Video Game Thread v. Series Xbox One X Series Switch S 5

[Chino]

Tried a bit of San Andreas Definitive on the Series X. Not only is it a mess with many glitches, the increased draw distance looks plain silly. The desert now looks like a literal sandbox on the other side of a river.

Yeah, it's pretty shitty looking with the fog removed.


Makes you realize just how small the map actually is.

[cramx3]

Other than nostalgia, I feel those old school GTAs are fairly unplayable today.  It would need to be remade on the GTA5 engine with all the updated features for me to be interested, but even then, my own annoyance with rock star might still hold me back from giving them money. 

[Phoenix87x]

My main gripe is that its $60 dollars. They are 20 year old games and rockstar already makes major bucks from GTA Online, so that full price is a no go for me.

[Chino]

My main gripe is that its $60 dollars. They are 20 year old games and rockstar already makes major bucks from GTA Online, so that full price is a no go for me.

I think $60 is fair when you consider it's only $20 per remastered game. My gripe is that you have to buy all three of them. I know it's sacrilege to say such a thing, but I absolutely loathe San Andreas. It was the worst of the franchise as far as I'm concerned. I've played III to death when you take into account PS2 and all the digital releases on multiple platforms since. I really don't have any interest in playing that one again despite the remaster. Vice City is the only one I actually want to play, and I'm not going to spend $60 just to do that. If Rockstar wanted to sell these as stand alone games for even $25 each, I'd buy Vice City in a heartbeat.

[ErHaO]

Aside from my own terrible experience with San Andreas Definitive edition, I have seen plenty of clips on the internet of 3 and VC that indicate this is a mess not worth your money and time. And boy are some of those new character models ugly.

[Phoenix87x]

I really only wanted to get it on Switch, but damn... does this thing look rough on that console. I don't even think dropping the price would help change my mind at this point.

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

Other than nostalgia, I feel those old school GTAs are fairly unplayable today.  It would need to be remade on the GTA5 engine with all the updated features for me to be interested, but even then, my own annoyance with rock star might still hold me back from giving them money.

Even GTA5 is fairly unplayable for me now. I'd say that RDR2 is the absolute pinnacle of Rockstar games (not a stretch considering it's their newest game). Just the art style and atmosphere in that game is better than any other similar style game out there, just barely topping the art style and atmosphere of The Witcher 3. Both of those games are just extremely immersive.

[ErHaO]

I really only wanted to get it on Switch, but damn... does this thing look rough on that console. I don't even think dropping the price would help change my mind at this point.

It is on gamepass and it does not cost me extra money to play San Andreas, but this shit was so underwhelming that I deleted it after driving around for a bit. I would not bother with this collection as is, regardless of pricing.

It is a shame. You can see there was the intention of making a higher-effort remaster, with new models, textures, gameplay elements etc. But they did not get the time and budget to come even remotely close to that goal.

[Chino]

Other than nostalgia, I feel those old school GTAs are fairly unplayable today.  It would need to be remade on the GTA5 engine with all the updated features for me to be interested, but even then, my own annoyance with rock star might still hold me back from giving them money.

Even GTA5 is fairly unplayable for me now. I'd say that RDR2 is the absolute pinnacle of Rockstar games (not a stretch considering it's their newest game). Just the art style and atmosphere in that game is better than any other similar style game out there, just barely topping the art style and atmosphere of The Witcher 3. Both of those games are just extremely immersive.

I found an awesome RDR-O online group recently. We've been having a blast. But after about a month, I was bored stiff again. I really wish Rockstar would update that with something solid. A few of us have gone over to Ark lately.

[ErHaO]

I never finished Sekiro and bought it on the Xbox again and played it through. Did the return ending and finished all minibosses on the way. I actually enjoyed it way more.  Demon of Hatred and Isshin were tough, but both took me around 15 tries, which was not too bad. I was fully upgraded and I was more experienced because I played up until the Guardian Ape back when it came out though.

But man this makes me wonder what the input lag on my previous tv was, because parrying and countering the red attacks was sooo much easier (60 fps probably helps too).

