General gaming discussion

Potential-Monke · 11-08-2022 6:21am

Was watching a few videos on Soul Reaver recently, and it struck me why, I think, I love it so much. Raziel narrated his thoughts, added to the story, made it very adult, for want of a better word. Every word seemed crafted to pull you into the world and the happenings. There was no wasted dialogue. It was a proper interactive story in game form.

While HFW has, imo, some of the best character conversation animations and believability, like the upcoming Forspoken, Saints Row and lots of modern games (possibly started with Uncharted?), they just talk for the sake of talking. It is initially cool, but quickly wears. It also makes one feel like the characters think we've ADHD and won't pay attention unless someone is talking. Which, granted, could be true for a lot of the audience they seem to be aimed at...

I think it's why I loved Dysmantle, Subnautica and Hades to a degree. Everything was relevant, part of the overall story and pushed you onwards. I don't get that with a lot of recent games. I don't think I'm the target audience anymore... I'll still get Forspoken though, gameplay looks fun and hopefully the dialogue isn't that bad throughout.

Zero-Cool · 11-08-2022 9:27am

Watching CBBC with my kid this morning and there was a cartoon called The Deep which looked exactly like Subnautica. Family exploring the ocean depths coming up against leviathan class creatures. They have a Cyclops (with moonpool), sea moth and prawn suits. Looking it up, it's on Netflix, my new favourite cartoon :)

johnny_ultimate · 11-08-2022 9:30am

I am looking forward to Immortality I have to say. Seems to be a much more ambitious project than Telling Lies (which was good but lacked the spark of Her Story, even with a substantially bigger budget). I haven't read much about it, but the idea of match cuts being a central mechanic sounds fantastic, and from following Barlow online he and his team are drawing from a deep well of cinematic references for this one.

Zero-Cool · 11-08-2022 10:01am

Just looked up Immortality, i completely forgot about that as I remember seeing the reveal trailer and it looked really interesting. Didn't know it wasn't coming to PlayStation but the fact i can play it on my phone is best best thing, that's great news! I have telling lies but haven't tried it yet. Her Story looks really good, hopefully that gets added to Netflix games down the road.

Jordan 199 · 15-08-2022 12:49pm

I started playing Red Dead Redemption again. An excellent game.

Vicxas · 15-08-2022 1:03pm

Cult of the Lamb is great if you're looking to sink 30 or 40 hours into something

SuperBowserWorld · 15-08-2022 6:52pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119475672#Comment_119475672

Oh, I have this game, still hoping a 60FPS upgrade appears before I play it. It's already 4K.

Markitron · 16-08-2022 9:16am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119477454#Comment_119477454

I think that upgrade program is dead, and judging by recent news, there's no way Rockstar themselves will bother. I reckon this is as good as it gets for RDR.

SuperBowserWorld · 16-08-2022 10:02am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119479574#Comment_119479574

They are really pretty shite around this. Others providing free 60FPS upgrades.

Retr0gamer · 16-08-2022 11:18am

RDR is up there with Bully and The Warriors as the best thing Rockstar has made. It's such a shame it's not had a rerelease yet but looks like shareholders have shot that down after the disaster of the GTA 'definitive' editions. RDR apparently has a lot of janky coding so would probably be a lot tougher to port as well as not having a janky mobile phone version to base it off.

The game would still look gorgeous with just a 4K upscale and would clean up on console and especially on PC. Such a shame it's confined to consoles that are only going to get harder to find working hardware for and yet the god awful RDR2 is available on everything and PC.

Markitron · 16-08-2022 12:58pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119480048#Comment_119480048

IIRC it runs in native 4K on the One X and Series X via enhanced BC, but is still capped at 30 fps (much like The Witcher 2). I always forget it was never brought to the PC, that is just madness.

CatInABox · 16-08-2022 1:07pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119480048#Comment_119480048

In fairness, it looks and plays great in Series X

Mr.Saturn · 16-08-2022 1:57pm

Always been a bit conflicted about Red Dead Redemption - part of me thinks it’s a triumph and another part thinks someone managed to repackage their Deadwood fanfic for big boy profits.

Agree the second one is the absolute ****, not since Arkham have I seen a developer take the worst possible lessons from the first entry’s success and used them to build an inferior sequel.

