Fabulously Olivier
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Posts posted by Fabulously Olivier
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46 minutes ago, samthedigital said:
Playing this way makes Xenoblade 2 an absolute slog.
Xenoblade 2 is an absolute slog.
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3 minutes ago, vanguard333 said:
Yeah; I still wouldn't purchase it if they did that, but I would be able to somewhat respect it. I'd respect an actual prequel more, but Age of Calamity proved they aren't willing to do that even when they have a golden opportunity.
I hope they don't skip over Genealogy; it would be really good to see more of the currently Japan-exclusive FE games to see versions that get international releases. But yeah; it is almost-certainly a given.
I see. Okay.
I wasn't implying that they shouldn't do Geneology. It's one of the best and most important games in the series.
But like, I wish FE stepped up its remake production cycle. Because basically everything pre-Awakening deserves a remake, and they've thus far only done the most unappealing games (IMO).
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6 minutes ago, vanguard333 said:
Yeah, it is too soon. But I can't help but be concerned that they will once again create a crossover that will be falsely-advertised as a prequel only for it to be a what-if time travel narrative. It would be especially egregious in the case of a Tears of the Kingdom crossover because Tears of the Kingdom already has time travel in it that is firmly established as a closed time loop; the past doesn't change.
That said, it might not actually be too soon, since the Zelda team did spent an entire year just polishing Tears of the Kingdom, and they could've shown Koei Tecmo the game during the year of polish.
What did you think of my other hopes and predictions?
Honestly, if they're gonna do it, they should just go full on bullshit and smash it together with Hyrule Warriors DE. Sort of like a Hyrule Warriors Ultimate experience. That'd at least give it a reason to exist beyond something that could have just been an AoC dlc.
I think the Geneology remake is a given, unless they do Binding/Blazing or PoR/RD instead. If this game isn't announced by spring next year, it's a next-gen exclusive game for sure.
And uh... I don't care about the Oracle games or NSO so no comment.
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4 minutes ago, vanguard333 said:
Here's my hopes and predictions:
Hopes:
1. A Genealogy of the Holy War remake; specifically, one that is a from-the-ground-up remake, but still a remake.
2. A remake of the Zelda Oracle games that is a bundle that includes the cancelled third game. This one can be a 1-1 remake like Ocarina of Time 3D and Link's Reawakening, as the inclusion of the cancelled third game would easily be enough to make the remake worth it.
3. A way to purchase at least some of the individual games that are available on Nintendo Switch Online. There are multiple games on that service that I want to play, but not enough to make me want to use it, especially since I'm not actually purchasing the games; I'm just renting the ability to play them. I still have Oracle of Seasons on my 3DS; I want to be able to purchase the Oracle games and actually keep them.
Predictions:
1. A new Warriors game that is a crossover with Tears of the Kingdom. The announcement will claim that the game takes place during the events of the Imprisoning War and will show the full story of Hyrule's founding and the war against Ganondorf. However, there will be a zonai construct shaped like a celery stick that wasn't there in any of the flashbacks...
2. Another trailer for the Super Mario RPG remake.
I think they'll take any excuse to make another Hyrule Warriors. It'll be super unnecessary since they've basically exhausted the IP, but it will happen anyway because it'll sell.
That said... it's probably too soon for that. It basically entails that Koei was shown TotK during development, and has been concurrently developing this game off of the bones of Age of Calamity.
(But hey, if it adds Kass, who am I to complain).
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My wish list remains the same as ever.
* Literally anything Fire Emblem. Okay, almost anything... nothing Mobile-adjacent.
* A new licensed Warriors game. I'm expecting a new mainline Warriors game (DW10) either here or at TGS, but something for Nintendo, Square, Sega, or Bandai would really make my day.
* Golden Sun.... but I won't hold my breath.
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7 minutes ago, Samz707 said:
Most character action games don't really have any tactical elements on the level of ordering troops around/swapping between characters.
I don't hate FEW3H but I do wish there was a slightly better difficulty. (It sounds like Maddening is clearly for NG+ and that level of grind is not something I'm interested in.)
It doesn't ruin the game for me but it does make me wonder what we could have for a real-time FE game that's willing to be a little harder and focused more on individual duels rather than cutting down hordes.
Okay, but "individual duels" rather than "cutting down hordes" is the polar opposite of what Warriors is. It's like saying "you know, I really appreciate what this whole Pokemon thing is going for, but I really think the game would be better if it focused on shutting down all these Pokemon dogfights."
