Video Game Thread v. Wii4One

[The Walrus]

Today Bethesda's giving away free copies of Morrowind. Having never played it, I decided to make a Bethesda account. I have the disc, somewhere, for Morrowind - it came with a video card over 15 years ago and I only found it 2 years ago, pristine condition, never opened - but I figured hey, digital is convenient. I couldn't log in to the Bethesda site after making my account - my password was right, but I reset it again. And again. And again. Still can't log in, and apparently the code isn't even working for anyone. Bethesda continues to fuck up left and right. 

How long does the offer last? I have the game on disc but I wouldn't mind a digital copy.

That's the kicker. It's only for today.

[Herrick]

Today Bethesda's giving away free copies of Morrowind. Having never played it, I decided to make a Bethesda account. I have the disc, somewhere, for Morrowind - it came with a video card over 15 years ago and I only found it 2 years ago, pristine condition, never opened - but I figured hey, digital is convenient. I couldn't log in to the Bethesda site after making my account - my password was right, but I reset it again. And again. And again. Still can't log in, and apparently the code isn't even working for anyone. Bethesda continues to fuck up left and right. 

How long does the offer last? I have the game on disc but I wouldn't mind a digital copy.

That's the kicker. It's only for today.

LoL that's fucking great 

[The Walrus]

Honestly, it's impressive at this point.

[ReaperKK]

Today Bethesda's giving away free copies of Morrowind. Having never played it, I decided to make a Bethesda account. I have the disc, somewhere, for Morrowind - it came with a video card over 15 years ago and I only found it 2 years ago, pristine condition, never opened - but I figured hey, digital is convenient. I couldn't log in to the Bethesda site after making my account - my password was right, but I reset it again. And again. And again. Still can't log in, and apparently the code isn't even working for anyone. Bethesda continues to fuck up left and right. 

Download OpenMW if you decide to play it. It has some great bug fixes as well as quality of life updates.

[v_clortho]

Did anybody get the promo code to work for Morrowind?

[The Walrus]

Nope. 

[v_clortho]

It just worked for me.

[Rattlehead]

The whole deflection thing really makes me want to buy this game. I did finish the first Dark Souls but I was never really good at it and I wasn't a huge fan of the dodge mechanic. I like how Sekiro seems to focus on actually using the sword to deflect attacks. It looks like a very cool and rewarding skill to master. I really don't care about the lack of upgrading attributes and getting new loot...in fact I like that. The loot in Dark Souls wasn't very impressive anyway.

I wasn't interested in PvP but I might miss the messages left by other players. Plus the whole Japanese Samurai Ninja stuff always appealed to me. I didn't know From Software was originally planning to do a new Tenchu game.

I've put a solid 6-7 hours into the game now and I'm in love with it. I think the gameplay is more similar to Bloodborne than Dark Souls, but it's still an original masterpiece in my opinion. The dodge mechanic in particular reminds me of Bloodborne. It's definitely a challenging game that requires patience and persistence just like every other From Software game I've played. I highly recommend checking it out 

[Herrick]

I've put a solid 6-7 hours into the game now and I'm in love with it. I think the gameplay is more similar to Bloodborne than Dark Souls, but it's still an original masterpiece in my opinion. The dodge mechanic in particular reminds me of Bloodborne. It's definitely a challenging game that requires patience and persistence just like every other From Software game I've played. I highly recommend checking it out 

I bought it a few days ago. Only played for a few hours but I liked what I played. It is very difficult but I look forward to getting more into it. I'm still playing my new (to me) PS4 games. Trying to focus on Horizon Zero Dawn.

Initial thoughts on Sekiro. I wish there were more incremental movement speeds between the slow walk and the run. I also don't like the animation for the double jump. It doesn't look or feel very ninja-like.

The deflection defense is very cool but it's tough to pull off when other enemies are attacking me from behind. I really don't like this business of the Dragon Rot increasing when you die. I died many, many times against the Chained Ogre. I thought dodging was the correct thing to do because I read that's what you're supposed to do to avoid grabs. But it turns out, his annoying lunge grabs are actually sweep attacks because jumping away worked every damn time and I killed him on the first try or second try using jumps.

