Video Games Thread

[AVFCRoss]

You do know Skryim has a plot.. you have the main questline which involves slaying dragons, you then have about a subset of 10 other main questlines, which involve the Mages College, Dark Brotherhood, Daedra, etc etc... ...Im just thinking.. are you actually paying any attention to any of the plotlines or are you just accepting every quest you can find and then just doing it?  To say every quest is a dungeon fetch/kill quest is a lie.. the thieves guild have a plethora of quests which involve stealing stuff and not killing anyone for a start... with Rage, 100% of the main storyline quests are fetch/kill (so far).... did you not think it cool to climb the biggest mountain in skyrim to reach the greybeards for help in slaying dragons... there was a point in my game where I had to kill two dragons at the same time.. and it was an unscripted moment of brilliance.

Plus the magnificence of Skryim (apart from being set in one of the best expansive maps ever made), is it can be played any way.. you've obviously played it, not paying any attention to the storylines and gone in killing everything you can and doing loads of dungeon quests.. not to say theres anything wrong with that.. but your complaining because you played it that way... how about playing it again with stealth perks, or just magic perks, or an archer... your still going to kill the same things.. sure, but then isnt that the same as every FPS/WRPG game ??

I'll break it down then;

Main Quest - Some shit about chasing a Dragon called Alduin, you have to traipse around various dungeons finding out secrets...Very little variety in the missions though.

Mages Quest - Easily the most boring quest-line in the game...Practically every quest is a dungeon crawler quest...I think I actually posted about my dissapointment in this one earlier in the thread.

Companions Quest - Again, incredibly dull...You just go around clearing forts occupied by the opposition side before you lay siege on their main fort and have all points conquered...It actually starts OK, there is a bit of variety, but it soon just degenerates into a big copy and paste job in regards to the mission structure.

Dark Brotherhood - Even though theres a bit of variety in the Dark Brotherhood questline, the lack of inventiveness is seriously dissapointing...Oblivion had so many interesting tasks and contracts, with a number of ways to kill targets and different scenarios you're put in...These are just mostly "go to this location and kill this person as blunt and directly as possible". That was never the Dark Brotherhood type of questline I loved in Oblivion, there was always innovative ways to kill your enemies and that just isn't here this time.

Thieves Guild - I'd agree the thieves guild is the most varied, but even still, you still get to a point in the questline where you have to do the same quests about 20 times to unlock the final missions...Why? Just to add some artificial longevity?

Don't get me wrong, I have enjoyed Skyrim, but GOTY? No chance, not for me anyway.

[stupac]

Just logged in for the first time in a while, and the first post i read was Harv saying the exact same thing as he was about 6 months ago. Lol 

How's everyone?

Lot of games coming out the end of this year but think I'm going to wait to get them, apart from FIFA 13, as I still have games I haven't played or finished from christmas or before...

[harv]

Are you thinking about getting a Wii U..? Looking pretty good so far, Nintendo seem to be doing everything right so far even down to the online infrastructure, although I think taking on Facebook and Twitter is a little bit too ambitious imo.

Miiverse aside, it's looking like they're including all of the features from PSN and Live including Friends and usernames, and Accomplishments...their Achievements/Trophies equivalents. And they've also taken great inspiration from Steam regarding the share of proceeds from transactions, they're taking a similar cut so it's going to encourage digital distribution and indie devs. Going to be very interesting to see if Sony and Microsoft are going to follow suit otherwise there's a chance that the indie scene will steer away from the PS4 and 720.

A trailer for the Scribblenaughts Unlimited Creation Tools here. Pretty cool, they're basically giving people the developers have used for the content to design their own stuff. You can create new stuff from scratch or edit stuff already there or stuff that friends have made. Scribblenaughts was definitely one of the best DS games out there...Aaaaaaargh!!! Another game I need to spend money on lol

Edit: Have just played the demo of Lego Batman 2 for the 3DS and whilst it was as good as other Lego games before it the 3D usage wasn't great, probably the worst I've seen on a 3DS game so far. The cutscenes appeared to be only half a cm into the screen and the gameplay was a lot better but nothing appearing to pop out at all. Nothing like the screen you get when your cursor is over the demo itself, the top screen shows Lego Batman flying around the logo and he appears to be a couple of inches behind the screen when furthest away and pops out around a cm or so outside the screen. Still amazing to see that without glasses, I'm surprised the novelty hasn't worn off yet.

If the 3D was better utilised I would have bought it

[Late]

Just logged in for the first time in a while, and the first post i read was Harv saying the exact same thing as he was about 6 months ago. Lol 

How's everyone?

Lot of games coming out the end of this year but think I'm going to wait to get them, apart from FIFA 13, as I still have games I haven't played or finished from christmas or before...