I'm guessing you're asking for something a bit more like a Mount and Blade or Kingdom Under Fire. Which, you know, okay, that might also be cool. But I want Warriors to be Warriors, and mowing down hordes is very much what makes it unique.
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I think Three Hopes could have done with an additional setting aimed at high level characters and NG+. Particularly one that makes enemies go for allied forts more, like in the first FEW.
But also, traditional difficulty isn't really the point of the genre, and anyone asking for peons to be more aggressive is REALLY missing the point. Basically, Warriors has a unique power fantasy niche, and way too many vocal weirdos in the Warriors community want to get rid of that niche and turn it into (an inferior version of) every other character action game.
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2 minutes ago, 𝐍𝐲𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐥 said:
I don't know if this is really unpopular but I hate boss fights that you absolutely cannot win. Why even let me play if you're going to waste my time on something that I can't even win against? Maybe for story reasons but in that case just make it a cutscene, letting the player take control is just a waste.
I only find this atrocious if they let you waste consumable items in the fight. That's just bad game design. Unwinnable fights need to bare minimum disable use of any limited resources.
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Level downscaling is almost always a good thing. All you lose is the illusion of progress because you can't go back and one shot boars. It's the most shallow, meaningless thing to give up. And what you get in return is that all content stays fun and rewarding, forever, playing with friends is seamless, and the game becomes more and more of a retroactive sandbox as you progress further.
I'm not even entertaining your arguments that there is "no progression" in a game with level scaling. Nope. You're wrong. You are actually objectively wrong, because you are gaining access to new areas and expanding your options.
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Real talk. Sea of Stars is amazing, but those derpy animated cutscenes immediately reminded me of CDI Zelda.
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27 minutes ago, Etrurian emperor said:
Kinda. Most noteworthy being Wu suddenly allying with Wei after decades of war with them in the Chinese Three Kingdoms period. And as we know Adrestia is pretty much Wei to Faergus' Shu, with the Alliance and Wu being the respective third wheels. So I think the Claude Edelgard Alliance had at least some inspiration from the Three Kingdoms Period.
The Dutch Republic and England also teamed up to fight absolutist France after three wars between them. Sure it kinda required a Dutch backed coup in England but even after the monarch from that coup died the alliance against France remained. Anti English feelings must have been high in the Republic since its third war with England emerged due to England launching an unjustified invasion alongside France not just to defeat, but outright wipe the Dutch from the European map. In fact fear of this scenario repeating is exactly why the Dutch did the risky move of doing a coup in England.
Prussia very ruthlessly turned on Austria to rob them of a highly lucrative province. As a result relations between them were intensely toxic for decades but when Napoleon emerged these enemies still teamed up despite their rocky history.
If anything, I'd argue that the alliance is the Shu equivalent in terms of "muh virtues." Them basically folding into the empire after defeat to fight against the last enemy standing could also be a reflection of Jin's (Wei's) conquest of Shu, then final war against Wu.
And that's an interesting intepretation to view Edelgard and Hubert as being the Sima family overthrowing their own country's incompetent leadership before conquering the continent.
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5 minutes ago, Armchair General said:
But at least it won't be buried under an deluge of third-party content, plus it might get more coverage than usual
That is presumably the advantage of the separate direct, IF there is also a general direct on the way. And also, no one wants 15 minutes of a 40 minute general direct spent on one game.
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Hopefully it's just being moved out of the way for an actual September general direct in 1-3 weeks. Because nothing kills a boner quite like a game-specific direct.
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I don't think it's an unpopular opinion so much as it is an "unpopular opinion to voice" but detailed user interfaces and quest markers in games became standard because people like them, and they're good.
Yeah, you can point at Elden Ring's smash hit sales numbers and say "see people like minimalism," but that's to be expected. The rare good game catering to a niche audience is going to attract that whole audience. The whole audience that likes more guided games is divided between basically all of the games.
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26 minutes ago, Integrity said:
hell yes i have. my mom is the hugest titan quest fan so she's over the moon right now
Oh good for her. Gamer parents are the best.
It's fun seeing dad light up when there's a new Dragon Quest or Horizon.
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On 8/27/2023 at 8:20 AM, Integrity said:
inject these takes into my veins. this gives me life.
I've been told that my ongoing ranked IGN playlist for the year is absolutely loaded with hot takes, and this is probably one of the biggest ones.