I never played Bloodborne...I might add it to my list. It's nice and cheap too.

[ErHaO]

I am now playing Sekiro and honestly I think it is way harder than any Souls game (main content wise at least). But that is partially due to those mini bosses surrounded by mobs of enemies you have to clear each time you die. And every time you defeat one, another one is right around the corner, again surrounded by mobs. Personally I would've preferred a tad more down time, like in Souls and Bloodborne, where the harder bosses are spread out more and the minibosses are usually a mere distraction.

Also, for those who are early in the game, parrying/deflecting is absolutely mandatory in later bosses, at least that is how it seems to me and others, so I advice getting that to the point you make (almost) no mistakes for all types of rwgular enemies early on. The typical Dark Souls playstyle of mostly dodging/rolling is not really feasible for this game I believe. Especially since many enemies are like living homing missiles that will follow your jump/dodge.

I kind of have a love hate relationship with this game right now. For me personally it really is at that line where I don't believe I can do it. And each time I prove that wrong, the game throws another spike. I absolutely loved the Lady Butterfly boss, my favourite thus far. I actually beat her through parrying and building up het meter quickly. But she is piss easy compared to what follows in my opinion.

Anyways, the combat itself is fantastic and the atmosphere and overall visuals are really great. I just wish the game was a bit more chill at times.

[Phoenix87x]

^^^ For the most part I am loving it. It definitely very challenging, and I am still wrapping my head around the most effective way to approach combat. I'm glad we got this game though, its very decent.

[frogprog]

Anybody else playing Division 2? I'm finding it very tough and frustrating in single player mode. I know it's geared toward multiplayer online play but that's not how I game and it is supposed to be able to be played both ways. Some of my frustrations;
It took forever to get started even though I bought the disc. I'm talking hours. Why must you update a brand new game?
Having played maybe 10 times, I was forced to update again. No joke this took about 4 hours to download, copy(?) and update. And I couldn't play until this was finished. WtF??
As far as the gameplay itself... The missions are an endless barrage of enemies. Just when you think you have beat the mission you have to beat another level, and another and another. There are checkpoints, but not save points so if you get called away (dinner time!) or have to pause, you get kicked off the online game server and you have wasted the last hour or two and have to start all over again.
Why must it be this way???!

[Rattlehead]

My problem with Sekiro is that I'm relying too much on dodging as if I was playing Bloodborne or a Souls game. It doesn't seem overly difficult so far, but keep in mind I'm still only maybe 8 or so hours in. The bosses don't seem any harder than Bloodborne. It probably took me a good 10-15 tries to beat the Blood-starved Beast in Bloodborne during my first play through, so I'm used to that kind of thing 

[SystematicThought]

Picked up the PlayStation Classic at Best Buy for 39.99

I can tell why this didn’t sell very many units. I got dizzy playing GTA because the graphics were so clunky. I don’t remember it being that bad when I played it in 2000 or so. They could have at least upscaled them for HD.

Also, no plug. You have to supply the AC adapter. WTF. I didn’t have a spare one laying around, so I had to use my iPad AC adapter. I understand that it would add more cost, but at least provide a damn plug in.

[Herrick]

Anybody else playing Division 2? I'm finding it very tough and frustrating in single player mode. I know it's geared toward multiplayer online play but that's not how I game and it is supposed to be able to be played both ways. Some of my frustrations;
It took forever to get started even though I bought the disc. I'm talking hours. Why must you update a brand new game?
Having played maybe 10 times, I was forced to update again. No joke this took about 4 hours to download, copy(?) and update. And I couldn't play until this was finished. WtF??
As far as the gameplay itself... The missions are an endless barrage of enemies. Just when you think you have beat the mission you have to beat another level, and another and another. There are checkpoints, but not save points so if you get called away (dinner time!) or have to pause, you get kicked off the online game server and you have wasted the last hour or two and have to start all over again.
Why must it be this way???!

I'm guessing you bought it for consoles? I was really surprised when it took hours to install and fully update the few games I bought when I first got a PS4 earlier this month. You still have to download the whole goddamn game even though you have the disc. That's kind of annoying.

Red Dead Redemption 2 is close to 100 gigs. My step son bought it the day it came out and it took fucking hours upon hours to install. I've never had to wait that long to install a game from Steam...then again, I don't usually buy games the day they come out.

