Rate the Last Game You Played

[GLASSJAW]

Overwatch when I thought it was Free-to-Play: 7.5/10

Overwatch when I found out it costs $60: 5/10

 

This game is remarkably similar to Team Fortress 2, but with a few adjustments. Some adjustments are improvements, others are not.

 

The game seems streamlined to make teams more committed to a single effort. Whereas a TF2 server/game is often just 24 people running around collecting kills, this is 5v5 so there it feels far more strict.

 

Another improvement is, of course, the wide range of "heroes" or characters to pick. Keeps things moderately interesting.

 

Unfortunately, the character design is just borderline stupid at times. As is the case with Heroes of the Storm, the characters are a mish-mash of Blizzardisms and random "huh?" stuff that, I guess, is cool for like 20 seconds, but has virtually no aesthetic value that I could identify as being a Blizzard product (unlike WoW, SC, Diablo). A great developer, I think, usually has aesthetic consistency. Nintendo, Valve, old Blizzard, etc.

 

In Overwatch you have a giant scientist gorilla running beside a wild west gun fighter with a robotic arm. The traditional Blizzard dwarf is there, but it's like... who cares? All the characters are given slightly techy features to make them seem like they fit in this weird gadget world--but none of it looks even remotely natural to me. It's like League of Legends--except League just borrows images and designs from everything, whereas Blizzard is being SORTA self-referential, yet still it somehow just feels cheap.

 

Anyway, in my continued quest to find a unique FPS to play that isn't just a typical CoD clone, I was kinda excited for this. Ultimately, I thought it was pretty fun for the beta duration. But that was all in the context of it being FREE. Upon just finding out that the game ACTUALLY COSTS MONEY, I would never recommend this unless you're a die-hard Blizzard fan who really loved TF2.

 

For me, though, the search continues for a decent FPS.

 

 

 

 

[g_bassi13]

21 hours ago, GLASSJAW said:

Overwatch when I thought it was Free-to-Play: 7.5/10

Overwatch when I found out it costs $60: 5/10

 

This game is remarkably similar to Team Fortress 2, but with a few adjustments. Some adjustments are improvements, others are not.

 

The game seems streamlined to make teams more committed to a single effort. Whereas a TF2 server/game is often just 24 people running around collecting kills, this is 5v5 so there it feels far more strict.

 

Another improvement is, of course, the wide range of "heroes" or characters to pick. Keeps things moderately interesting.

 

Unfortunately, the character design is just borderline stupid at times. As is the case with Heroes of the Storm, the characters are a mish-mash of Blizzardisms and random "huh?" stuff that, I guess, is cool for like 20 seconds, but has virtually no aesthetic value that I could identify as being a Blizzard product (unlike WoW, SC, Diablo). A great developer, I think, usually has aesthetic consistency. Nintendo, Valve, old Blizzard, etc.

 

In Overwatch you have a giant scientist gorilla running beside a wild west gun fighter with a robotic arm. The traditional Blizzard dwarf is there, but it's like... who cares? All the characters are given slightly techy features to make them seem like they fit in this weird gadget world--but none of it looks even remotely natural to me. It's like League of Legends--except League just borrows images and designs from everything, whereas Blizzard is being SORTA self-referential, yet still it somehow just feels cheap.

 

Anyway, in my continued quest to find a unique FPS to play that isn't just a typical CoD clone, I was kinda excited for this. Ultimately, I thought it was pretty fun for the beta duration. But that was all in the context of it being FREE. Upon just finding out that the game ACTUALLY COSTS MONEY, I would never recommend this unless you're a die-hard Blizzard fan who really loved TF2.

 

For me, though, the search continues for a decent FPS.

Though I've never really been a true fan of Blizzard games overall, or a person who really enjoyed Team Fortress 2 at all, I think there was something about this game that I was looking forward to.

 

The $60 price point is more designed for someone like me, that would rather pay some money up front for something that is promising and fleshed out, rather than having to dig through free to plays and dumping money into micro-transactions in the place of just owning the whole of said game.

 

Issue is with a lot of those multiplayer games is that they now tack these fees in the form of necessary and unnecessary DLC that you need to dump money into just to keep playing the stupid thing. So asking for an entry fee on top of it all is just egregious double dipping. 

