General gaming discussion

CastorTroy

So with the success of the Mario movie and with how film studios seem to think, how long until we hear of more games being turned into movies that we don't already know of?

I know Zelda and Donkey Kong are 2 suggestions but what games would do well as animated movies rather than live action?

Zero-Cool

I've been keeping an eye on Surviving The Aftermath for a while but haven't pulled the trigger as I've never spent much time on a building sim management kind of game but the setting really appeals to me. Just spotted it on Amazon for 5.60 euro but out of stock. It allowed me to buy it and said it would ship as soon as it was in stock. Anyone done this before and have you been waiting long for stock or if it's been cancelled?

Jordan 199

Claude in GTA 3 has a lovely voice.

RobbingBandit

Cody Rhodes getting linked with Zelda movie role if it's Ocarina he'd make a good Mido if it's Zelda II Error would be ideal

The Raging Bile Duct

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120452041#Comment_120452041

Bought this before the sale ended and started it up last night about half eleven. Didn't finish playing until near four. Really addictive gameplay and it has that 'just one more go' factor that keeps me playing all night long. The slow motion and jump/dive actions are brilliant in it. It's been a long time since I played Hotline but it's definitely up there with in terms of enjoyment I think.

Zero-Cool

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120485921#Comment_120485921

It's not as smooth as Hotline but still very very cool. My only gripe is blurry graphics, especially on the last kill shot, it's like they choose a setting for low graphics for effect or something.

The Raging Bile Duct

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120486298#Comment_120486298

I'm so glad to get the last kill shot that I don't even notice how blurry the graphics are tbh.

Mr. CooL ICE

Any recommendation for where to get a half decent PS4 controller, real or otherwise? Would be for the girlfriend as we sometimes play coop games on PC and she's picky with her controllers, so an Xbox style wouldn't do. Picked up a Gioteck wireless from Smyths last year as the official ones were out of stock, but could never get the wireless working so just used it wired, which was grand. Now the socked on the controller side is broken.

Can see official PS4 controllers are €60 on Smyths. Can't see any on Amazon (they look like used?). Checked CEX but used ones are €50 and run the risk of having things like drift, so would rather not. There's a good few knockoff brands on Amazon but not sure where to even start.

J. Marston

My annual "Remake/remaster Binary Domain" post.

Done.

Retr0gamer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120487662#Comment_120487662

It's on pc and last time I played it it worked great. Really enjoyed that slice of b tier awesome.

J. Marston

Started Horizon: Forbidden West. I know I'll like the gameplay and the exploring etc.

But Christ, it has the God of War "We assume you're a big stupid fúcking baby who can't figure anything out so we'll tell you within 10 seconds" mechanic.

By far, my most hated aspect of game design these days. Walk into a room, big yellow ladder, "Hmm, maybe that ladder?" I know, alright, I fúcking know. Just let me look around the place for 2 seconds before holding my hand. And I know it only gets worse because I googled "Turn off Aloy hints" and it just leads to more results of people asking for an option to turn it off and others saying she spoils all the puzzles.

There needs to be a "Condescending Verbosity" setting added into games. Here are my suggestions.

None.

Prompt.

Low.

Medium.

Does baba need their handy-wandy held?

Potential-Monke

I actually didn't think she was that bad. But I knew the game was giving out to me when she dropped the line "Maybe my focus will see something". Yes, your focus sees everything! It's why it's there ffs! My R3 click is getting overtime.

Retr0gamer

Welcome to triple A gaming where development costs are so high that the designed by committee games are too afraid to lose any sales that they baby the player.

Meanwhile elden ring sells more and is a better game.

(And yeah I know it's an outlier)

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120489457#Comment_120489457

The suggestion being that Eden Ring is difficult? I think the arguments against Elden Ring are misinterpreted as so when really it's problem is that it is extremely tedious to the point of not being enjoyable. I don't believe for one second that anyone can play the game without regularly experience such frustration to the point where it pisses them off enough to make them want to stop playing it for at least a day or two.

That's before I even get started on the George RR Martin hype b.s that he wrote the script. Script? Lolz. I've challenged many people to tell me what the story line is. "Ah yeah but it's just the atmosphere and the lore and stuff". Right sure, George RR Martin is in the business of lore and stuff and not story telling. Or is he in the business of selling his name as a brand on a box?