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

Anybody else playing Division 2? I'm finding it very tough and frustrating in single player mode. I know it's geared toward multiplayer online play but that's not how I game and it is supposed to be able to be played both ways. Some of my frustrations;
It took forever to get started even though I bought the disc. I'm talking hours. Why must you update a brand new game?
Having played maybe 10 times, I was forced to update again. No joke this took about 4 hours to download, copy(?) and update. And I couldn't play until this was finished. WtF??
As far as the gameplay itself... The missions are an endless barrage of enemies. Just when you think you have beat the mission you have to beat another level, and another and another. There are checkpoints, but not save points so if you get called away (dinner time!) or have to pause, you get kicked off the online game server and you have wasted the last hour or two and have to start all over again.
Why must it be this way???!

Pretty much sounds like the first game, wave of enemies in diffrent levels.
I enjoyed the first game alot especially playing with friends. I found the setting and level design to be superb in the first game and the sequel looks to be no less.
However i'm not that hyped for the sequel, maybe when it's on sale.

[cramx3]

My friends were all hyped about the Division 2, wondered why I didn't pay 60 for it.  Well two weeks later and no one is playing it.  Not sure why when they all said it was great.  I'm guessing the grinding gets tiring after awhile, but I'm glad I didn't pay full price for a game that's better to play with friends when your friends already stopped playing it.

I did pay 10 bucks for the Apex Legends battle pass and must say this feels like a rip off.  I figured why not give 10 bucks to a free game that I've sunk so many hours into and plan on sinking more into and get some skins and cool stuff as I play... well where the fuck are all the cool skins and stuff?  I've unlocked practically nothing after 20 hours since season 1 started.  OK not nothing, just nothing of any actual interest to pay money for. 

Anyway, my latest Winning Apex Legends Video

[The Walrus]

*Jim Sterling voice* "TrIpLe A gAmInG"

[Dublagent66]

Anybody here waiting for Days Gone?  Hopefully a demo is out soon.  I'd like to check it out.

[jcmoorehead]

Anybody here waiting for Days Gone?  Hopefully a demo is out soon.  I'd like to check it out.

I'll be picking it up, a few people here in the studio are interested in it as well.

---

I think it is the only game I'm getting next month too, which is good because I'll actually have time to clear some of my ridiculous backlog. Doesn't help that I just started a JRPG as well, picked up that remaster of Legend Of Heroes: Trails Of Cold Steel and it seems good so far

[Lynxo]

A super interesting read regarding Bioware's latest game Anthem: https://kotaku.com/how-biowares-anthem-went-wrong-1833731964

This reads almost exactly like the last piece Kotaku wrote about Bioware, on the development of Mass Effect: Andromeda: https://kotaku.com/the-story-behind-mass-effect-andromedas-troubled-five-1795886428

What has happened to one of my favorite game studios of all time? This is super depressing to read. People taking months of "stress leave"? EA basically fucking the studio by forcing them to use an inferior engine and then not providing enough support when they needed help with it? Management who couldn't make up their God damn mind what kind of game they were making?

It really makes me sad.

[jcmoorehead]

It's a very sad read, as a game dev my heart does go out to those involved. Making a game is a stressful endeavour, its often said that it's something of a miracle that they come out at all in the best of times, but with everything else they're dealing with I'm surprised the studio is still around.

A few points, it isn't so much that Frostbite is inferior, it's more that it just isn't equipped to deal with what they needed. It was all well and good EA wanting people to use a shared engine, I completely understand that but Frostbite was made with a certain type of game in mind and not others.

Studio I work at has its own engine, it's good for what we need it for but I don't think we'd be making an RTS any time soon with it. 

Also it's really sad to hear about the divides between the three studios. This is something you really don't want. They need all three to pull together and be seen as one unit. They need an attitude of "We are all one, we all need to make this the best we can and work together and trust each other"

---

I do have Anthem and I actually do enjoy it, it's not great but it's good fun with a friend. They did nail the flying, which is incredible given the flip flopping they did on it and I think with a little bit of love it could be pushed to being great. I hope that the events of Andromeda and now this give them the kick they need to reorganize and be better going forward.

