Baal_Sagoth

@Atlassaid:

@Baal_Sagoth: I'm exactly the same way when it comes to how I play games. I have bought many games during the year that I haven't even touched because I have that sort of personality; unless a game really doesn't click with me, or seems kinda bad, I tend to play for at least a few hours once I've started it. I don't have the mentality of "well, I'll play this for 30 minutes and see how it goes". Besides, that usually means you just end up playing the tutorial and getting a very basic sense of the mechanics. Remember when Brad was feeling underwhelmed by Dishonored, then came back next week and said that was because he hadn't even unlocked any powers during his playtime? He can't have put more than an hour into that game, and you really don't see much of that game in that time. Dishonored is a specific case, and I'm certainly not hating on Brad, but it's a fundamental issue with the buffet style of game consumption.

Yeah, very true. With gaming coverage I do lower my expectations quite a bit though since the more superficial but broader context affords me the luxury to make a reasonably informed decision without trying everything and thus gain the time to really sink my teeth into the games I do end up playing. The real in-depth insight has to come from very specialized outlets or the occasional Let's Play I feel. But that still doesn't solve the problem of complex games not making the cut more often than not and rather bland ones with impressive openings reveiving too much attention. It's a difficult balance.

@Tennmuerti said:

Warlock: MoA is cool for a little bit. But it's kind of limited in scope, once you've seen all the factions, that's pretty much it. Playing vs. AI gets repetitive fast (hardest difficulty setting isn't all that). And there are no preset scenarios or mp (at least there wasn't on release) so skirmish vs. AI was the only thing you could do in it. The games are much smaller in scope and go by way faster then Civ 5 games. It's neat if you were into the Majesty series as the units are taken from there as well as the tone for the descriptions.

That's a good point. Once you get used to the city, magic and combat mechanics you've practically explored most of the depth the game has to offer. I think I'm just shy of 40 hours deep into the game and I'm kind of done with it. I did have a hell of a time with it for that duration though and really liked the jovial tone, the absurdity of it all and the weird attention to detail. There's also a DLC pack I haven't bought that adds another full faction, I believe it's the Elves, as well as artifact magic and some of the leaders give you a city which enables sub-factions like the reptilian guys but none of that really changes a whole lot I think. That's still a very good game in my book, especially for the sensible price, but it's certainly not going to rival a Civ or more complex Paradox title for sure.

@Atlassaid:

Fact. Crusader Kings II is the best game of 2012.

FACT.

So what I'm saying is that you guys are assholes. You hereby have my permission to go fuck yourselves.

*drops the mic and walks away*

WHAAT?!? Well you're an asshole, asshole!!! How rude.

But seriously, for such a thoughtful and rather humble perspective your introductory overview of your 2012 is actually pretty damn impressive. It probably also helps that I can personally relate to a lot of buying decisions and favorites but still. I thoroughly enjoyed reading your argument for CKII, I did enjoy the QL a whole lot as well and I'm going to get around to the game eventually but sadly not in 2012. My Paradox-published game of the year will have to be Warlock - Master of the Arcane for now. And I'll sink some serious time into "Gods & Kings" before I'll end up buying CKII. TL2 just devouring gaming time in insane chunks didn't help either of course.

@Atlas said:

So let's all remember when we champion our games of the year, it comes with a large asterisk. It's the best game that we played that year, and there is no rule that states that once a game is crowned, it holds that title forever; since 2007, all of my games of the year have been games I played in their year of release, but my mind is very open to the possibility of this happening in the future. There are so many games that we game enthusiasts get exposed to but never play, for various reasons, and somewhere in the world somebody is championing that game as the game of the year. There are people in this world who if I asked their game of the year, they'll respond with the name of a game I've never even heard of. Of this I am sure.

Very well said because it's extremely easy to forget this concept time and time again even one does understand the general thought behind it. I'm often in this position as I go deep into games when I really enjoy them and everything I play alone at home - like reading a good book - is on PC so that "hardcore" gamer thing where one 'obviously' has every system in existence and plays five minutes of 'everything' is the exact opposite of my approach. That being said my GOTY based on my experience and information as of late 2012 will comfortably be XCOM. The slightly lower tiers will be were it'll get muddy and I still require some more introspection before I come to a conclusion.

Anyway, fantastic piece and a real pleasure to read!

@Brodehouse: Fair enough. You're quite right in that the shallowness clearly doesn't make it 'poor' on any sort of general level. I just don't like that very much. Bad choice of words.

The Walking Dead can easily and without stretching the concept thin be perceived as a game. In my opinion that just leads to the conclusion that it is a pretty poor one though. The QTEs are, well, Quick time events. Love 'em, hate 'em - they are as generic as they come. The few and far in between adventure moments are about as engaging as other Telltale adventures tend to be. The action/ shooting moments are terrible and frustrating even when one passes them in one go. The choices are mostly founded in giving you the illusion of agency. None of the major motifs of the narrative are influenced by the player's interaction. The game basically uses trained gaming behavior ("I'm making a difference") to shove its plot down your throat and try to make you feel responsible when the plot is primarily scripted and out of your hands.

