User comment history
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| News Comments > BATMAN - The Telltale Series - Episode 2 Released |
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| 4. |
Re: BATMAN - The Telltale Series - Episode 2 Released |
Sep 20, 2016, 19:04 |
The_Pink_Tiger |
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I think I'll wait until the series is complete and on sale. I'm getting rather tired of these episodic games, both because of the game play and how it ruins the pacing of the story (e.g., each episode has to start with a brief recap, they have to end at a climax, whether its good for the narrative or not, and then you have to wait a month or two to find out what happens). It made sense in the beginning for Telltale - a cash-strapped independent developer - to make episodic games but at this point - now that they've made with some success - I wish they would drop the format (maybe keep the first episode as a freebie teaser) and sell the game as one complete piece.
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| News Comments > etc. |
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| 2. |
Re: etc. |
Sep 12, 2016, 20:09 |
The_Pink_Tiger |
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While I too am surprised that Blizzard simply cancelled the game rather than trying to salvage it, I do agree that it wasn't ready for prime-time in its current state. Adventure games were a dying genre, and "Lord of the Clans" wasn't even a very good adventure.
While most of the animation and visuals are quite nice, the actual gameplay is pretty poor. There's very little real interaction with the game-world, and of the few things you /can/ click on, most of them result in some form or another of "I can't use that". The puzzles aren't very good, and the dialogue (and sound FX) is pretty awful. There are also a number of areas where the graphics look pretty poor.
I don't think their releasing the game would have been a disaster; Blizzard probably would have broken even just from sales to Warcraft fans alone. I doubt it would have seriously affected the marketability of the soon-to-be-released Warcraft 3 RTS. But I have no doubt that it would have quickly been relegated to the "old shame" closet, there to languish forgotten with "The Death of Superman", "Blackthorne" and "RPM Racing".
I think it speaks more about how comfortably situated Blizzard was /even before World of Warcraft/ that they could choose to swallow the development costs rather than even slightly sully their reputation with a mediocre - not bad - game.
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| News Comments > Otherland Launches |
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| 5. |
Re: Otherland Launches |
Sep 9, 2016, 19:47 |
The_Pink_Tiger |
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Although I didn't much like the novels, his descriptions of online-gaming greatly influenced my expectations of what an MMO should be. The fantasy role-playing game played by Orlando and Sam in the book were the ultimate example of what I expect from an online game and - sadly - no game has come close to matching those expectations (Ultima Online, which was in beta at the time the first novel was published) was a good start, but rather than improving on that foundation the industry seems to have moved backwards). It's sad to see such an innovative franchise re-imagined as yet another characterless F2P game filled with grind and monetization.
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| News Comments > etc. |
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| 5. |
Re: etc. |
Jul 28, 2016, 19:57 |
The_Pink_Tiger |
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I actually don't mind the EA client that much. I mean, I wish I could do without it, but it doesn't seem that much worse than other digital storefronts. While it did have a very rough start, these days I don't find its usability that much worse than Steam (which, admittedly, is not that high a bar to cross; Steam itself is pretty awful).
Having said that, I wish they offered a text-only list of games; scrolling through tiles is fine if you have five or ten games but once your collection starts getting bigger than that it can be troublesome finding the "box art" that represents the game you are interested in.
Oh, and they really need to work on letting you back-up/archive downloaded games; for those of us on slow or metered connections, that lack is really painful (there is a kludge involving manually zipping up the game-directory, but it is complicated and doesn't always work).
On the other hand, the need to re-enter your credentials every time the client updated was fixed about a year ago. At least, that's when Origin stopped bugging me about it after every upgrade. I haven't had to retype my origin password into the program for a loooong time.
Oh, and for God's sake, EA, finally get the stick out of your ass and put your new games back on Steam again. If I don't see it on Steam, it might as well not exist; I certainly am not going to open Origin to look for it. I'm fairly sure you lose more sales because you lack presence on Steam than ever you lose from Valve's 30% cut.
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| News Comments > etc. |
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| 3. |
Re: etc. |
Jul 10, 2016, 19:34 |
The_Pink_Tiger |
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One of the things I liked about the original Gothic was the scale.
Most CRPGs fudge with the scale of the world; Skyrim, for instance, is supposedly the northern half of a huge continent but you can still walk across it in a few hours. I'm not complaining (much); by compressing everything the player is assured of having an exciting adventure every time he boots the game and it reduces the expense of world-building. Daggerfall, often used as a counter-example, has a much larger world but it suffers in pacing and detail. Between the two, I prefer the compressed version (of course, given the option I'd love a game the size of Daggerfall but with the detail of Skyrim... but that's not going to happen anytime soon; it would take decades to fill in all the nooks and crannies).
