisfying session of gaming every single time...no matter how many times i have played them...
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"Why are you telling me this? I can read and draw my own conclusions." - Roach
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Post by Blast Processor on Mar 23, 2019 5:17:45 GMT
I feel like some of these open world games should pay me to play them. Lately I've started to gravitate towards linear shooters, which generally isn't my deal. There is something to be said for the simplicity of blasting bad guys for 5 hours while hopefully enjoying a decent story and then moving on. I would love another Spec Ops The Line.
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michaeln7
N3
Games: Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, KOTOR, Neverwinter Nights, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda
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Post by michaeln7 on Mar 23, 2019 16:06:39 GMT
I got Alpha Protocol last week, and holy mercy it was released in 2010.
It's relatively short, but the sheer reactivity is amazing. As an "espionage RPG", you can travel freely between locations, and depending on the order you do them, characters will reference it. Your overall personality/reputation carries weight, and people will react accordingly.
That, and it's entirely possible to never meet some characters, or for a mission to play out in a wildly divergent manner due to something you said or a piece of intel you found way back.
It's a bit bittersweet, because I was 19 in 2010, my life was total garbage, but games were AMAZING.
My life is substantially better, but the games have not kept up.
I suppose it's not all bad, though. If the worst feeling I get is "oh, games aren't as fun" then I must have it pretty good.
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Post by mattig89ch on Mar 28, 2019 21:55:05 GMT
michaeln7 if you like characters referencing past conversations and actions, I can highly recommend Consortium on steam/gog. I think there are like 30 different endings to that game, depending on the choices you make in the game.
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ahglock
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Games: Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Shattered Steel, Neverwinter Nights, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, SWTOR, Anthem
Origin: ShinobiKillfist
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Post by ahglock on Mar 29, 2019 0:04:39 GMT
On the it’s you not me side of games vs me changing. Downloaded final fantasy 7 for my switch last night. I had 0 problem just starting up and playing it again. I’m sitting here at work counting the minutes to go home and play some more and I have to good current games in my I need to finish these some day queue. RDR2 and SpiderMan.
So while yes I’m sure I’ve changed a bit. It really is the games.
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ergates
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Games: Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, Mass Effect Legendary Edition
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Post by ergates on Apr 11, 2019 14:41:56 GMT
I seem to have a strange relationship with open world games - in that I can play Skyrim, Fallout3/4 practically for ever and never become bored, burned out or fed up... but other open world titles (especially the Bioware ones) leave me feeling burned out and apathetic. After a while they feel more like a chore than something I'm doing for pleasure - a box ticking exercise in repetitive busywork.
I have absolutely no idea why I can love the Bethesda open world games, but feel indifferent about the Bioware ones. I;ve thought about this a lot, and it's hard to come up with a definitive answer. Perhaps it's because the first person perspective of Skyrim/Fallout leaves me feeling more immersed and an active part of the world? Maybe it's because the Bethesda titles tend to be one large, overall holistic world, whereas the Bioware ones are really just large unconnected zones?
Maybe it's something to do with the kind of quests offered? Or is it down to the fact that the Bioware titles (Inquisition/Andromeda) tend to consist of fairly empty regions, filled with tightly-packed enemies, just like an MMO; and exploration often entails constantly fighting your way forward, slaying things in your way, which quickly respawn - whereas Bioware games tend to be relatively open spaces often with just a smattering of wildlife to populate them - enemies and obstacles are more likely to take the form of camps, forts or ambushes along the way.
Or maybe it's just a combination of all the above?
The worst form of busywork (for me at least) is collectibles. I absolutely loathe collectibles, they represent the worst and most lazy form of timewaster/time sink content' designed to artificially pad out the game, and I will generally take grim pleasure in ignoring all collectibles. I've witnessed some players literally spending hours of their precious time scaling frustrating cliff faces and near-impassable terrain, battling their way forward in order to grab some pointless foobah that then sits in their menu inventory, providing no benefits save for a brief 'well done you found a Wogarbully testicle" message on their screen. The ultimate Skinner box.