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

Skyrim 10th Anniversary Concert – Full Performance

This takes me back playing Skyrim, I used to love how they implemented the music in the game. When you heard the battlemusic you knew shit was about to go down or when you entered certain areas or cities. The Far Horizons theme  The music was so much apart of the experience playing that game.

[ReaperKK]

That's an awesome video. The Skyrim soundtrack is the only one I have on vinyl and I listen to it regularly.

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

The Skyrim soundtrack is definitely awesome, but I tend to like the Morrowind soundtrack more. Mostly because of nostalgia, maybe. It's still amazing though.

[ErHaO]

Props to Microsoft, they added 70+ games to the backwards compatibility list as the final update to this program. And they keep updating games with 60 fps support (and/org 4k resolution). The xbox has become a plug and play box where you can acces a fine selection of 20 years of gaming (632 360 games, 63 og xbox games). And some of these games are rare and don't emulate well.

My favourite backwards compatible games are, all of them running at 4k:
-Red Dead Redemption (runs at 4k and holds up well)
-SSX3. Probably my favourite arcade "racer" ever.
-Splinter Cell: Double Agent the original xbox version. This is a different game than the 360/pc version and is made by the Chaos Theory team. And it does not look like an original xbox game, super impressive title.
-Timesplitters 3. Best version of a childhood classic.
-Ninja Gaiden Black and Ninja Gaiden II. The more lean original versions with all the blood and bodies of your fallen enemies.
-Banjo Kazooie/Tooie. The 360 remasters were done really well and look very clean at 4k.
-Gears of War 2. Glorious action game, by far the best of the series.
-Skate 3. Unique skill based sports game.

And you can use your original discs as well, which is nice, bought some of these in a thrift store.

[axeman90210]

I was thrilled they "surprise" launched (the rumors were pretty consistent in recent days) Halo Infinite's multiplayer a few weeks early.

[cramx3]

I was thrilled they "surprise" launched (the rumors were pretty consistent in recent days) Halo Infinite's multiplayer a few weeks early.

I wasn't following too closely, so this was kind of a surprise for me.  I played one game yesterday and it was a very smooth experience.  It's almost like they kicked Battlefield in the nuts with this.  Since BF2042 is quite buggy with server performance issues and was delayed, then Halo comes out early right around the same time and plays perfectly 

Having said that, I'm just enjoying BF2042 a lot right now and actually kind of wish Halo didn't come out to create competition so quickly.  Now it's making me decide what to play.

As for my thoughts on BF2042.  It's pretty buggy although the bugs aren't too bad.  What the problem really is, is the server performance.  If you play the All out Warfare modes, good luck getting 60FPS and not having occassional rubber banding or hit detection issues.  I haven't really experienced this issue playing Hazard Zone or on Portal so it makes me think it's something with the 128 player new maps that is a bit too much for the servers to handle.  Just my opinion.  (which seems to be confirmed by the tweet I just read saying the issues are on server side).

Now Conquest has surprisingly been my favorite mode.  I thought Hazard Zone or Breakthrough might be, but the classic mode is still reall fun.  I actually think the specialists add a lot to this game.  The wingsuit seems a bit OP if you know how to control it, but I am personally loving the grapple hook.  I can escape gun fights or grapple into a position others cant get to and rain hell from above.  I do think they could have done a better job with the roles/classes from previous BF games.  As in, maybe instead of every specialist being able to use any gun or gadget, they would be limited to the "assault/medic/support/recon" roles of the past.  But really, all the complaints about specialists may be over blown IMO.  It's a really cool addition to the game and a lot of it makes sense for futuristic battles. 

Breakthrough mode is really fun but a bit too chaotic for me.  It's really hard to get on a role here and survive for more than a couple minutes because you've got 128 players mostly all fighting in the same spot on the map.  It makes for some real crazy gaming, but it's just a bit over the top for my liking.  There is something to be said for having 20 vehicles charging at your line of defense though.