Retr0gamer · 16-08-2022 2:43pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119480816#Comment_119480816

Isn't that the Rockstar modus operandi? Steal all your story beats and set pieces from TV and film that did it better then wait for the narrative awards to come flooding in. I still see people on twitter thinking RDR2 is some narrative masterpiece when I had seen everything in the game in much better western films.

SuperBowserWorld · 16-08-2022 3:29pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119480556#Comment_119480556

First world problem ... on a 48 inch OLED, 30 FPS makes me feel sick, especially after switching from a 60FPS game. If I take a break and start fresh into a 30 FPS game, then it seems OK ,but still really sluggish. Some games are worse than others.

CatInABox · 16-08-2022 3:46pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119481363#Comment_119481363

Ha, I just remember getting motion sickness from the crazy variable framerate on the 360, so a locked 30 seems fine to me.

johnny_ultimate · 16-08-2022 3:53pm

A strange one: I was playing Katamari Reroll last night and it was running at 60 FPS but clearly felt like 30, apart from things like UI elements or cutscenes which were running faster. Was quite strange, but a quick glance online seems to suggest the game logic is locked at 30 so a lot of elements run at that speed instead. It was a little bit disorientating, and don't remember being quite as distracted by it when the game came out a few years ago.

In contrast, I'm playing Xenoblade Chronicles 3 too and that runs at a smooth 30 FPS but actually feels faster than that for whatever reason! Must be the response times or something.

johnny_ultimate · 16-08-2022 4:03pm

Rollerdome - from the OlliOlli crew - is getting some extremely positive reviews (and some more mixed ones too). THPS meets Doom sounds very intriguing.

Turning out to be a banner year for indie games: there really has been an abundance of cool, interesting games.

https://www.eurogamer.net/rollerdrome-review-roll7-delivers-a-game-of-impossible-style

Zero-Cool · 16-08-2022 4:40pm

I finally tried Telling Lies which is a great concept but definitely not for everyone. You watch real life video clips of one side of a conversation. Using keywords to search for more clips in a video database, you have to piece together full conversations and discover more keywords that unlock more videos. Some boring 3-5 minute videos early on but it's great when you find the other side of the convo and then find something juicy to move the story on. They really nailed the creepiness of watching other people's intimate conversations.

I then found Solitaire on the computer desktop and couldn't stop playing that until i beat it :)

Jordan 199 · 16-08-2022 5:13pm

L.A. Noire. It's a shame that game never got a sequel.

SuperBowserWorld · 16-08-2022 6:46pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119481465#Comment_119481465

I think Nintendo may be better at this and maybe because the games are <= 1080p. I notice BOTW is fine on my TV, but RDR2 is disappointing. Camera rotation is when it really shows.

But, 60 FPS always gives me that arcade, as nature intended feeling..😊

awec · 16-08-2022 8:04pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119481794#Comment_119481794

Yea it's mad that this game never got a sequel, I don't think there's been another game like it.

I guess though that sort of game is very expensive to produce with the number of actors etc involved, and there is no real way to monetize it in the longer term.

EoinMcLovin · 16-08-2022 8:16pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119482533#Comment_119482533

There was also alot of controversy with the studio around overworking staff

https://youtu.be/KO53rj04-ls

Grumpypants · 16-08-2022 8:40pm

I liked when he would go mental after you chose a relatively innocuous response.

Zero-Cool · 16-08-2022 9:59pm

I love this clip of LA Noire in real life.

https://youtu.be/iIA0w-iqVc8

DarC_Kn1ght · 16-08-2022 11:41pm

Souls like 'Thymesia' getting some decent reviews

https://youtu.be/ihGDFIDmP9o

Retr0gamer · 17-08-2022 12:38am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119482533#Comment_119482533

Its not quite the same but Phoenix wright does it way better.

Penn · 17-08-2022 8:20am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119482533#Comment_119482533

For me the biggest flaw in the game was the open world. There was no need for it at all. They could have just created more on-foot chase sequences or something. The investigations and interrogations were always the focus of the game and should have remained so.

I think if they did go with a sequel they could do a lot better with facial capture now that you could really have to try pick up on subtle facial movements etc to determine if the character is lying. They could also do it without having so many recognisable actors in it. But I'd say Rockstar are happy enough to just drop it altogether. Not a game that would lend itself to a separate online mode.