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

[ReaperKK]

I think so, my brother has a lot more time in it than me and he said he hasn't once interacted on the multiplayer side aside from joining my game last night.

[Nick]

I got Diablo, my first run at the series, because one of my Overwatch friends was really excited about it. At level 32 right now and here are my thoughts thus far:

Likes:
Story - Coming into the world for the first time it's been fun following the characters and the story.
Look - Enjoy the look of the game, especially in the cutscenes and animations.
Character building - With plenty of skill points available I loved really digging into the skill tree and building out the character abilities and specializations that I wanted.

Dislike
Grind - From battle to equipment it feels like less a skill game and more a grind game. Combat you spam your stuff at the appropriate time without trying to get hit too hard. For equipment, I go out, complete a few things, fill up my inventory, come back, put on the best stuff, scrap the rest for parts, and upgrade what I have equipped. Rinse and repeat.
Quantity over quality - Hand in hand with the last point. From endless enemies and dungeons to equipment and weapons, the game just throws everything at you in droves. While I jumped ship from Destiny after the first game, I did love how in that the weapons and upgrades seemed to focus on hard fought incremental upgrades and different styles of play and bonuses carefully crafted from what you were equipping.

So overall, enjoying the time with my buddy and can overlook flaws to move through the campaign and enjoy the new world and story. But definitely would not make this a Destiny type game where I'm replaying as all the different roles and configurations and trying to replay and get every little accomplishment.

[soupytwist]

I got Diablo, my first run at the series, because one of my Overwatch friends was really excited about it. At level 32 right now and here are my thoughts thus far:

Likes:
Story - Coming into the world for the first time it's been fun following the characters and the story.
Look - Enjoy the look of the game, especially in the cutscenes and animations.
Character building - With plenty of skill points available I loved really digging into the skill tree and building out the character abilities and specializations that I wanted.

Dislike
Grind - From battle to equipment it feels like less a skill game and more a grind game. Combat you spam your stuff at the appropriate time without trying to get hit too hard. For equipment, I go out, complete a few things, fill up my inventory, come back, put on the best stuff, scrap the rest for parts, and upgrade what I have equipped. Rinse and repeat.
Quantity over quality - Hand in hand with the last point. From endless enemies and dungeons to equipment and weapons, the game just throws everything at you in droves. While I jumped ship from Destiny after the first game, I did love how in that the weapons and upgrades seemed to focus on hard fought incremental upgrades and different styles of play and bonuses carefully crafted from what you were equipping.

So overall, enjoying the time with my buddy and can overlook flaws to move through the campaign and enjoy the new world and story. But definitely would not make this a Destiny type game where I'm replaying as all the different roles and configurations and trying to replay and get every little accomplishment.

Don't waste your materials on upgrading your equipment while you are levelling, save them all for endgame gear upgrades.

[axeman90210]

I'm curious about trying Diablo, but for now I'm content to see if it eventually hits Gamepass when the Microsoft acquisition goes through.

[Dublagent66]

Finally busted out my PS4 copy of No Man's Sky and got the free PS5 upgrade.  Been playing that most of the week. : 

[TheOutlawXanadu]

I decided to replay as much of The Last of Us 2 as possible while I wait for Final Fantasy 16. Even though I feel as though I just played it, in reality it came out like three years ago lol. Time flies!

Through the first four or five hours, I have to say that I'm pretty blown away. I thought the game was great the first time around, but knowing what happens is adding an extra dimension this second time through. For example, I realized that the opening hour of the game is basically just one giant chunk of foreshadowing. I feel like the developers planted seeds everywhere that I wasn't able to fully appreciate during my original playthrough, but that are now blossoming for me. I'm curious to see how far I'm able to get over the next couple of weeks...

[faizoff]

I was checking out some of the Starfield gameplay and it looks massive and is really cool, it's so expansive, looks fun traveling to different star systems.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H26Dtgbsfzw&ab_channel=IGN

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

Yea it really does look amazing! My only worry is if my old PC will handle it. 

[Azyiu]

I decided to replay as much of The Last of Us 2 as possible while I wait for Final Fantasy 16. Even though I feel as though I just played it, in reality it came out like three years ago lol. Time flies!

Through the first four or five hours, I have to say that I'm pretty blown away. I thought the game was great the first time around, but knowing what happens is adding an extra dimension this second time through. For example, I realized that the opening hour of the game is basically just one giant chunk of foreshadowing. I feel like the developers planted seeds everywhere that I wasn't able to fully appreciate during my original playthrough, but that are now blossoming for me. I'm curious to see how far I'm able to get over the next couple of weeks...

IMHO, TLoU2 is indeed a great game through 3 quarters of the game, and I thought the story ends on a bit of a bleak note which I am not exactly too fond of. Another reason why I am hesitant to call TLoU2 a fun game for myself is that it feels a bit too linear. I spent too much time on Death Stranding and Days Gone, two massive open-world games, prior to playing it. Perhaps it is just my problem. 