They need to work on a few things, looking after their devs, bridging the divide between studios, giving a bit of love to their game and also working on the relationship with the fans. I believe they can do it, as a dev I hope they can do it because it's been very sad to read about studio closures recently and I don't want to see the same happen to them.

[The Walrus]

I firmly believe that EA is singlehandedly ruining the gaming industry. Granted there are other participants who are making it worse, but EA is by and large the biggest offender. I feel for all the developers and other people who work on these games.

[Lynxo]

I firmly believe that EA is singlehandedly ruining the gaming industry. Granted there are other participants who are making it worse, but EA is by and large the biggest offender. I feel for all the developers and other people who work on these games.

While I agree with you that EA definitly has earned their bad reputation, I think the mess that was Anthem's development had just as much to do with Bioware themself. I mean, one key point in the article is that every complaint the consumers made after release was brough up YEARS by developers but management wouldn't listen. Not to mention, they took almost NO help from the studio that made The Old Republic, which makes NO sense whatsoever since it's also an online RPG.

So yeah, Bioware's problems are huge and complicated and EA certainly doesn't help.

[The Walrus]

I firmly believe that EA is singlehandedly ruining the gaming industry. Granted there are other participants who are making it worse, but EA is by and large the biggest offender. I feel for all the developers and other people who work on these games.

While I agree with you that EA definitly has earned their bad reputation, I think the mess that was Anthem's development had just as much to do with Bioware themself. I mean, one key point in the article is that every complaint the consumers made after release was brough up YEARS by developers but management wouldn't listen. Not to mention, they took almost NO help from the studio that made The Old Republic, which makes NO sense whatsoever since it's also an online RPG.

So yeah, Bioware's problems are huge and complicated and EA certainly doesn't help.

Oh, absolutely, no argument there. Bioware's gone off the rails in recent years and it's a shame.

[Phoenix87x]

My heart weeps for how far Bioware has fallen. The Mass Effect trilogy was truly phenomenal.

And I agree, EA's methods are serving as a detriment to the gaming industry.

[cramx3]

Should be noted that free to play games like fortnite have disrupted the industry.  My gaming friend in san fran has some connects to ubisoft (his brother in law is a big shot there or something) and has been saying for awhile that the gaming industry is transforming and the big companys are struggling to adjust. 

This is a really good video that same friend sent me which is pretty funny but then gets pretty serious about the big picture at the end

Why Apex Legends Scares Me

[Dublagent66]

I played Fortnite once and thought it was ridiculous.  I'm an old school gamer.  I don't mind games with multiplayer options, but keep the single player option.  Lots of games are doing that and need to continue for the industry to be an ongoing, widespread success.

[ReaperKK]

I really like fornite and I think the building aspect is neat but it's not for me. I love Apex legends though.

[El Barto]

I played Fortnite once and thought it was ridiculous.  I'm an old school gamer.  I don't mind games with multiplayer options, but keep the single player option.  Lots of games are doing that and need to continue for the industry to be an ongoing, widespread success.

Yep, I'm the same way. My interest in multiplayer gaming is pretty much one on one stuff. Once you open it up to a lot of young dipshits the ridiculousness far outweighs however much fun the game itself might be. Add to that the games just don't look like much fun anyway. It only seems to just be howfastcanyourunaroundshootingeverythingthatmoves. But the truth is we're dinosaurs, and will soon go their way.

[cramx3]

My point about Apex and Fortnite wasn't about battle royale but more so the free to play, little marketing, and yet huge money makers because of the model of selling skins to people, mostly the younger gamers too who are spending a lot of money on in game purchases.

[Herrick]

I played Fortnite once and thought it was ridiculous.  I'm an old school gamer.  I don't mind games with multiplayer options, but keep the single player option.  Lots of games are doing that and need to continue for the industry to be an ongoing, widespread success.

I think we might be in the minority. I downloaded Apex because a co-worker kept telling me to but I never played it. I cancelled the Playstation Online trial two days before they would've started billing me. I'm just not into games that are focused on multiplayer. But multiplayer seems to be all the rage. This has been going on for a long time.