 

Total rambling aside though, you've turned me off buying this game. Was hoping to buy the game for the charm, and if that's absent, I don't see the point.

 

Now Battleborn has the chance to be the one to disappoint me.

[GLASSJAW]

11 hours ago, g_bassi13 said:

Though I've never really been a true fan of Blizzard games overall, or a person who really enjoyed Team Fortress 2 at all, I think there was something about this game that I was looking forward to.

 

The $60 price point is more designed for someone like me, that would rather pay some money up front for something that is promising and fleshed out, rather than having to dig through free to plays and dumping money into micro-transactions in the place of just owning the whole of said game.

 

Issue is with a lot of those multiplayer games is that they now tack these fees in the form of necessary and unnecessary DLC that you need to dump money into just to keep playing the stupid thing. So asking for an entry fee on top of it all is just egregious double dipping. 

 

Total rambling aside though, you've turned me off buying this game. Was hoping to buy the game for the charm, and if that's absent, I don't see the point.

 

Now Battleborn has the chance to be the one to disappoint me.

I don't know many people who would prefer to pay $60 for a game, then $15 for each subsequent DLC haha. But at the same time, I just feel like the product Blizzard is about to release is extremely generic.

 

It feels great, don't get me wrong. But many of the characters are ones already from the Blizzard universe. The style of play is entirely familiar. It's basically competitive TF2 set in a different universe with a bigger pool of heroes to select from--but none of that matters, since the game dynamic revolves around counter-picking. If you want to win, you have to pick heroes that balance or counter other heroes - so, again, who cares if there's 20 characters to choose from when you can only pick 1 or 2 to counter somebody else and win the game?

 

I feel like a killjoy, and I'd definitely recommend playing any other beta test periods if they open up, or any free weeks they offer. But I know I'm not going to put money into it.

 

Haven't looked much into Battleborn, but I should. I'm still hoping that DOOM is fun, even though a lot of the beta feedback has been negative

 

[g_bassi13]

1 hour ago, GLASSJAW said:

I don't know many people who would prefer to pay $60 for a game, then $15 for each subsequent DLC haha. But at the same time, I just feel like the product Blizzard is about to release is extremely generic.

 

It feels great, don't get me wrong. But many of the characters are ones already from the Blizzard universe. The style of play is entirely familiar. It's basically competitive TF2 set in a different universe with a bigger pool of heroes to select from--but none of that matters, since the game dynamic revolves around counter-picking. If you want to win, you have to pick heroes that balance or counter other heroes - so, again, who cares if there's 20 characters to choose from when you can only pick 1 or 2 to counter somebody else and win the game?

 

I feel like a killjoy, and I'd definitely recommend playing any other beta test periods if they open up, or any free weeks they offer. But I know I'm not going to put money into it.

 

Haven't looked much into Battleborn, but I should. I'm still hoping that DOOM is fun, even though a lot of the beta feedback has been negative

 

Depends on the type of game and what they're charging for really. Paying $60 for Borderlands 2, and then $10 for each DLC was totally okay. Felt like I was getting perfect value for what it was, when you're getting a full storyline DLC you can play yourself or with friends. When you're paying $70 for a game like Evolve, and then $10 for every subsequent Monster or Hunter character the game adds, that's just extremely gross. Icky.

 

I find that any game that limits you character selection just turns me off of it. Whether it be something literal like the latest Rainbow Six game, where every character can only be selected by one player before they become unavailable. Or something like you're implying that Overwatch is. I think the idea to incentivize diversity is a good one in practice, it's just that creating win-loss situations for failing to follow a formula is always a bad one.

 

I'm totally getting DOOM. I haven't looked into what people have been saying about it, but it's one of those games I'm going to be getting regardless.

[Monty]

Gone Home

 

I love independent games, but this has to be one of the biggest wastes of time. Truly terrible.

[GLASSJAW]

On April 20, 2016 at 3:01 PM, g_bassi13 said:

Depends on the type of game and what they're charging for really. Paying $60 for Borderlands 2, and then $10 for each DLC was totally okay. Felt like I was getting perfect value for what it was, when you're getting a full storyline DLC you can play yourself or with friends. When you're paying $70 for a game like Evolve, and then $10 for every subsequent Monster or Hunter character the game adds, that's just extremely gross. Icky.