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azarhal
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Games: Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, SWTOR, Mass Effect Legendary Edition
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Post by azarhal on Apr 11, 2019 21:24:38 GMT
I seem to have a strange relationship with open world games - in that I can play Skyrim, Fallout3/4 practically for ever and never become bored, burned out or fed up... but other open world titles (especially the Bioware ones) leave me feeling burned out and apathetic. After a while they feel more like a chore than something I'm doing for pleasure - a box ticking exercise in repetitive busywork. I have absolutely no idea why I can love the Bethesda open world games, but feel indifferent about the Bioware ones. I;ve thought about this a lot, and it's hard to come up with a definitive answer. Perhaps it's because the first person perspective of Skyrim/Fallout leaves me feeling more immersed and an active part of the world? Maybe it's because the Bethesda titles tend to be one large, overall holistic world, whereas the Bioware ones are really just large unconnected zones? Maybe it's something to do with the kind of quests offered? Or is it down to the fact that the Bioware titles (Inquisition/Andromeda) tend to consist of fairly empty regions, filled with tightly-packed enemies, just like an MMO; and exploration often entails constantly fighting your way forward, slaying things in your way, which quickly respawn - whereas Bioware games tend to be relatively open spaces often with just a smattering of wildlife to populate them - enemies and obstacles are more likely to take the form of camps, forts or ambushes along the way. Or maybe it's just a combination of all the above? The worst form of busywork (for me at least) is collectibles. I absolutely loathe collectibles, they represent the worst and most lazy form of timewaster/time sink content' designed to artificially pad out the game, and I will generally take grim pleasure in ignoring all collectibles. I've witnessed some players literally spending hours of their precious time scaling frustrating cliff faces and near-impassable terrain, battling their way forward in order to grab some pointless foobah that then sits in their menu inventory, providing no benefits save for a brief 'well done you found a Wogarbully testicle" message on their screen. The ultimate Skinner box. Bethesda game world are based on immersive sim game design, it's like a sandbox with some stories to follow here and there. While most "open world" games are more static missions oriented with mini-activities outside of those missions. That's why Bethesda games have hundred of optional cave/ruins/dungeons, while other open world games have almost none unless it's part of the main story.
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...lives for biotic explosions. And cheesecake!
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Post by Kappa Neko on Apr 12, 2019 8:14:21 GMT
ergates You're not seriously wondering why you enjoy Bethesda's amazing sandbox open worlds more than Bioware's clueless sterile lifeless mockery of open world, are you?? LOL. Bioware does not understand what makes a good open world, not at all. Not even when they tried to copy Skyrim with DAI. I haven't seen a worse attempt at open world than Bioware's THREE sort of open world games that are still not actually open world because it's not one big map without loading screens.
Not being that into Bioware's OW design has nothing to do with age or anything. They are just BAD.
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Post by Pounce de León on Apr 12, 2019 8:49:51 GMT
ergates You're not seriously wondering why you enjoy Bethesda's amazing sandbox open worlds more than Bioware's clueless sterile lifeless mockery of open world, are you?? LOL. Bioware does not understand what makes a good open world, not at all. Not even when they tried to copy Skyrim with DAI. I haven't seen a worse attempt at open world than Bioware's THREE sort of open world games that are still not actually open world because it's not one big map without loading screens.
Not being that into Bioware's OW design has nothing to do with age or anything. They are just BAD. Ye, BW "OW" are merely levels rather than coherent "worlds". Large levels. And depending on the designers, you get sometimes jump and run parcours, artificial walls or even a glimpse of a believable environment. They simply aren't designed like Open Worlds. It's not just a Bioware problem - most struggle with the world-building. TW3 wasn't that great in open world-building neither, but it didn't matter so much because the story carried the thing all by itself.