I'm surprised how much I really like Hazard Zone.  I was very skeptical about it because although I never played, it never seemed like Escape from Tarkov was a game for me which apparently this mode more closely resembles.  This mode pits 32 players against each other in a smaller version of one of the maps in teams of 4.  You start in a random location and need to use a scanner to locate data drives.  Usually at all the drives are AI players who are not so easy to kill.  But what happens, is either through the gunfire with the AI or other players scanning the same data drives, you get into some pretty quick fights here.  Also, only one specialist per team so this is when your abilities really come to use as you often get into fights of 4 v 4 v AI.  There's a downed system similar to every battle royale game and you can get redeployed via  a pre-bought tactical or by finding one in the map.  The idea is to escape through 1 of 2 evacuation pick ups during the 12 minute game and having more drives means more points.  But extracting is where things start to get wild as you'll have teams camping the extraction as well as AI forces defending it.  It's actually really difficult to get out with data drives.  However, just extracting alone is a victory in some ways.  If you extract successfully (with or without data drives) it counts towards your extraction streak and you can then bring more tacticals into the next match as well buy more items with the money you earned.  It gets really fun when you get on a steak and can start really loading up on equipment. 

And then there's Portal mode.  This has some insane potential.  I was actually surprised how well the old maps played here on the new engine.  Looks and feels amazing.  There is a problem here though.  People spammed making servers and using them for XP farming.  Essentially creating modes where a person and their friends who made the server are the only ones with guns and anyone else who joins gets a knife and low health and so the server owner just gets non stop easy kills.  I joined a few of these before I realized what was going on.  Apparently they patched this already so you can't create such servers, but I saw a lot of them still there yesterday.  But also, because of all this XP farming, you can't even create a server to create your own mode right now.  So it's kind of hard to say how awesome Portal is, but from the few legit matches I did play, the potential is there. 

My understanding is the day 1 patch that comes on Friday for the full release of the game fixes a lot of these issues.  But the biggest problem with this game is the lack of a score board.  I don't understand how one makes a competitive FPS game and doesn't include a scorebaord so you know where you stand on your team.  I can see my own stats, but very very little of anyone else.  This needs to be added and hopefully for the day 1 patch.

Here's a full conquest game video I made on the map Hourglass which is one of my favorites.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7e2DkDUlpCI

[Dublagent66]

Countdown to Battlefield 2042. 

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

The Skyrim soundtrack is definitely awesome, but I tend to like the Morrowind soundtrack more. Mostly because of nostalgia, maybe. It's still amazing though.

Yea I can see that, never actually played any Elder Scrolls game before Skyrim so that's my introduction to the games and I guess any first time will always hold a special place in once heart. That's a true testament to a strong franchise.

[ReaperKK]

Awesome write up Cram. I played some of the Halo multiplayer last night and I thought I'd play one game but ended up playing 3 hours .

I know don't know if I'll pick up 2042 on day one, my group of friends all disliked the beta (I thought it was ok) and the Halo multiplayer is free so I might just stick with that for a while.

[Kotowboy]

I've started FINAL FANTASY 7 REMAKE again so I can play something whilst listening to A View From The Top...or...Hushed And Grim.

[ReaperKK]

I've never really gotten into the FF games but the FF7 remake looks great, I've had it on my wishlist for some time.

[ErHaO]

Knowing that they altered the FFVII plot, I have little interest in playing it and it's sequels until it is complete and has been received well. I will be extremely surprised if the plot ends up anything better than a trainwreck. Any other story set in the FFVII universe outside of the main game has been trash and the people behind it have told some of the worst and most convoluted stories in the entire medium.

I also found the cutscene direction and acting to be really subpar for an AAA game of this caliber in the FFVII remake demo, but most people don't seem bothered by it. It does not help the characters are constantly panting and grunting to an almost comedic degree. And the timing of the dialouge and quips is super off.

[Phoenix87x]

I was about half way through Remake when It dawned on me that they were doing some meta commentary and changing the story.