Retr0gamer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120489709#Comment_120489709

No not that it's difficult. What I'm getting at is that it has enough respect for the player to let them figure stuff out for themselves which makes it more rewarding. It's the complete antithesis of something like Horizon and yet manages to outsell it. I think it's kind of a nice victory of gods honest game design over designed by committee blockbusters. I also recognize that the types of games that let the player figure the game out or make their own fun and are also successful are outliers. For every Minecraft there's a lot of failures and it took From Software a long time for their style of game to reach a cultural zeitgeist.

Also just because it's difficult and not for you doesn't mean it's bad. Sure there's some frustration and yes there's a few points where the game feels rushed but since every victory is earned the highs are so much better than something like Horizon will ever be able to achieve.

Zero-Cool

Like Jordan mentioned about Claude from GTA 3, i know people complained about the lack of voice acting for main characters back in the day but modern gaming could take a leaf out of Gordon Freeman's book and shut the **** up. This thing of treating gamers like they have zero concentration and have to be reminded of what the player is doing every 5 seconds is grating. Add awful voice acting and new age freaking dialogue and it's painful. From entering a puzzle room in tomb raider / Uncharted and before you can even scan the room, they tell you what you need to do, to days gone "hhmm a herb, yeah, better grab that, i can use that".

Retr0gamer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120489889#Comment_120489889

The narrating every little thing the player does or should take notice of is a very annoying trend. Horizon is bad but nothing is as obnoxious as forspoken. I can see why the developers do this but there has to be easier ways to convey this than having the player character point it out. I mean left 4 dead has a developer mode that shows how valved achieved the same thing with lighting. Got back to school game devs!

AlmightyCushion

The worst is when they keep repeating what you need to do over and over again. You could be checking the room for chest or something like that or even just pissing about on your phone and they'll just keep saying something like 'Hmm, maybe I should jump up to that ledge'. Yeah I know that you said it 5 seconds ago. Now, shut up and let me do my Wordle in peace for a minute.

johnny_ultimate

What I find interesting (ie frustrating) about the recent Sony first party games is how they have so many guard rails in place to make the games as polished and smooth as possible, but then they add frustrating layers of unnecessary complexity and mechanical cruft elsewhere. Like Horizon will rarely let you solve a puzzle on your own time lest you get frustrated, but then they throw a million different weapons and items with 0.5% elemental differences at you and expect you to micromanage it all. Very similar case with God of War, and a lot of third party games fall into similar traps. It’s like they’ve smoothed down the wrong edges and added complexity in the wrong places.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120489888#Comment_120489888

My point is most people do not find it difficult, just tedious. I progressed pretty far in the game, but I gave up once I admitted to myself I really wasn't enjoying it at all.

Well done to them for finding a fan base and getting good sales, but I think it is fair to say a large percentage of their sales went to people who got caught up in the hype and regretted the purchase. You won't get people admitting it because of this narrative that it is a difficult game and you are simply not skilled enough to play it.

I've not played Horizon so can't really comment. But we all know Sony are in the entertainment business, meaning less so on the gaming experience (mashing triangle button to push or pull things, pressing a sequence of buttons etc). They want you to have an entertaining interactive experience. You're either into that or you're not and it is evident in the PS sales numbers the vast majority prefer this as an entertainment experience. Many, many typical PS players who consider this AAA gaming would have been caught off guard by Elden Ring.

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120490314#Comment_120490314

I think Elden Ring and Horizon are difficult, but in different ways. Elden Ring is obviously more focused on combat with very few puzzles. It's not that the puzzles in Horizon are difficult though, but the game spells out the answer pretty quickly because it's not something the devs want gamers to get bogged down in.

It's a hard balance to achieve. Have environmental puzzles to break up the gameplay so it's not just combat, make them easy enough that you're not stuck getting frustrated wondering what to do, make it complicated enough that you have to use the proper tools & skills to accomplish even when you know the answer. It's why the character gives such quick and repeated hints; actually solving the puzzle is the least engaging/fun part.

In terms of gameplay difficulty though, I think Elden Ring and Horizon are kind of opposites. Elden Ring's combat (and other Soulsborne games) gets easier as you progress and you die less because even though enemies get tougher, I think there's a more natural progression as you advance your build and familiarity with weapons/skills. Whereas in Horizon, I found myself dying a lot more in the later stages because it just throws bigger and more enemies at you, and your progress is more incremental and your biggest upgrades are usually story-related rather than your own improvement.