Aye, it's like we're stuck in some sort of time loop, Harv forever repeating how great the U is going to be, everyone else repeating how shit it'll be...

Looking forward to X-Com: Enemy Unknown (released mid Oct). I loved the original on the ps1, and it's predecessors on the Spectrum are my favourite games ever, so I'll probably get this remake at release.

Haven't played the last COD since the week it came out, and said I probably won't get this year's instalment, but as it draws closer I'm tempted. I do prefer Treyarch's efforts when it comes to COD, in recent years, so will probably give Black Ops 2 a chance (released mid Nov). If it's expensive I'll probably wait a while though.

Despite the quite ridiculous bouncing boobs and skimpy costumes, me and the kids enjoy the DoA games so I'll probably get Dead or Alive 5 (released end of Sept).

Will probably wait for all other games (including Assassin's Creed 3), and pick them up when they've shed around half of their price.




Speaking of COD Blops 2 - the Collectors Edition looks great. I'll not be getting it - circa £150, but includes remote control drone, and day one dlc. Nuketown Zombies should be epic.

[jman]

Mages Quest - Easily the most boring quest-line in the game...Practically every quest is a dungeon crawler quest...I think I actually posted about my dissapointment in this one earlier in the thread.

Again its not about whether the quests are dungeon fetch/kill... its the plot involved... in fact, I thought the Mages quests had one of the more interesting plots in the game and therefore enjoyed the Mages Guild more so than others...whilst most of the quests are dungeon fetch/kill and its a shame the quest line didnt last longer, and prehaps had more college type quests in it... it was still enjoyable!

You might have a point if Skyrims battle/looting system wasnt up to scratch.. I played over 100 hours and didnt get cheesed off with it once though... its perfect for this type of game.

You also forget the Daedra quests which provide by far the most varied subset of quests.

GOTY by a long shot for me... prehaps if you didnt have the PS3 version you might of seen it differently.

[Late]

Skyrim is definitely game of the year for me - and I only did about half the quests. Will get back to it at some point.

As Kieron says, and without wanting to get into a "my console's better than your console" argument, it does appear to make a big difference playing it on the 360 rather than the ps3.
There were a few bugs on the 360, but nothing to compare to the problems the ps3 had. Most people on the xbox could probably play for over 50 hours and never experience a single problem - I'd guess I racked up about 80 hours, and I only experienced one bug, and that was nothing to complain about (a mammoth spawned in the distance up in the air, and plummeted to the ground. Funny, but not a problem in the slightest).

[AVFCRoss]

The technical issues are irrelevant...I played Skyrim well after the patches and fixes and I've had no problems (Which is a first for a Bethesda game, and I'v actually played it solid over the last 3/4 weeks too, so I have a very fresh reflection of the game)...I just found it to be way too 1-dimensional and rigid in regards to the quest design...Loot is meaningless aswell, I found the game to be fairly easy for the most part, and this is playing "hard" (Second from highest difficulty), so the only time I'd pick up a good weapon was to sell it and get the trophy for having 100,000 coins on hand, because the weapon I was currently using always seemed to do the trick in any given situation.

The only times I've switched (Two-handed, Bow etc.) was to level up skills because there's a trophy for hitting level 50...I'm also not one for straying off and exploring...Maybe if the dungeon designs were more interesting (Oh look, "Another" puzzle where you have to rotate plates with animal pictures and match them to the wall ), but as it is, if you've seen 1 dungeon, then you've seen them all, and that's a fact...If you like that sort of thing, then fair enough, but you can't deny there's a heck of alot of recycling in regards to the dungeon design, and the various quest lines have you trawling through enough dungeons as it is.

The Dark Brotherhood quests in particular disappointed me...They were so interesting in Oblivion, but far too restrictive in Skyrim...I'd always look for different ways to kill my targets, and use some initiative myself, but it's quite clear the game just wants you to walk straight in and kill someone where they stand, because the alternatives to be creative don't exist, which was the original basis of the Dark Brotherhood.

Since I'm airing out problems with the game...Dragons...Yeah, they're kinda cool to begin with, but eventually they just become a nuisance, and you just end up running away from them, which presents a problem in itself because you can't fast travel unless you shake them off which is incredibly hard to do, meaning the only remedy is to turn around and kill them....Maybe if Dragon Souls could be used for other things, such as Enchanting Weapons or creating powerful potions, then it may have been worth sticking around for a fight, but I've got over 25 dragon shouts, most of which are maxed out and I still have over 10 souls stored doing absolutely sweet F.A

I'm quite close to the Platinum anyway, and although I have enjoyed it, I think OPM UK got it right with their 7/10 verdict which people cried about.

[jman]

I think OPM UK got it right with their 7/10 verdict which people cried about.