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Post by Kappa Neko on Apr 12, 2019 9:13:33 GMT
Ye, BW "OW" are merely levels rather than coherent "worlds". Large levels. And depending on the designers, you get sometimes jump and run parcours, artificial walls or even a glimpse of a believable environment. They simply aren't designed like Open Worlds. It's not just a Bioware problem - most struggle with the world-building. TW3 wasn't that great in open world-building neither, but it didn't matter so much because the story carried the thing all by itself. How was W3's open world bad? Genuinely curious. There's a general difference between Bethesda's open worlds and pretty much any other. But I thought CDPR did a great job of balancing story and OW and having both of these things work well together. The world of W3 is complementary to the story. Hunting monsters is Geralt's job after all. So I didn't feel the disconnect between open world and story as much as in other games. Plus, the world actualy reacted in some way to Geralt.
I agree about Bioware simply making their levels super big and thinking that's enough. Now instead of walking over into a corner to pick something up, they make you drive 5min through a boring desert to pick somethign up in the middle of nowhere, spend another 5min to drive back. So for 10min you are stuck doing the most banal thing for the tiniest quest reward. There's NOTHING going on to distract you in a good way, nothing else to see and learn. Just a huge empty level with object markers for pointless fetch quests. That drove me INSANE when playing MEA. It was so bad I almost rage quit. The way MEA's quests wasted my time was disgusting. I started to really HATE the quest design way more than the bland writing. And I SKIPPED all the quests marked Tasks and it was STILL an awful waste of time!
RDR2 is the most impressive alive open world currently. They worked their devs half to death to make it, so not sure I should demand this level of immersion for all future open world games, but damn...
In terms of emergent gameplay and exploration, Bethesda remains king, of course. They sacrifce other things for it, so I'm not saying Bioware should have gone the Bethesda route. But putting SOME kind of effort into making their "open world" feel alive would have been appreciated...
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Post by Pounce de León on Apr 12, 2019 9:29:37 GMT
Ye, BW "OW" are merely levels rather than coherent "worlds". Large levels. And depending on the designers, you get sometimes jump and run parcours, artificial walls or even a glimpse of a believable environment. They simply aren't designed like Open Worlds. It's not just a Bioware problem - most struggle with the world-building. TW3 wasn't that great in open world-building neither, but it didn't matter so much because the story carried the thing all by itself. How was W3's open world bad? Genuinely curious. There's a general difference between Bethesda's open worlds and pretty much any other. But I thought CDPR did a great job of balancing story and OW and having both of these things work well together. The world of W3 is complementary to the story. Hunting monsters is Geralt's job after all. So I didn't feel the disconnect between open world and story as much as in other games. Plus, the world actualy reacted in some way to Geralt.
I agree about Bioware simply making their levels super big and thinking that's enough. Now instead of walking over into a corner to pick something up, they make you drive 5min through a boring desert to pick somethign up in the middle of nowhere, spend another 5min to drive back. So for 10min you are stuck doing the most banal thing for the tiniest quest reward. There's NOTHING going on to distract you in a good way, nothing else to see and learn. Just a huge empty level with object markers for pointless fetch quests. That drove me INSANE when playing MEA. It was so bad I almost rage quit. The way MEA's quests wasted my time was disgusting. I started to really HATE the quest design way more than the bland writing. And I SKIPPED all the quests marked Tasks and it was STILL an awful waste of time!
RDR2 is the most impressive alive open world currently. They worked their devs half to death to make it, so not sure I should demand this level of immersion for all future open world games, but damn...
In terms of emergent gameplay and exploration, Bethesda remains king, of course. They sacrifce other things for it, so I'm not saying Bioware should have gone the Bethesda route. But putting SOME kind of effort into making their "open world" feel alive would have been appreciated...
My main gripe was bad incentive to explore. Bethesda gets the "oh, I wanna go THERE" moments right. In TW3 you had a hard time overlooking for points of interest with all the woods. I could say Ubisoft overdoes the vantage points in their worlds - TW3 underdid.
Also fucking question marks. While just an UI thing (and thankfully they were optional UI) it does have an impact on how how perceive the world.
Open World is also a lot about encounter density - imo, open world is best explored on foot, but that is maybe just personal pref.
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Kappa Neko
...lives for biotic explosions. And cheesecake!