I just fall more into the Diablo 3 & Marvel Heroes line of ARPGs than the Diablo 2 and PoE line. (PoE's great though, without the need nostalgia goggles).
By the way, have you seen the screenshots for Titan Quest 2? That looks insanely good for this genre.
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6 hours ago, Zapp Branniglenn said:
oh my. That was not one of the PSP games. Ascension released exclusively for the PS3 in 2013 as the final game before the reboot.
It's also the series' only attempt at online multiplayer. Will the reboot ever be man enough to put a team deathmatch mode back into the game?
Fair. I fixed it. Also I "completed" God of War 2 now. As in, I beat the Zeus fight and had to youtube the ending.
After 10+ fails at the end QTE, I just... give up. They add nothing to the game, and my bare minimum expectation of a QTE should be that it fucking works. Not that it ignores your correct press of a button, instantly kills you, and forces you to rewatch the same 30 second cutscene over and over again.
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I did NOT expect to smash my backlog this hard this month, holy shit.
41. Diablo 2 Resurrected
Completed/Quit (8/2 - made it to Diablo)
A "for its time" weighted score of 5/10, maybe 6. But my actual enjoyment was around a 2/10 or 3/10. I don't regret playing this as a historical piece. But as a game, it's like the pre-alpha version of Path of Exile. Not to mention Diablo 3, which has become a nigh-perfect loot grinder.
+ Plenty of room for build diversity in classic ARPG systems
+ Fair amount of content.
- Remake did not do enough to improve visuals, or add needed quality of life.
- Inventory Tetris is an actual joke in a loot-based genre.
- Slow, archaic gameplay. Slow movement. Percentage misses for player, not for enemies.
- Stingy loot and xp gains.
- Enemy design is frequently cheap and overpowered. Diablo literally one-shotting me had to be a fuck-damned joke.
- Early game is boring as shit, making the hardcore hero loop less fun.
- Genderlocked classes are acceptable in an RPG from 2003. They are not acceptable in a modern RPG, or a full remake.
42. Darksiders WarmasteredCompleted 8/5.
7/10. I own Darksiders 2, so this one on the subscription was a higher priority. It was certainly a PS3-era game of its time, but its blend of GoW and Zelda was fun.
+ Fun, simple combat.
+ Mostly fun puzzles.
+ Strong lore, compelling start of a story.
+ Fun to backtrack and collect things.
- Some frustrating insta-deaths
- Clunky gimmick bosses.
- Act 5 is pretty dreadful. Frustrating, boring, and takes up a huge percentage of the game.
- Occassional very noticeable texture issues.
43. Sunset OverdriveCompleted 8/6
9/10. Honestly, this was just such a uniquely delightful game.
+ Movement system is extremely fun. Grind on rails, bounce off objects, surf on water, etc.
+ Third person shooting is fun, with appropriately generous aim assist for a game with this much movement.
+ Genuinely hilarious and brimming with personality.
+ Strong artstyle.
+ Lots of flexibility in guns and modifications.
- Defense missions are pretty unfun.
- Ubisoftian in a bad way when it comes to pointless collectibles, side objectives.
44. God of War AscensionCompleted 8/8.
Somewhere around a 6-7/10.
+ Solid combat
+ Fun puzzles. Those involving repairing & decaying objects are particularly good.
+ Epic setpieces
- Not a whole lot actually happens plot-wise.
- Some frustrating moments, namely those involving sliding down slopes with the blades. However playing GoW1 & GoW2 really puts into perspective that this game is substantially less frustrating.
- Quick time events.
45. Ryse Son of RomeCompleted 8/9
4/10, but not unenjoyably so. If I bought this short, repetitive game on release, I'm sure I'd be pissed, but it fits in the modern Gamepass market as an experience that doesn't last long enough to wear out its welcome.
+ Impressive visuals that still hold up really well two console gens later.
+ Solid story.
- Combat is seriously shallow. And not in a fun power fantasy way. In a this has no depth, and also feels unfinished way.
- This is bad, because the game basically offers nothing other than this combat against the same few enemies.
46. Asura's WrathCompleted 8/13
6/10. Incredibly epic, but also very much a game of the worst era.
+ Amazing cutscenes
+ Awesome story, or at least a story that feels grandiose.
- True ending locked behind paid dlc, AND S ranking 5 missions or replaying missions until you clear 50 missions. No thanks on all counts.