[Polarbear]

https://youtu.be/c7K2TA0bBpY

Star Wars: Outlaws gameplay. Assuming the final game looks like this, I'm pumped for this! This is exactly the kind of SW game, I have been waiting for. Playing as a street criminal in a lawless open world galaxy, trying to make ends meet. This is probably the closest we are going to get to that Han Solo experience!

Hoping that this turns out good!

[faizoff]

That looks great, has some of the Squadrons feel at the end.

[Herrick]

I haven't watched that because I'm not really into gameplay hype/previews anymore but I do hope it turns out well. I'm kind of burnt out on Ubisoft open world stuff but perhaps this will be a nice surprise.

Any of you mangs into JRPGs? I've never really been into them but I decided to check out Persona 5 Royal and I'm enjoying it. Actually before that, I played a game called Tokyo Xanadu which was all right. I like Persona 5 Royal a lot more so far.

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

Both Starfield and Outlaws looks really promising.

[Dublagent66]

Starfield looks like a spinoff of NMS.

[Nick]

Starfield looks like a spinoff of NMS.

If they stick to the release date, September 6, it'll be perfect for me. I'll be one day into my honeymoon and gone for 11 days after that. That'll allow enough time for the initial patches, to see if it's still a buggy mess, to see if it's worth it at all, and finally to see if it is worth playing as opposed to doubling back to No Man's Sky which I haven't touched in awhile.

[Dublagent66]

Starfield looks like a spinoff of NMS.

If they stick to the release date, September 6, it'll be perfect for me. I'll be one day into my honeymoon and gone for 11 days after that. That'll allow enough time for the initial patches, to see if it's still a buggy mess, to see if it's worth it at all, and finally to see if it is worth playing as opposed to doubling back to No Man's Sky which I haven't touched in awhile.

Yeah, as I mentioned earlier, I just upgraded my PS4 copy of NMS to PS5 about a week ago after not playing for quite a long time.  It's still glitchy, but at least they're still sending file updates. 

I might also wait a little while to get Starfield.

[cramx3]

I have no doubts that Starfield will be a buggy mess (with known bugs likely from previous games too).  But it does look pretty good.

[Herrick]

I have no doubts that Starfield will be a buggy mess (with known bugs likely from previous games too).  But it does look pretty good.

What's their track record with addressing big bugs? I don't remember encountering any big ones when I bought Oblivion & Skyrim on release date.

[ReaperKK]

I think they address their bugs pretty decently, much better than the shitshow Cyberpunk was. There is bethesda jank but I've never been unable to complete a bethesda game whereas I had a game breaking bug in CP2077 that halted all progress.

[Herrick]

I think they address their bugs pretty decently, much better than the shitshow Cyberpunk was. There is bethesda jank but I've never been unable to complete a bethesda game whereas I had a game breaking bug in CP2077 that halted all progress.

It looked like Cyberpunk was on a whole different level.

[cramx3]

I think they address their bugs pretty decently, much better than the shitshow Cyberpunk was. There is bethesda jank but I've never been unable to complete a bethesda game whereas I had a game breaking bug in CP2077 that halted all progress.

I've had game breaking bugs in Bethesda games.  I feel like they don't fix anything. But it's been awhile and my memory is fuzzy.  I just know I've spent hours having to redo things from a previous save point in Skyrim and Fallout before.

[ErHaO]

I think they address their bugs pretty decently, much better than the shitshow Cyberpunk was. There is bethesda jank but I've never been unable to complete a bethesda game whereas I had a game breaking bug in CP2077 that halted all progress.

That sucks, but those type of bugs were definitely present in Bethesda games of the past. I don't think there is a single Bethesda title where I didn't redo a chunk. And I recall Stadler here recently having a major issue in Skyrim, a 10+ year old game with a million rereleases that is still in a shoddy state in many regards. The CP release sucked, but CD project has not been sitting still.

Ultimately though I can usually deal with shitty versions of great games. I take it over flawless versions of ok/solid or even good games. But it does suck if a release is shoddy. For pretty much all RPGs I save often and I save separately, Bethesda and Bioware have taught me that habit.

[Dublagent66]

I was so underwhelmed by CP2077, don't think I got far enough in the game to experience any bugs. lol

[Herrick]

I think they address their bugs pretty decently, much better than the shitshow Cyberpunk was. There is bethesda jank but I've never been unable to complete a bethesda game whereas I had a game breaking bug in CP2077 that halted all progress.

That sucks, but those type of bugs were definitely present in Bethesda games of the past. I don't think there is a single Bethesda title where I didn't redo a chunk. And I recall Stadler here recently having a major issue in Skyrim, a 10+ year old game with a million rereleases that is still in a shoddy state in many regards. The CP release sucked, but CD project has not been sitting still.