Gothic though (this was a post about Gothic, remember?) was set in a small valley, just a few miles across. It was /purposefully/ small and it helped the fiction dramatically. It explained why there were three villages just a mile or so apart and why each village had only a few dozen people living there. You didn't have to turn a blind eye to the limitations forced on the developers by the underlying mechanics of the simulation; instead, they used those limitations to build up the setting. It was clever world-building that went a long way to enhancing the feeling of immersion.
Unfortunately, the later Gothic games forwent this tactic and tried to simulate whole continents. As a player, you had to purposefully ignore how tiny the world was, and - while Gothic 2 and 3 were both good games - they also suffered a little bit from their expansiveness.
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| News Comments > American Truck Simulator Scale Change Plans |
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| 10. |
Re: American Truck Simulator Scale Change Plans |
Jun 24, 2016, 20:20 |
The_Pink_Tiger |
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Good news. ATS never grabbed me quite the way ETS2 did, and I realize now its scale very likely had something to do with it. One of the great joys of EuroTruck Sim was just toddling down the highway for hundreds of miles; its almost Zen-like. I never quite achieved that same feeling in American Truck sim but I assumed it was just because of the way the road-system was designed (with too many intersections and an abundance of overly-curvy roads, driving in ATS required far more concentration, negating the Zen ;-)
Although at the same time, ATS already felt very low on content even with its reduced scale - not enough cities or things to see - so I hope this change won't make the game feel even more sparse.
Some more variety in terrain would be nice too. Almost the entire game is desert (or dry brushland) and honestly, it is not very attractive. It looks like a title from the brown-is-real era of gaming...
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| News Comments > System Shock Remaster Becomes a Reboot |
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| 4. |
Re: System Shock Remaster Becomes a Reboot |
Jun 24, 2016, 20:11 |
The_Pink_Tiger |
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Can't say I'm that upset about this. System Shock was innovative for its time, but its level-design and gameplay hearken back to an era when FPS games were pointless mazes gated by find-the-keycard puzzles, and hasn't aged well because of it. Just adding some more polygons and shaders wouldn't have made the game any more palatable. With a reboot, they aren't quite as tied down. That's not to say I want them to go whole-hog and change everything, but I'm quite willing to let them make necessary changes to the levels and gameplay.
Now, if they ever get around to re-doing System Shock 2, then that's a different story. Graphics (and last few levels) aside, that game came as close to perfection as any and they'd better not screw around with it ;-)
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| News Comments > etc. |
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| 2. |
Re: etc. |
Jun 23, 2016, 23:24 |
The_Pink_Tiger |
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Some lesser-mentioned reasons Quake was important to PC gaming:
- It really helped to spur forward acceptance of using a mouse-n-keyboard to play FPS games. It wasn't the first title to use those controls (Terminator Future Shock was earlier, if I recall) but mouse-keyboard really didn't take off until Quake.
- On a related note, it introduced the idea of fully configurable controls to PC gaming, to the point that nowadays a game that ships without this option is decried as being a cheap "console port". While some earlier games offered the option to change what keys did what, it actually wasn't that common a feature and none of them offered as much freedom as did Quake.
- And related to that, the console. Being able to drop into the console and change key variables in the game - while the game was running - was as amazing as it was innovative. It's unfortunate that in recent years console access has slowly become less common but it is still considered a core feature of a hardcore PC game.
- Being able to change video-settings was another Quake innovation. Oh sure, some earlier games offered the ability to change resolutions or video settings, but almost all of them required you to quit the game and drop into an outside set-up utility to do so. Quake let you change resolutions not only while the game was running, but in the middle of a level. This has become another standard feature of a "true PC game" and woe to the title that releases without it.
For all of the above - but the more often mentioned reasons of true-3D, modding, multiplayer, machinima and esports and it's hard to disagree that Quake cast a long shadow on PC gaming, creating a standard to which all new games had to aspire. The thing is, I didn't even really /like/ Quake all that much but even I had to admit that it revolutionized the hobby. It really was an amazing achievement.
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| News Comments > Adam's Venture: Origins Next Month |
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Re: Adam's Venture: Origins Next Month |
Mar 9, 2016, 19:55 |
The_Pink_Tiger |
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"Unpick"?
Can't say the rest of the game looks all that intriguing either, although that may just be because it's set in the 1920s. There's something about that era that just irks me (maybe it was being forced to read the Great Gatsby in sixth grade :-)
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| News Comments > Into the Black |
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| 3. |
Re: Into the Black |
Mar 3, 2016, 19:24 |
The_Pink_Tiger |
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Oh good god. This isn't real, is it? I mean, this is a fan-made parody. That "official" bit is just a joke, right?
I mean, the idea that they are going with distaff versions of the original cast... it's lazy writing, but I can get behind it. But couldn't they find anyone with charisma or comedic talent?