- Combat feels like a poor man's God of War. It's functional, but it's not great.
- Rail shooter segments. There are both awkward dogfighting-style mobile rail shooter segments (except left stick dictates both movement and aim), and totally disfunctional stationary rail shooter segments.
- Quick time events ALWAYS suck. They're not fun, and even for a game that is basically a movie, they just needlessly distract from the awesome movie going on behind them.
47. Nier Automata - 2B PathCompleted 8/19
8 or 9/10. I'm totally open to the idea that it's a 10.
You know what feels better than clearing a game fresh? Going back and finishing a game you paused years ago. It validates your past gaming.
For multi-route games like this and Triangle Strategy, I'd like to make their routes a yearly thing until they're all done. It prevents fatigue and lets me count them as a clear in each year.
+ Great combat
+ Soundtrack is beyond beaufiful
+ Compelling story
+ Emotionally powerful
+ Strong visuals
+ This is games as art
- Never been one for genre-switching games, though in its defense, it's actually competent at all of them.
48. God of War 2005Completed 8/20.
5/10. So, first off, thank you for starting such an awesome series. 2018 is a 10/10 masterpiece of action, adventure, and story. And I'm sure Ragnarok will be too when I get to someday play it on Extra. But boy did this ever suck in the most frustrating ways!
+ Good combat, especially for its time.
+ Strong setpieces, especially for its time.
- QTEs
- Bad camera
- Instant death traps of an unforgiving nature.
- Narrow boardwalk segments. The worst of which was coupled with instant death traps.
49. Diablo 3: Ultimate Evil EditionCompleted 8/22
10/10. Diablo 3 is everything an ARPG should be.
+ Fast combat with polished animations. A rarity in its genre.
+ Build decisions are immediate and tangible thanks to skill runes.
+ Generous in its xp and loot.
+ One of the few ARPGs to be consistently fun from low level to high level content. This is important for the Hardcore/Seasonal loop.
+ Incredible power fantasy.
+ Infinite procedural generated content
+ Removed the genderlock from prior games.
= The Warcraft esque art style is controversial.
- Story isn't bad for its genre, but it also isn't great.
- Launched with a real money auction house, since removed.
- Always online.
50. Sacred 3 GoldCompleted 8/26.
5/10, but enjoyably so. It's one of those extremely basic, mediocre ARPGs like a Gauntlet. You know the ones. The ones with absolutely zero depth, but they still manage to be a good time in the most mundane sense.
+ Pretty solid visuals for an ARPG.
+ Pretty fluid and responsive animations.
+ Charming in a really shitty Amazon Prime Video LARPing series sort of way.
- It wants to be funny. It really does. And it really, really isn't.
- No variety in attack combos.
- Only two skill slots.
- Very limited build customization.
- An ARPG without a loot system.
- Bad story (but almost endearingly so).
51. Cassette Beasts
Completed 8/26.
8/10. Extremely enjoyable. Hope it gets a sequel. It's everything Pokemon should be.
+ Strong open world gameplay.
+ Fun puzzles everywhere.
+ Flexible, forgiving progression mechanics. For example, you can peel stickers (moves) off of one mon and put them on another without ever losing stickers.
+ Levels based on party member, not mon. You don't level mons numerically (though they do have a 0-5 star rank level for evolving them).
+ Shinies matter. They literally change typing. Whaaaaatttt!!!!
+ The whole game is designed around 2 v 2's, with a cool fusion mechanic. It really works.
+ Type bonuses are really deep and realistic. They aren't just simple damage bonuses. IE: Fire turns plastic into poison, metal or water attacks make electric multitarget, air uproots grass so they don't heal, etc.
+ Chill vibes. Chill aesthetic. Chill characters. Chill soundtrack.
+ Difficulty settings (AI intelligence and level scaling as separate sliders).
+ Multiple save files is disappointingly uncommon for a monster tamer.
+ No HM slaves. Your character just learns how to do the movement ability.
+ Also the movement abilities are all fun to use, they all work well with the game's stamina system, and some of them can even be upgraded to initiate combat with an advantage.
+ Has little support conversations and even optional romance with party members. And everyone is likeable.
- The 'mon designs are mostly really bad.
- Does occassionally have really cheap bosses. Perma-sleep, one-shots, that sort of thing.
- Some type advantages are too interesting at the cost of being too weak. For example, fire melts ice. But that turns them into a water type, which has advantage on fire.