Ultimately though I can usually deal with shitty versions of great games. I take it over flawless versions of ok/solid or even good games. But it does suck if a release is shoddy. For pretty much all RPGs I save often and I save separately, Bethesda and Bioware have taught me that habit.

Some Microsoft mang is claiming Starfield will be their least buggiest release. I find that very hard to believe given their track record and how fucking huge Starfield will be.

[Dublagent66]

Oh fuck, just saw that Starfield is an Xbox exclusive only.  Nevermind    I'll stick with NMS.

[ReaperKK]

I think they address their bugs pretty decently, much better than the shitshow Cyberpunk was. There is bethesda jank but I've never been unable to complete a bethesda game whereas I had a game breaking bug in CP2077 that halted all progress.

That sucks, but those type of bugs were definitely present in Bethesda games of the past. I don't think there is a single Bethesda title where I didn't redo a chunk. And I recall Stadler here recently having a major issue in Skyrim, a 10+ year old game with a million rereleases that is still in a shoddy state in many regards. The CP release sucked, but CD project has not been sitting still.

Ultimately though I can usually deal with shitty versions of great games. I take it over flawless versions of ok/solid or even good games. But it does suck if a release is shoddy. For pretty much all RPGs I save often and I save separately, Bethesda and Bioware have taught me that habit.

No doubt about the bugs in Skyrim, and I agree with you that I can power through broken games if they are engaging enough, I'm just salty that the last two games I couldn't finish due to game breaking quest bugs were Witcher 3 and CP2077. I think it was also magnified with CDPR PR team and their "it's ready when it's ready marketing.

I don't want to harp on it too much though and I'm definitely biased towards Bethesda games, I can't wait to give starfield a spin. 

[Herrick]

I think they address their bugs pretty decently, much better than the shitshow Cyberpunk was. There is bethesda jank but I've never been unable to complete a bethesda game whereas I had a game breaking bug in CP2077 that halted all progress.

That sucks, but those type of bugs were definitely present in Bethesda games of the past. I don't think there is a single Bethesda title where I didn't redo a chunk. And I recall Stadler here recently having a major issue in Skyrim, a 10+ year old game with a million rereleases that is still in a shoddy state in many regards. The CP release sucked, but CD project has not been sitting still.

Ultimately though I can usually deal with shitty versions of great games. I take it over flawless versions of ok/solid or even good games. But it does suck if a release is shoddy. For pretty much all RPGs I save often and I save separately, Bethesda and Bioware have taught me that habit.

No doubt about the bugs in Skyrim, and I agree with you that I can power through broken games if they are engaging enough, I'm just salty that the last two games I couldn't finish due to game breaking quest bugs were Witcher 3 and CP2077. I think it was also magnified with CDPR PR team and their "it's ready when it's ready marketing.

I don't want to harp on it too much though and I'm definitely biased towards Bethesda games, I can't wait to give starfield a spin.

That is extremely frustrating. Game-breaking bugs are one of the reasons why I no longer buy games right when they come out.

[Podaar]

Oh fuck, just saw that Starfield is an Xbox exclusive only.  Nevermind    I'll stick with NMS.

It's on PC and Steam as well.

[Herrick]

I hate exclusives and Starfield appears to be a real exclusive. They seem adamant about not releasing it for the PS5...but why?

[ReaperKK]

Because Microsoft bought Bethesda, they want to steer people to their platforms.

[Herrick]

Because Microsoft bought Bethesda, they want to steer people to their platforms.

It seems like a dick move when Sony is releasing more and more of their "exclusives" to PC. But what I'm really wondering is will Starfield remain a real exclusive or will they eventually release it on PS5.

[ReaperKK]

My bet will be it'll stay a real exclusive, and while Sony is releasing games to PC they are not releasing exclusives to Xbox. It's a great time to be a PC gamer

[cramx3]

Because Microsoft bought Bethesda, they want to steer people to their platforms.

Yup and it's going to be on game pass day 1 which is a big sell for Microsoft.

[Herrick]

My bet will be it'll stay a real exclusive, and while Sony is releasing games to PC they are not releasing exclusives to Xbox. It's a great time to be a PC gamer

Ha ha agreed! It looks like I'll be skipping the PS5. I've owned a PS2, PS3, & PS4 for exclusives. The last Xbox I owned was the original Xbox 

[ErHaO]

Gamepass is a fantastic deal, can't recommend it enough. Especially if you enjoy indies with the occasional AAA title.

I hate exclusives and Starfield appears to be a real exclusive. They seem adamant about not releasing it for the PS5...but why?

As others have said, Bethesda is Xbox game studios now. This will apply to future Doom, Elder Scrolls, Wolfenstein and whatnot too. MS seems to keep releasing MP focused titles on all platforms though (like Sony does with Destiny).

And while I am glad MS does the PC releases at the same time, I think the Xbox would have a lot more sales potential if they went the Sony route with (temporary) hardware exclusives. While it is all silly PR/platform wars, both Nintendo and Sony do well in making their boxes more of a must have.