 

I find that any game that limits you character selection just turns me off of it. Whether it be something literal like the latest Rainbow Six game, where every character can only be selected by one player before they become unavailable. Or something like you're implying that Overwatch is. I think the idea to incentivize diversity is a good one in practice, it's just that creating win-loss situations for failing to follow a formula is always a bad one.

 

I'm totally getting DOOM. I haven't looked into what people have been saying about it, but it's one of those games I'm going to be getting regardless.

Free overwatch beta May 5-9, jsyk

 

actually it may start at 4:00 today

[g_bassi13]

1 hour ago, GLASSJAW said:

Free overwatch beta May 5-9, jsyk

 

actually it may start at 4:00 today

That's good to know. But Battleborn is supposed to be coming in the mail today, so I probably will be distracted. I'll see if I can give it a try.

[Mimerez]

Just recently purchased the Telltale humble bundle, and I finished Tales from the Borderlands and Game of Thrones in one week. 

 

Game of Thrones

You play as House Forrester after the events of the red wedding, one of the Stark loyal houses. You play as a variety of characters, all placed in different parts of the world (Kings landing, The Wall, Meereen etc,) and you're trying to prevent a rival house from seizing all you own.

 

I've been a huge fan of the books and TV series since they both started coming out. I'm surprised at the negative reception this game has received, as I think it's actually one of the best episodic games out there. 

This was indeed a fresh take on Game of Thrones, a game where I could make my own legitimate choices, as opposed to watching the sometimes idiotic decisions made in the book. At times, I actually was scared of what the consequences of my actions were. Because of the fact that you play multiple characters, you must work with every one of them to help save House Forrester. 

 

Honestly, I enjoyed this just a little more than Tales from the Borderlands. I'm just more of a suspense and anticipation kind of player, as opposed to the comedic path TftB took. The only part that annoyed me was how invincible some of the characters were *cough Ramsay cough *

 

9/10

 

 

 

[Mimerez]

Tales from the Borderlands 

 

This game is more focused on the story of two protagonists, Rhys and Fiona. This is a fun take on the Borderlands universe, with the storyline starting after the events of Borderlands 2. 

This game has a much better story than any of the other Borderlands games. Rhys, a Hyperion employee and Fiona, a con artist,  work together to retrieve what is there's in a long and fun journey. 

The jokes that are made are very reminiscent of those made in the original games. They're hilarious and satisfying (Pizza Face party anyone?) 

I didn't quite anticipate how much I'd enjoy this game, and managed to finish it in two days. 

 

Definitely worth a pickup

8.5/10

 

[Tanev's Smirk]

I just finished "playing" fault - milestone 1/2a and really enjoyed the kinetic novel experience. Translation errors aside this series was a great pick up during Steam's latest sale.

[Miss Korea Bob.Loblaw]

On 4/19/2016 at 3:40 AM, GLASSJAW said:

 

For me, though, the search continues for a decent FPS.

 

 

I'll play with my friends during the beta.  Have you tried Red Orchestra 2/Rising Storm/Heroes of the West?  I'm waiting to see more about Rising Storm 2.

[MeanSeanBean]

Xenoblade X. Fantastic. I have sunk 250 plus hours into that sucker and still find myself booting it back up to grind when I'm bored. I haven't had such a satisfying sense of adventure since I first booted up Skyrim those years ago.

[c00kies]

On 4/27/2016 at 0:44 AM, Monty said:

Gone Home

 

I love independent games, but this has to be one of the biggest wastes of time. Truly terrible.

I have it downloaded but I've been busy with NBA 2K16.

 

Why was it so terrible? You seem to enjoy the same types of games as me, so I take your opinion to heart.

 

 

[Monty]

1 hour ago, c00kies said:

I have it downloaded but I've been busy with NBA 2K16.

 

Why was it so terrible? You seem to enjoy the same types of games as me, so I take your opinion to heart.

For a point and click game, I expect a little more thought and, perhaps, a little more mystery to the game. Even for an independent game, the story was far too simple and, for lack of a better term, "teenagery" (which isn't a word).

 

The writing/story honestly seemed like it was written by a 16 year old. Which isn't to say it's awful. Just felt very hallow.

[g_bassi13]

So I was at EB Games, and I saw Tales of the Borderlands, and thought about how @Monty raved about the game, so I picked it up. He was right, it was excellent. Thanks for that recommendation.