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Oct 18, 2016 21:17:18 GMT
October 2016
kappaneko
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, Mass Effect Andromeda
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Post by Kappa Neko on Apr 12, 2019 10:05:20 GMT
My main gripe was bad incentive to explore. Bethesda gets the "oh, I wanna go THERE" moments right. In TW3 you had a hard time overlooking for points of interest with all the woods. I could say Ubisoft overdoes the vantage points in their worlds - TW3 underdid.
Also fucking question marks. While just an UI thing (and thankfully they were optional UI) it does have an impact on how how perceive the world.
Open World is also a lot about encounter density - imo, open world is best explored on foot, but that is maybe just personal pref.
At least there actually WERE places to explore and people to meet in W3 opposed to Bioware's recent worlds. *g* Maps littered with question marks is not something I'm thrilled about either... I gladly cleared all question marks on land because I actually loved the combat. Couldn't get enough of it. I ignored those in the ocean because that was just a hassle. I prefer on foot exploration too but used Roach a lot to backtrack to known locations.
My biggest gripes with W3 were actually the inventory management and the insane grind for Witcher gear.
Nobody does exploration like Bethesda, no argument. But I thought W3 was decent enough in that respect. The world felt organic and relatively alive. That's what matters for an open world game with a strong narrative, imo. It needs to feel like an actual world, not just a pretty painting. A modern open world needs seemless town integration which is something that W3 nailed. Hell, even FO4's Boston is quite impressive for that old engine! Novigrad was super impressive. Not actually super big but bustling and well designed. And it wasn't the ONLY city either. The DLC map was just gorgeous all around and better than the main game in pretty much all respect.
W3 brought the books to life very well and so it just felt GREAT to me to walk around in it and meet all these monsters. But it took some warming up to it after the much more colorful and diverse maps of DAI. That's one aspect where DAI's world worked: varied highly stylized environments of immense beauty. W3's main game map went for a much more realistic style. Lots of fields and small villages. Quite ordinary even if idealized. I come from the colorful high fantasy background of JRPGs. W3's world is beautiful in its own way, but I would be lying if I said the first 10 hours of W3 or so didn't leave me disappointed visually. Finding and following the main quest was confusing too at first.
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Pounce de León
Praise the Justicat!
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August 2016
catastrophy
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Post by Pounce de León on Apr 12, 2019 10:15:33 GMT
My main gripe was bad incentive to explore. Bethesda gets the "oh, I wanna go THERE" moments right. In TW3 you had a hard time overlooking for points of interest with all the woods. I could say Ubisoft overdoes the vantage points in their worlds - TW3 underdid.
Also fucking question marks. While just an UI thing (and thankfully they were optional UI) it does have an impact on how how perceive the world.
Open World is also a lot about encounter density - imo, open world is best explored on foot, but that is maybe just personal pref.
At least there actually WERE places to explore and people to meet in W3 opposed to Bioware's recent worlds. *g* Maps littered with question marks is not something I'm thrilled about either... I gladly cleared all question marks on land because I actually loved the combat. Couldn't get enough of it. I ignored those in the ocean because that was just a hassle. I prefer on foot exploration too but used Roach a lot to backtrack to known locations.
My biggest gripes with W3 were actually the inventory management and the insane grind for Witcher gear.
Nobody does exploration like Bethesda, no argument. But I thought W3 was decent enough in that respect. The world felt organic and relatively alive. That's what matters for an open world game with a strong narrative, imo. It needs to feel like an actual world, not just a pretty painting. A modern open world needs seemless town integration which is something that W3 nailed. Hell, even FO4's Boston is quite impressive for that old engine! Novigrad was super impressive. Not actually super big but bustling and well designed. And it wasn't the ONLY city either. The DLC map was just gorgeous all around and better than the main game in pretty much all respect.
W3 brought the books to life very well and so it just felt GREAT to me to walk around in it and meet all these monsters. But it took some warming up to it after the much more colorful and diverse maps of DAI. That's one aspect where DAI's world worked: varied highly stylized environments of immense beauty. W3's main game map went for a much more realistic style. Lots of fields and small villages. Quite ordinary even if idealized. I come from the colorful high fantasy background of JRPGs. W3's world is beautiful in its own way, but I would be lying if I said the first 10 hours of W3 or so didn't leave me disappointed visually. Finding and following the main quest was confusing too at first.