A few quotes from the OPM UK review which was made a few weeks after launch...

I love this game, I really do, but I can’t give it the score I want in its current state.
The most amazing game of the year is in there somewhere.
That experience is in there somewhere, but choked and held under by a bug that slows the frame rate as your save file expands.

Its quite clear that the OPM reviewer was bent out of shape over the technical issues you said were irrelevant... he didnt mention any of the gripes you have.. so how can you agree with their review.. you cant - if your just agreeing with their review score then your experience with Skyrim obviously hasnt been the same as ours.. or anyone elses on the planet - your gripes all seem minor and in some cases, non-existant to me.  I probably have better memories of playing Oblivion than I do Skyrim - mainly because I played Skyrim non-stop until I finished it rather than enjoying it over a period of time... even still...Skyrim is a much better and accomplished game than Oblivion (which was also GOTY too).

[Late]

Vive la difference, as they say in Frogland. (Actually, I'm pretty sure they probably don't.) Everyone has opinions, and nobody can say certain ones are right or wrong...

Harv thinks the Wii is great, and the Wii U will be fantastic.
Ross thinks Skyrim's too samey throughout.



Of course, in this instance they're both clearly bonkers.

[AVFCRoss]

Oh come on, every dungeon is just the same thing with a different shade of brown being the only justifiable difference each time!

I've played through nearly the whole game and felt it was an average experience, I've already told you what I liked and disliked about it, some of which you can't argue against (Such as the fact certain questlines are incredibly repetitive in their missions and structure, and dragon fights end up being made redudant because you end up having a ton of dragon souls stored up with absolutely nothing to do with them).

[Late]

To be honest, I see where you've coming from and I partly agree with you. There is a lot of repetition in there - which is probably why I only got about half the quests done.
All games repeat after a while, though, and there's a staggering amount of stuff in Skyrim - so I maintain it's by far the best game we've seen this year and perhaps in a few years.
I played the game for weeks, maybe months, loving all the new experiences in it (despite some being slightly less new after a while) - and if you can play and thoroughly enjoy a game for weeks and weeks before you get bored with it then it's a winner. Arkham and Portal were great games, and arguably contenders for GOTY - but both were extremely limited in how much play you can get out of them. You think Skyrim got repetitive - try getting hundreds of hours out of another game without it getting repetitive. You'd have to play through the aforementioned Arkham or Portal dozens of times from start to finish, each game being largely the same as the last. Now that's repetitive.
You can perhaps argue that FIFA and COD will give you hundreds of hours of gameplay with every game being different. They're not, though - essentially they're pretty much the same every time (and certainly differ less than each dungeon and quesst in Skyrim).
Like COD and FIFA, every game of Tetris is different, but you'd struggle to convince anyone that Tetris is a varied game.

No, Skyrim definitely wins hands down, for me.
Out of interest, what game(s) do you put above it from the last year or so?

[AVFCRoss]

I'd rank FIFA and CoD above Skyrim, though in all honesty, they're 2 extremely addictive games when you play in an online competitive environment with or against friends and, as such, never get boring for me anyway, but Skyrim obviously relies on single player immersion.

I mean, as far as single player experiences go, it's quite an indulging one, but I still think Uncharted leads the single player games market by a country mile, and also in regards to last year, Dead Space 2 was also a very good single player game.

I've actually finally started getting bored of this years CoD, but FIFA games will never bore me...I understand what you mean by how repetitive they can be, but you work within very rigid parameters that lack dynamism in single player games...No matter how many times you play out a game, or a part of it, it will always be the same experience, which is something that playing with and against other people online definitely remedies, and manages to significantly increase a games shelf-life.

[Late]

As a massive fan of COD, until the last one, I agree you get the most longevity out of that and FIFA.
As each instalment on both games is effectively the same as the last, though (let's be honest, they're more like DLC than new games), I couldn't in all conscience put either forward as game of the year. There's nothing new, no innovation.

Loved by many, yes. Hundreds of hours of multiplayer, every year, yes. Game of the year, no.

[Late]

Bethesda not sure if they'll be able to successfully port Skyrim DLC to the ps3.

Dayumn but that's gotta smart.

[jman]

Well I'd actually rank Skyrim as one of my favourite games ever - definitely top 10.. quite possibly top 5 even... so not just GOTY for me... its no suprise (to me) that you've chosen a sony exclusive as your GOTY ross.. lol... but each to their own.  The only slight issue I had with Skyrim was that the game was too easy towards the end game, but then I attribute that down to me having a bad-ass character rather than the game itself 

Still thinking about downloading the Skyrim DLC.. as a rule, I dont tend to download DLC unless its heavily discounted - has anyone tried Dawnguard yet ?