 

Was the first game of it's kind that I've played that didn't fall apart in the end, and/or disregard choices throughout. Even though I liked the rest of Life is Strange a lot (like a lot, a lot), the ending left a lot to desired. It was a bad kind of hollow, because things didn't feel resolved, or reflective. Tales of the Borderlands managed both.

 

Could go into a full depth review, and might later. Just wanted to say as I finished it, that it was so worth the investment. 

[Blue Jay 22]

Oh man. I think I just discovered a new favorite thread.

[Monty]

6 hours ago, g_bassi13 said:

So I was at EB Games, and I saw Tales of the Borderlands, and thought about how @Monty raved about the game, so I picked it up. He was right, it was excellent. Thanks for that recommendation.

 

Was the first game of it's kind that I've played that didn't fall apart in the end, and/or disregard choices throughout. Even though I liked the rest of Life is Strange a lot (like a lot, a lot), the ending left a lot to desired. It was a bad kind of hollow, because things didn't feel resolved, or reflective. Tales of the Borderlands managed both.

 

Could go into a full depth review, and might later. Just wanted to say as I finished it, that it was so worth the investment. 

Really glad you enjoyed it. It sucks when you rave about something to someone, as it rarely lives up to that hype/expectation. 

 

I really like my point/click games and the "choose your own adventure" that Telltale has been improving on game after game over the past several years. That's not to say that they can't continue to improve, but they've come a long way from Back to the Future and the first Walking Dead.

 

Tales from the Borderlands not only had terrific writing, humor, and voice acting, but also was Telltale's finest in terms of your choices actually meaning something from episode one through to the end.

 

It will be interesting to see where they go with their Batman game. Being able to play as both Wayne and Batman, while also choosing who to play more as will be a new challenge for them.

[g_bassi13]

7 hours ago, Monty said:

Really glad you enjoyed it. It sucks when you rave about something to someone, as it rarely lives up to that hype/expectation. 

 

I really like my point/click games and the "choose your own adventure" that Telltale has been improving on game after game over the past several years. That's not to say that they can't continue to improve, but they've come a long way from Back to the Future and the first Walking Dead.

 

Tales from the Borderlands not only had terrific writing, humor, and voice acting, but also was Telltale's finest in terms of your choices actually meaning something from episode one through to the end.

 

It will be interesting to see where they go with their Batman game. Being able to play as both Wayne and Batman, while also choosing who to play more as will be a new challenge for them.

Yeah, I mean this is leaps and bounds better than that Walking Dead game, which I thought was silly when it got a bunch of awards and such. It was very weak narratively, and it was barely a game, as it had almost no puzzles for an adventure game, and the choices were temporary window dressing as whatever was supposed to happen, just happened anyways. 

 

What they managed to achieve here was pretty unique. The characters were generally likeable (or hateable when they were supposed to be). And a lot of the time, when you were making choices, there was a lot of emotional resonance with what you were choosing, whether in spite, pity, love, or any other such emotion. Getting revenge, or choosing to forgive came up pretty often, and I was surprised at how often the game got me to change my mind and all. It was just written, acted, and portrayed so well. The cinematography (if you can call anything in a video game that. I would with a game that's 95% a series of cutscenes. "Visual framing" if you want to be picky about it), is just so on point. It managed to feel like an epic movie when it needed to, and a small story about a bunch of friends just hanging around and bantering when it needed to too. It didn't use cheap and lazy things to try and generate emotions from me, like the Walking Dead game (or the Godawful Mass Effect 3), which lead to frustration rather than the intended effect. It almost all flowed naturally in this game, unlike those.

 

It's not like this is the only game to succeed on the fronts though, as I've played games that are smaller in scope to the same effect (that sometimes literally read like a book), and games that are a lot larger which incorporate a lot more gameplay into them, like a good Bioware game. But it was very fun to play a game that was focused on nothing more than working as a highly interactive movie, or a TV Mini series. As a framing device, limiting gameplay to just being a character guiding themselves through a movie can make for a great thing, if it's done near perfectly like it's done here. Again, citing previous examples that I've already brought up, this is the only thing that's carried from start to finish with the whole idea well, that I've played.