Absolutely, TW3 just din't work well as hiking game. I tried, then concentrated on the story and contracts and still had a total blast. I really liked the setting, too. I guess it might look drab in the muddy places, but I found it quite fitting.
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Kappa Neko
...lives for biotic explosions. And cheesecake!
3,342
Oct 18, 2016 21:17:18 GMT
October 2016
kappaneko
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, Mass Effect Andromeda
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Post by Kappa Neko on Apr 12, 2019 10:48:14 GMT
Absolutely, TW3 just din't work well as hiking game. I tried, then concentrated on the story and contracts and still had a total blast. I really liked the setting, too. I guess it might look drab in the muddy places, but I found it quite fitting. Don't think CDPR was going for a hiking simulator LOL. But yeah, I appreciate that about Skyrim!!! I also spent most of RDR2 hunting and fishing, and I'm a vegetarian, hahaha. Also climbing mountains. And collecting horses. FO4 I still play for settlement building and feeding my hoarder addiction. Finally ALL junk was super useful. So exploration got me junk which I needed for settlements. This loop I loved.
W3 had Gwent at least as a sideshow you can do to chill.
Open world in a Bioware game is totally pointless unless they start telling their stories on these maps, not just send you out from their one hub to fetch something and return it. They need to find side quests on the road. Flesh out the world and the people in it that way. The notes in DAI were nice but it was all dead like FO76.
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N3
Games: Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, Mass Effect Legendary Edition
Posts: 664 Likes: 1,173
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ergates
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, Mass Effect Legendary Edition
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Post by ergates on Apr 15, 2019 8:50:06 GMT
RDR2? I'm assuming this is Red Dead Redemption 2?
I've never played the original, let alone the sequel. All I know is that it's some kind of Western-themed game, and that's it. Never been a huge fan or Westerns, so I didn't pay much attention.
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Sept 14, 2023 6:08:41 GMT
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Ieldra
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August 2016
ieldra
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Mass Effect Andromeda
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Post by Ieldra on Apr 17, 2019 8:50:10 GMT
RDR2? I'm assuming this is Red Dead Redemption 2? I've never played the original, let alone the sequel. All I know is that it's some kind of Western-themed game, and that's it. Never been a huge fan or Westerns, so I didn't pay much attention. I was interested, but it was a console exclusive. I might theoretically get convinced to buy a console for a really great game - money isn't really the issue there - but I'll never, ever play anything using a gamepad. These things are abominations that make my fingers break. Not enough fine control either. Whoever made the things popular deserves to get shot.
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Kappa Neko
...lives for biotic explosions. And cheesecake!
3,342
Oct 18, 2016 21:17:18 GMT
October 2016
kappaneko
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, Mass Effect Andromeda
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Post by Kappa Neko on Apr 17, 2019 9:37:31 GMT
My Xbox 360 controller and my hands were made for each other, yo! Perfect fit. We're still happily married after ten years. Ahem... The PS4 controller hurts my fingers but might just be that my hands have been molded by the Xbox one over many many years and I don't use the PS4 much. *g* I'm the oppposite, I HATE mouse and keyboard. I avoid any PC game that doesn't have controller support unless it's Anno or something basic. Also, I game sitting in a bowl chair, aka "human sized dog basket", with the monitor at the very edge of the table tilted slightly downward so that the screen fills as much of my field of vision as possible. I love having the comfort of console couch gaming at the PC!
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Elvis Has Left The Building
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Post by Arijon van Goyen on Apr 17, 2019 12:55:18 GMT
Virgin gamer: Mouse & Keyboard or controller.Chad me: Uses mouse and keyboard to play Strategy, RPG and Action video games, alongside my 2 PS3/4-esque controllers to play Fighting, Racing and Sport games. One of the controllers (the other is a cheap rotten Vierra from 10-12 years ago):
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