I'm getting the feeling many of TWD'S most ardent advocates are gamers unfamiliar with Fallout, Planescape: Torment, Vampire: Bloodlines, Alpha Protocol, The Witcher and the like. These give you extremely hard decisions and actually follow through with making you feel the consequences of your particular interaction. Faking true agency isn't actually a bad thing at all, many good games do it, but when the interactive story is all your game really has to go on and the story ends up not being very interactive at all I'm kind of done with the concept personally. Maybe there's something I fail to get but the excitement about this one has me quite confused.

@BillyMethers: This is quite true. New players might get intimidated by the ever-present score on lower difficulties. Don't be. If you kill your targets and reach the exit you pass the requirements for the levels. Everything else is just variety and replay value. Even in Absolution which streamlines the possibilities quite a bit. Don't slavishly stealth if you don't enjoy it on your first go. Also it's absolutely impossible to reach all the level mastery achievements in one go. Those just point you towards various (often conflicting) tactics.

Edit: On the subject of the divisive disguise system I'd add that there's frequently a particular disguise (often just lying around in the level at a point of interest marked by the yellow blip) that has ample security clearance without many NPCs wearing it. If you find it you fool generic guards easily and still get access to restricted areas. In the Terminus Hotel mission a "Terminus Staff"-type disguise is the one to shoot for.

Pac-Man and Tetris are in - this is very good. My most essential desires are covered.

I finally got Absolution and am 6 or 7 levels in I think (just finished the Gunshop mission) and I'm having an excellent time. I cannot express how relieved I am after the divisive reactions it got but this is most definitely a Hitman game for me. Now, I wouldn't even argue that it isn't a massive deviation from the classical Hitman style, so absolutely be prepared to deal with that, but I'm just really enjoying myself with this new format. Also my expectations were exceptionally cautious due to the backlash of course and that might have worked in my favor - maybe I just got the shock of not getting an actual SA or BM sequel out of my system that way.

To give a little context I play Hitman since Agent 47 and enjoyed even that and every game since then in its own way. Silent Assassin and Blood Money are my favorites (over Absolution as well so far). I was really down with the story-telling techniques of Kane & Lynch and Absolution merges a lot of the same stuff with the Hitman lore (which I always thoroughly enjoyed as well, apparently in contrast to many Hitman fans). The in-your-face points stuff is marginally inferior to BM's clue system and the end of mission tally is a step back from BM's glorious newspaper articles but works very well.

The levels aleternate between classical hits that are somewhat smaller in scope and more story focussed moments. Shooting is a more viable option but more engaging as well. Disguises are actually pretty fun but they work differently which takes time getting used to. Stealth is a little more bland, boring and predictable due to the cover-mechanics but works well and is merely one of several options most of the time. Notorious levels like the library (at the end of the campaign coverage in the QL) are no more frustrating and annoying than, let's say, the opening of Contracts. Which is to say they're kind of annoying momentarily in my opinion. The pre-determined loadouts haven't bothered me a bit so far since you can quickly get your hands on several fantastic toys if you're not going in all Silent Assassin-like with the fiber wire in the first place.

Agent 47 is still cool as all hell, the more dramatic plot is a surprise but I'm down with it, the characters are deliciously fucked up pieces of shit. Oh and I haven't had time to check out Contracts mode which looks very interesting. I can't really alleviate anyone's fears of changes because those are present but I'd strongly advise against joining the outrage bandwagon if you can approach the game with an open mind and are cool with getting something different than the previously established Hitman formula. To those who already played it: for me it finally clicked when I finished "Hunter and Hunted" - that was just an ecstatic 'It's so fucking good to be back' moment for me.

@Yummylee: Thanks! Good to hear these early impressions, it's much appreciated. I'm thinking I will inevitably get this at some point but remaining calm and getting a good idea of the myriad changes seems like the best tactic for me so far.

@Yummylee: Some good, balanced insight into the game in this thread. It seems that there may be more than a few redeeming qualities. But I also get a bad Splinter Cell vibe, which is a stealth game I really never could get into. In discussions I always brought that up as stealth being handled poorly before. Just my opinion, but I absolutely don't want Hitman to become that style of game personally.

Another question I have is: how do you feel about 47's attitude, the presentation of the character? That's another core pillar of the series for me. I'm thinking BM-style "What's your name whitebread? - Names are for friends so I don't need one." type stuff.

Oh man, I fucking hope that Absolution will turn out fine for my tastes. I enjoyed the Hitman series so much over the last four games it would be heartbreaking to see it go to shit. Then again, I am cool with a change of pace and understand IO might just not want to do another conventional Hitman game like 2-4. It's just that a lot of linearity, shooter gameplay and cutscene-driven story focus doesn't sound like a change of pace I'll care for very much. So far I'm real timid about wanting to purchase it. We'll see. I'd like to hear more impressions as you guys continue to progress further into the game since I'll definitely be holding out for reviews and maybe even an episode or two of a Let's Play.

My impressions are purely based on a few select gameplay videos and are best summarized by skeptical but hopeful.