 

I think there were at least a couple of moments where the choices were stupidly simplistic, based on my observations of having played the game only once (and obviously only with one set of choices/actions), where it still seemed to me like there was an obvious good choice, and an obvious wrong one, that had either a direct benefit or a direct punishment, with no in between. It was particularly bad, when the selfish choice literally only has a backlash. Messes with the intended moral effect if being a goody two shoes allows you to coast through the game easier. Should be harder to make good choices, where you have to take a step back to your own goals in order to help someone else (something most other non-Telltale games have a pretty good handle on). Though all that said, the ability to just continue being a dick throughout the whole game still makes each choice more fulfilling, even if the consquences could be handled better.

 

Though like my main point about the game was, you really do control the flow of a lot of things. Many characters will live and die by your hands. Characters will flourish or languish by your hands. And this is all I primarily ask for in a game like this, and it's something that Life is Strange particularly failed in because of it's bad last episode. The game didn't just whitewash everything, like other ones have chose instead of dealing with the character's input. It's simply interactive in many good ways.

 

And in terms of being a Borderlands game, in the Borderlands world, it was pretty spot on. It got most of the humour and quirkiness down. Would have preferred if major characters from past games didn't conveniently find a way to simply enter the game. Would have been nice to see more new people introduced, rather than finding direct ways to attempt to link to Borderlands 2 and the Pre-Sequel to it. The writing was on point enough that I wanted to see more of characters and all that they could have came up with. But a certain level of familiarity was required to make people think Borderlands when they saw it, and not think that it was some unimportant side story. And hell, was the story important to everything within the lore of the Borderlands. More than the pre-sequel, arguably, especially since these were all new events, and not just a retelling of past ones.

 

All in all, just a real evolution of Telltale and their ability as developers to put something out there. I've treated them with extreme scepticism since The Walking Dead game. Just seemed like a company that could have a future skirting by with shortcuts and cheap attempts to garner reactions from gamers since it already worked for them, but this Borderlands entry was sublime. and proved my skepticism to be wrong minded. I'm now too very much looking forward to playing this Batman game. Should be good.

[g_bassi13]

Aside from Telltale's Batman game, this also has gotten me thinking about and wanting Borderlands 3 even harder. Can't believe they had nothing for it at E3, and it makes me even more frustrated that they put all of it aside for development on Battleborn, and whatever future content they have planned for that game.

 

But they have leaked some basic things about what they want to do with that game, all of which sound like they want to make the game more Bethesda-like, honestly. Which is a good thing (aside from the fact that everyone from Bioware, to Gearbox, and even Nintendo all are trying to be mimic this one developer's style), but the game really needs that expansion of depth. As fun as the Borderlands game have been, they're pretty one dimensional when it comes to actual gameplay elements revolving around interaction and exploration. So having things like companions and what not could make the game a more engaging experience.

[Monty]

@g_bassi13

 

Batman - A Telltale Game

 

Episode one came out last night. The intro scene was incredibly well done. Cutting back and forth between you playing as Batman and the same night later, playing as Bruce Wayne (sometimes in the middle of an action scene). It really showed the immediate wear and tear that living a duo life takes on the Caped Crusader.

 

According to Telltale, you can choose to play more of the game as Bruce or as Batman. However, I do not believe you had that choice in episode one, as the game is establishing your choices, setting up just "who" you want to play more as going forward. This isn't a bad thing at all for this episode. In order to setup just what type of person you are going to be, you have to establish your "Bruce Wayne" and your "Batman".

 

Telltale is really improving their game. In this one, the choices of Batman and, especially as Bruce Wayne, aren't as cut and dry; at least, they weren't for me. Alfred warns you very early on that you don't want Harvey Dent or Lt. Gordon figuring out who Bruce Wayne really is. So when I had to make a decision when I was playing as Wayne as to whether I wanted to publicly endorse Carmina Falcone (mob boss) for Harvey's mayoral campaign, I was incredibly torn. If I don't endorse him in private or in public, will this put a target on my back, causing people later on to think I'm Batman? If I do support him and take him down as Batman, would that mean that the "Wayne" family name goes down in shambles, but ensures that people do not believe me to be Batman? It's really tough. I will say that, in this episode, none of this has been answered yet. However, I know that it will be later on. Either way, Telltale has done superb job at setting up the world and your character.

 

Can tell that my choices will mean something as the game goes forward. Particularly two made in the beginning as Bruce and at the end as Batman.