I remember reading game reviews back in the mid 2000s how the singleplayer was OK but the multiplayer was very good. It never interested me so I wait for those short singleplayer games to go on sale for dirt cheap or I don't buy them at all. The last Call of Dooty I bought was Call of Dooty 2.

The flying in Anthem looked great but all the other gameplay footage I saw looked like multiplayer so I lost interest. If there's good singleplayer content and they work all the bugs then I might get it on sale. And this isn't Herrick shitting on multiplayer. I lost interest in Mass Effect Andromeda and I bought that one on sale by the time it was all patched up.

[cramx3]

There won't ever be a single player version of Apex Legends, it's just not what it is.  And as someone who almost exclusively plays multiplayer games now, I still do enjoy the good single player story driven games.  I just mostly feel there aren't many good ones out there anymore, at least not on PC.  RDR2, Spiderman, God of War, all looked like awesome single player games to play through and yet none are on PC.  The latest Tomb Raider was the last single player game I've played (and it was good), but then you get Apex Legends and it's free and fun, just makes me not want to even buy another $60 game. 

Then add in twitch.  I think people get a lot of enjoyment watching online multiplayer games so people in turn end up playing them more.  https://www.twitch.tv/directory Just look at the top watched games and they are almost all online multiplayer. 

[El Barto]

Honestly, it seems like the whole gaming industry is finding ways to piss me off. Aside from the aforementioned online gameplay that's a better model for them, the people who are making quality single player games are only selling you half the game upfront. Pay $60 for a game and find that it plays like shit because they rushed it out the door and didn't have time to fix all the bugs. After a couple of months it's patched sufficiently but you've already beaten what content they gave you. Then they start releasing DLC that should have been in the original damn game. As sick as I am of Rock* they did actually create new content for the GTA franchise. They spent years developing The Lost and the Damned and Gay Tony and it showed. When you release 3 new expansion packs in six months you've clearly just held back a lot of your content to milk it. And those are just as buggered as the original. Once all that's fixed the game is now $29, so they stop selling that and only offer the "Godly edition" with all of the DLC for the same $60.

[Herrick]

There won't ever be a single player version of Apex Legends, it's just not what it is.  And as someone who almost exclusively plays multiplayer games now, I still do enjoy the good single player story driven games.  I just mostly feel there aren't many good ones out there anymore, at least not on PC.  RDR2, Spiderman, God of War, all looked like awesome single player games to play through and yet none are on PC.  The latest Tomb Raider was the last single player game I've played (and it was good), but then you get Apex Legends and it's free and fun, just makes me not want to even buy another $60 game. 
Then add in twitch.  I think people get a lot of enjoyment watching online multiplayer games so people in turn end up playing them more.  https://www.twitch.tv/directory Just look at the top watched games and they are almost all online multiplayer.

Yeah it's hard to compete with a free high quality game.

I think there are lots of good singleplayer games on PC. I played PC games exclusively since 2010 up to last month when I bought a PS4. It's a shame those great games won't come to PC but I think there's at least a chance for RDR2. I can see myself paying full price for that just to have that sweet Steam Controller Gyro Aiming Goodness

Honestly, it seems like the whole gaming industry is finding ways to piss me off. Aside from the aforementioned online gameplay that's a better model for them, the people who are making quality single player games are only selling you half the game upfront. Pay $60 for a game and find that it plays like shit because they rushed it out the door and didn't have time to fix all the bugs. After a couple of months it's patched sufficiently but you've already beaten what content they gave you. Then they start releasing DLC that should have been in the original damn game. As sick as I am of Rock* they did actually create new content for the GTA franchise. They spent years developing The Lost and the Damned and Gay Tony and it showed. When you release 3 new expansion packs in six months you've clearly just held back a lot of your content to milk it. And those are just as buggered as the original. Once all that's fixed the game is now $29, so they stop selling that and only offer the "Godly edition" with all of the DLC for the same $60.

Another reason why I usually don't buy games on release day. It helps that I have a stupid amount of older games I haven't played yet. By the time I finish those, the newer stuff is no longer new. It's patched up, DLCed, and on sale. There really isn't much need to play a singleplayer game right when it comes out. Every now and then I fall for the hype and buy a new game if I have the extra cash.