You approach an enemy in Elden Ring, it's you vs them and you win based mostly on your own skill and tactics. Horizon in the later stages just felt like you absolutely need to have pinpoint accuracy to hit very specific weakpoints with very specific weapons/ammo, but the game does everything it can you conceal those weakpoints etc.

I think the "difficulty" of SoulsBorne games are overstated. For the most part, it's no more or less difficult than most other games, except the most difficulty usually comes from specific boss fights, and early game as the game forces you to truly learn the game mechanics before you can progress. Games like Horizon, God of War etc can be every bit as difficult, just by a different design, usually huge mobs or story-related "throw as much at you as we can for cinematic reasons" sections.

McFly85

The Fromsoftware games are built around the philosophy of cooperation. The designers want users to collaborate, be it through discussion or through summoning help.

The great thing about the implementation though is that it’s as light or heavy as you want it to be. There’s no setup to get through, you start and you play. A design choice I much prefer, because starting a lot of games now can be a chore with segments up to an hour continually taking control off you to explain things to you. Just let me play and figure it out!

It’s similar to games that suggest that I might want to lower the difficulty because I’ve died a couple of times. Just leave me alone!😂

McFly85

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120490314#Comment_120490314

I don’t think the stats bear out that a significant portion regretted the purchase. No more so than any other game, anyway.

PSNProfiles has the trophy stats and there is an average completion of 57% which is pretty high considering. If you look at ragnarok it’s 65% which isn’t massively different.

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120490417#Comment_120490417

Elden Ring was definitely far more accessible in terms of ways to help players level up without grinding, and more viable builds, to the point that getting to the ending was much easier. But I'm sure there were plenty who tried Elden Ring due to the hype and just couldn't get to the end, not just even due to difficulty but even maybe length. It is a very long game compared to most, with little-to-no story or other incentives bar gameplay to make people push through.

johnny_ultimate

I still find it fairly remarkable how far Elden Ring went with audiences. I have relatives and friends who would never have played one of those From games and became absolutely hooked on Elden Ring.

McFly85

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120490456#Comment_120490456

I find it impressive that over half of the people that bought it have finished it, on PlayStation anyway. The other souls games you could get through in around 40 hours, Elden Ring took me 120.

So counting that there have probably been loads of souls newbies along with the fact that it’s absolutely massive, more than 1 in 2 sticking it out is testament to its phenomenal design.

My point was anyway that there’s no basis to the thought that the high sales numbers were due to hype and loads of people lost interest. It’s just an amazing game.

Considering this conversation began around horizon, had a quick look at its completion percentage and that’s also 57%. I think it’s just common enough that there will be at least a third of owners who don’t finish certain games for whatever reason.

Retr0gamer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120490314#Comment_120490314

I think you are projecting your own experiences on to others there by saying most people found it tedious when it's really only a minority that find it tedious. But you'll find that with every game, I found Horizon tedious for other reasons and dropped it but I'd be in the minority as well.

As for Sony being in the entertainment business, I'm not sure what you are getting at there. Sony's divisions are pretty much autonomous from each other. Also the Sony of old used to make some of the platforms most creative games but the focus shifted to the crowd pleasers starting from the mid PS3 generation.

Anyway you are missing my point as and just venting personal frustration at From Software game difficulty. I'm not talking about difficulty at all but saying how From Software have been massively successful by not following triple A trends and sticking to their guns by making a game that respects the player but also relies on gods honest gameplay and systems to be successful, whereas other games just function as very basic power fantasies.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120490593#Comment_120490593

Not that most people find it tedious. Most people who don't like it find it tedious as opposed to difficult. But yes I think you are right, I'm speaking anecdotally and have nothing to back up my point! I do find the narrative is always about it being a difficult game, but that's not to say it's a fact I suppose.

Sony being in the entertainment business means they want good, interactive, cinematic experiences. They want it to be an enjoyable interactive experience which does not necessarily translate into a good gaming experience. I think they are taking this up a notch where their games must also translate into movie/TV shows. I don't see Sony Entertainment and PlayStation as completely separate businesses. On the contrary we are seeing them getting closer and closer.

Retr0gamer

Yeah Sony are really chasing that HBO show with bits of gameplay between the cutscenes. I suppose I just prefer when my games are games and embrace that.

The Raging Bile Duct

Apart from the Naughty Dog games what other PS games are suffering from being a HBO show with bits of gameplay thrown in?