 Thought it was lame then and think its lame now. Although I did enjoy the game, I wish they would have just kept it the same. Sure, tons of people played it 23 years ago and know the original story inside and out, but there's tons of people growing up today that would have loved to play through just a normal FFVII, except modernized.

[Herrick]

I was about half way through Remake when It dawned on me that they were doing some meta commentary and changing the story.

 Thought it was lame then and think its lame now. Although I did enjoy the game, I wish they would have just kept it the same. Sure, tons of people played it 23 years ago and know the original story inside and out, but there's tons of people growing up today that would have loved to play through just a normal FFVII, except modernized.

I'm one of these people who has never played the original. Well, I have but I didn't get very far. The random encounters are really fucking annoying when all I want to do is try to get to where I'm supposed to go. I may give it another try though. I liked what little of the story I saw. The story seemed already much better and interesting than Final Fantasy 15 which is the only Final Fantasy game I've completed.

[Phoenix87x]

Oh yeah, I agree. I think VII Remake was way more developed than 15, which felt like an unfinished game 

[cramx3]

Awesome write up Cram. I played some of the Halo multiplayer last night and I thought I'd play one game but ended up playing 3 hours .

I know don't know if I'll pick up 2042 on day one, my group of friends all disliked the beta (I thought it was ok) and the Halo multiplayer is free so I might just stick with that for a while.

Yeah, might as well stick to what your friends are playing.  Halo is wayy more polished. BF2042 announced a day 1 patch, day 10 patch (this is expected to fix most of the bugs) and a day 25 content update.  I expect this game to be in better shape in 2 weeks. Although it's definitely playable and fun now regardless, just clearly needs some work.

[Herrick]

Oh yeah, I agree. I think VII Remake was way more developed than 15, which felt like an unfinished game 

They put out DLCs to flesh things out. I liked The Bros but I didn't care enough about the story to play through their DLC adventures. I just finished the main missions, uninstalled the game and forgot about it.

[Kotowboy]

I was so into FF15 until and including the Leviathan battle. After that the game took a huge nosedive.

The entire third act of the game is a CHORE. Helping around blind Iggy and Gladioli being a f-ing cock.

And wandering round that building for hours with no weapons looking for Prompto.

That part where Gladioli left the game for a while was the best. Awful character.

[ErHaO]

I think the plot of FFXV would be really solid, if it was finished and all the element got proper buildup. Huge chunks are missing, some of which are in the film and anime and whatnot. That said, I just loved the whole roadtrip with friends concept so much. And the ending had some strangely well done cutscenes and acting. It really fell victim of the huge and long development mess. I can ony hope a future game will do the roadtrip through a fantasy landscape concept justice.

[Kotowboy]

The whole game up until Leviathan 10/10

Everything after 0/10 an absolute boring chore.

Oh and flying the Regalia after you've WON THE GAME should be a PIECE OF PISS as a REWARD. Not crashing and dying everytime you wanna land.

Fuckin Gyp. And having to pay to get it repaired. It should have been like Highwind in VII. Automatically avoids obstacles and lands on its own.

So annoying. XV will probably be the last NEW FF I ever play.

[Herrick]

Agreed with Kotowboy for the most part. It was such a weird decision to have an open world game but then fucking abandon the open world part at the half way point.

I didn't know about the flying Regalia. I ended up getting the stupid-looking monster truck version because it was a lot more enjoyable for me not being on rails all the time.

[Kotowboy]

Once you win the game = you can carry on and take the Regalia to whats her boobs - for an upgrade. You can then fly it around.

[Herrick]

Once you win the game = you can carry on and take the Regalia to whats her boobs - for an upgrade. You can then fly it around.

What's her boobs? LoL! 

[cramx3]

WTF did Halo do with their battlepass system?  It's like the worst decision for progression I've seen in any FPS game. 

[Kotowboy]

Once you win the game = you can carry on and take the Regalia to whats her boobs - for an upgrade. You can then fly it around.

What's her boobs? LoL! 

Her character is both hilarious and a massive face-palm at the same time.