The really scary thing is that they pick the BEST parts of the movie to show in the trailers. |
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| News Comments > No Man's Sky in June; Preorders Underway |
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Re: No Man's Sky in June; Preorders Underway |
Mar 3, 2016, 19:18 |
The_Pink_Tiger |
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I dunno; the tech of this game is undeniably impressive, as is the art style but there still doesn't seem to be much of an actual game behind it all. It doesn't seem as if there is much longevity to this title; it's something you'll fool around with for an hour or two and then move on to a game where you can actually accomplish something. As such, I'm not sure it's worth its current price point and definitely is not something I'd risk a pre-order on. It's a shame because the concept seems sound; it's just the actual implementation that appears lacking.
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| News Comments > Master of Orion Collector's Edition Early Access |
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| 2. |
Re: Master of Orion Collector's Edition Early Access |
Feb 26, 2016, 19:24 |
The_Pink_Tiger |
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Sorry, after the debacle that was Master of Orion 3 I think I'll wait-n-see before I lay down any of my hard-earned dollars for another MOO game. I'm hoping this one will be great but I'll only buy after other people confirm its excellence first.
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| News Comments > Dragon Age: Inquisition Game of the Year Edition Released |
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| 2. |
Re: Dragon Age: Inquisition Game of the Year Edition Released |
Oct 6, 2015, 19:33 |
The_Pink_Tiger |
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Reviews were a bit iffy on this one. I think I'll wait for it to drop in price a bit.
Oh, and for it to hit Steam (or - dare to dream - GOG). I hate trying to remember which game-launcher I have to use for a particular game... I wish EA would finally figure that out and not insist on all their games being exclusive to Origin. |
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| News Comments > The 13th Doll: A Fan Game of The 7th Guest |
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Re: The 13th Doll: A Fan Game of The 7th Guest |
Aug 6, 2015, 19:51 |
The_Pink_Tiger |
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I can't imagine this game will have much success. Outside of the small group of people who like logic puzzles based around shuffling tin cans (and similar) and those willing to spend money on quick fix of nostalgia, who exactly is the audience for this game?
The original 7th Guest was so popular because - let's be brutally honest - it had awesome graphics for its time. It was released right when CD-ROMs were gaining popularity, and the amazing amounts of space allowed the developers to go nuts with incredibly well-rendered (for its time) full-motion video. Gamers were no longer restricted to 320x240 graphics with pixelated sprites to tell the story; for the first time, we were getting games that looked almost real. People played the 7th Guest because of how amazing it looked, not for its ridiculous setting or frustrating puzzles (it also helped that, like Myst, the 7th Guest was one of those pack-in games that came with many CD-ROM drives and computers).
But nowadays our computers can real-time render games that look far better than anything the 7th Guest offered, and even pre-rendered movies are hard-pressed to stand out against in-game cutscenes. This raw power negates the game's biggest appeal. There just isn't a huge market for obtuse logic puzzles.
Not that I am in anyway besmirching the original or this late sequel and if you are a fan of the franchise, I'm sure this is great news. I just hope the developers realize their audience will be miniscule in comparison and don't expect any of the success of the original.
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| News Comments > Fallout 4: No Level Cap; Play Past the Ending |
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| 4. |
Re: Fallout 4: No Level Cap; Play Past the Ending |
Aug 6, 2015, 19:35 |
The_Pink_Tiger |
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No level cap, eh?
First thing I'm doing when I get Fallout 4 is opening the console and typing in:
player.setlevel 4294967297
And if that works, I'm trying 18446744073709551617
(That's 2^32 +1 and 2^64 +1 respectively).
Because I bet there's gonna be a limit SOMEWHERE
(and then I'm gonna bitch about false advertising on the Internet ;-)
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| News Comments > Homefront: The Revolution Gameplay Video |
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| 3. |
Re: Homefront: The Revolution Gameplay Video |
Aug 5, 2015, 19:39 |
The_Pink_Tiger |
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Wow, this looks terrible. From the constrained FOV, to the extremely scripted gameplay, to the awful music and pathetically bad voice-acting... they really are giving the original Homefront a run for the money on worst CoD clone.
The thing is, the core concept is so awesome that it's amazing two developers can fuck it up so badly. I mean, who doesn't want to virtually relive the experiences of a resistance group fighting against invaders of their home country? But you need to do it right; give the players some actual agency instead of limiting them to a badly written plotline. An open-world game would be awesome. Why Homefront of all games got a sequel when the far superior titles like "Freedom Fighters" or the "Resistance" add-on for Operation Flashpoint are stuck in limbo, I'll never understand.
Then again, given the tortured development this game went through, I'm surprised it is even being released at all. I guess Deep Silver is desperate to recoup their investment one way or another (and god knows they're a publisher that's never been that insistent on putting quality first).
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84 Comments. 5 pages. Viewing page 1.
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