- Backup party members don't gain full xp, leading to likely a few hours of extra grind.
- Small max capacity of items means you'll be going back to base a lot.
52. God of War 2
Completed 8/27.
7/10. Vastly improves on its predecessor.
+ Great combat
+ Great setpieces
+ Good story/lore
+ Good soundtrack
+ Tones down the difficulty of traps/platforming compared to the original. Huge improvement.
- Still has insta-death pitfalls, and some insta-death traps. They are nowhere near as bad as the first, but yeah...
- QTE's. Fuck QTEs. Especially instant death QTEs at the end of a boss fight.
I'm also working on Kingdom Hearts 3 (cleared through Caribbean). My slow playthrough of Neo TWEWY is ongoing (in final in game week). The Ascent is my next co op game. I'm working on Fate Extella's side stories before considering it done.
I put a little into Watch Dogs 2 and quit because it was boring, annoying hipster drivel (and not in a fun way like Sunset Overdrive or Cassette Beasts. In a hello-fellow-children way).
I put a little into Ghostwire Tokyo and found it potentially fun enough to commit to.
I also very much look forward to Sea of Stars' day one Ps Plus Extra release.
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5 hours ago, Hrothgar777 said:
It would be interesting for sure, but also too unstructured to make for a good game.
Pokemon and Fire Emblem are like oil and water. Pokemon has battle mechanics of ever increasing
dumb gimmickscomplexity but in terms of worldbuilding, to quote that one meme, we have no worldbuilding. Everything about that world and its logic is too convoluted to be fit into a quasi-realistic setting like FE.
The newer titles like Three Houses especially put a premium on constructing worlds which are both detailed and believable, and even Engage put in a very halfhearted effort toward doing so.But let's say you got around this. The next question is: how do you justify a continued sword-and-sorcery setting when there are Pokemon?
When the Houses Lark and Stannister, the two main powers of the continent Esteros, go to war, why do they bother to put men in costly suits of armor and have these men train their whole lives to master swordsmanship when an Excadrill trained by a 10 year old for a month could massacre both sides in thirty minutes?
And yes, Fire Emblem has dragons but dragons are either stupidly rare (and untameable) or weak enough in practice that they're barely an upgrade from a horse (e.g. a humble arrow will easily kill one). Pokemon are both absurdly powerful and everywhere. Like, a kid can't take four steps in grass without running into one. Fire Emblem as we know it could not survive such an environment.
Look at Jade Cocoon for an example of how a traditional low fantasy setting could cross over with a monster taming game. It's very good.
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We got a weird Pokemon SRPG crossover between Pokemon and Samurai Warriors of all things, so I imagine it being like that.
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Take the Valkyria Chronicles storybook aesthetic, make the characters paper. Make the game a turn-based JRPG. Done.
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6 hours ago, Tryhard said:
The critical response to BG3 undoubtedly puts it in contention as a GOTY contender along with Zelda. 2023 has unironically been one of the greatest years for games.
I'd say that 2017 and every year following, except for 2021, has been among the greatest years for gaming. 2022 was extremely strong, and 2023 may well be the GOAT.
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12 hours ago, lenticular said:
Whereas to me, CRPG just means any RPG on a computer, as opposed to a TTRPG (tabletop) or LARP (live action). This is similar to one of the definitions mentioned in the video you linked, except even broader, since I would include console games as well, since that's not what I'm contrasting against. I'm not here to argue definitions, though. I just wanted to know how you were using the term so I could understand the point you were making.
I think it's kind of inbetween. It does specifically refer to games like Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter, Divinity Original Sin, Pathfinder, etc., but also encompasses online RPGs that do not meet the definition of MMORPG.
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44 minutes ago, Tryhard said:
every other thread is about how this game is woke.
Hardcore conservatives generally aren't literate enough to pick out subtext. If they were, they'd figure out that most of their favorite gaming franchises are hella woke.
What is your unpopular video game opinion?
in General Gaming
Posted · Edited by Fabulously Olivier
So, maybe this is a hot take, but Tales of is an incredibly 6/10 to 7/10 franchise. (Zestiria is a 4/10). All of the pre-Arise games have dogshit combat, Arise has a weak story, and most of the Tales games have a bad story and bad combat.
The franchise absolutely could be great if you build on Arise's foundation with a story at least on par with Symphonia/Abyss. But we're not there yet.