RedRavN

For me its diablo 3. I spend a night playing the game and then wonder what did I accomplish. Wow I got some new magic pants for my witch doctor! That will make it slightly easier (1.2%) to kill diablo for like the 30th time.

So I think that the initial hype for this game was strong because bungie was so vague about what the game was. You got the sense that this was some crazy next gen paradigm shift and that it would be a true next gen title. The initial art promised a bold new world to explore and get lost in. But now the new consoles are out and bungie has been very cagey about what the game actually is. Nothing that they have shown looks that revelatory in any way really. It seems to be a co-op game in the style of borderlands or fuze but with combat very reminiscent of halo. That actually sounds like a great mix to me but nothing about that is particularly groundbreaking. I haven't seen anything about the game that couldn't have been done on last gen consoles. Of course the graphics are better than previous bungie games but not by a huge margin. Its a good looking game with a snappy art style but its not technically at the level of say crysis 3 maxed out on a proper PC. I still have no idea if this game will have a narrative focus of note or not and if the game has true exploration. They have kind of crapped out with the PR for this game. Its cool to have a mysterious first reveal to get people excited but the games not far off anymore and no-one seems to have a clue what this game actually is or isn't. I'm hoping that things will be clarified after E3.

Also, I am very disappointed that there is allegedly no PC version in the works. These exclusivity deals are the absolute bane of this industry and total bullshit. Not everyone can afford to have every platform and there is no reason the game should not come out on the PC. Its almost like they don't want money. People are still playing halo:CE all these years later.

My favorite things about the bioshock series is the amazing atmosphere, inventive level design and fun combat. It seems like a lot of people now are being super critical of bioshock infinite when it was so adored when it came out. I can accept that you don't like the game but I find it hard to believe that some people actually think the game is anything less than stellar for what it is attempting. The game is not supposed to be GTA in the clouds and its clearly not a tactical shooter, so I don't get why people had these weird expectations for what the game is. In my opinion the game is a frankenstein of a bunch of different ideas that make it very unique. People complain that the game feels stitched together in a lot of ways. If infinite is a unique game with really no other game even remotely like it then who is to decide if the parts fit together? If you believe the game feels disconnected and stitched together then what other game has even attempted what they did in infinite? If there is no basis for comparison its not bad just different. Bioshock infinite is a weird and unique game that people will either like or loathe, but thats not a flaw in and of itself. I appreciate that its not trying to be all things to everybody.

The first bioshock is a different game in a lot of ways. It is a harrowing game; one that is isolating and full of characters that feel like walking ideologies rather than complex characters. There is almost nothing human to latch onto except for the little sister/big daddy relationship which is the emotional core of that game. This is in contrast to elizabeth in infinite, who feels like a complex character. You can almost sense her inner turmoil, self loathing and trust issues. Also, I can't believe people actually hated the combat in infinite, I thought it was fun as shit. I liked it so much I played through again on hard mode just to get more of it and played the clash in the clouds dlc.

OP: I think you ought to give the original bioshock another try. The gameplay gets a lot better as you go and the story gets more interesting also, or at least more immediate. The level design gets amazing in the middle and then weakens again. The worst parts of the game imo is the somewhat slow beginning hours and the last third. The last third (or quarter maybe?) is still fun but the story kind of takes a break until the very end and the levels become more linear and its just one combat encounter after the other. Infinite has much better pacing and level design for the entire game. Bioshock is an absolute classic game but I do think its got some apparent flaws in 2014.

The game seems technically rock solid for me so far. The only thing Im a little bothered by is that some of the audio sounds inconsistent. Like for example, moving through grass and sliding down ladders the sound assets seem much more low quality then other sounds. But the game is running perfect maxed out on my aging laptop which is just great. For comparison the laptop runs BF3 at 60 fps only if I turn down most of the settings to medium. But ds2 seems both not very demanding for hardware and also well optimized this time around.

Playing as a melee only character for my first run I second that throwing knives are really good in this game. I used my extra souls from leveling up to buy a few from the merchant at the cardinal tower bonfire. The knives seem way more effective taking out early game enemies at range then using a bow/xbow. Generally they are able to 2 shot most of the undead knight guys which was very useful for the forest of fallen giants area. This surprised me a bit because throwing weapons were kind of useless in DS1.

My biggest tip for succeeding in this game is to spend your souls wisely! Leveling up definitely improves your character and unlocks new equip options as your stat increases but each level up becomes less valuable as you put more and more points into it. Therefore, I suggest that new players focus more on upgrading gear, especially weapons. Upgrading your weapons will get you a huge increase in overall damage and is surprisingly easy for the first couple upgrades. So if you can spend 3000 souls on one level of strength or get the weapon upgrade the upgrade is worth a lot more (although stats are important for getting access to the equip you want!) After you finish the forest of fallen giants up through the first boss you should have enough souls and titanite to upgrade to +3 which is a huge increase in damage. The blacksmith also sells infinite titanite shards Im guessing you can also buy large shards and chunks after some point in the game.

For example, my plan is to use the broadsword which I upgraded to +3 and then after a certain point I will pump up my strength and switch to a different weapon which I will then be upgrading to +10 as soon as possible. The confusing thing about upgrading is figuring out if you should ascend or not. Depending on your build it might be better to use a raw weapon or make a magic then enchanted or make an elemental weapon. But you should always upgrade as much as you can.

The syndicate reboot is pretty cool. It would probably last someone 6-10 hours depending on how fast they are or if they died a lot. Its a good well paced fps.

Also, if you like rpgs then bastion might be worth a shot. The game length is probably 8-15 hours.

I think its one thing to be able to accept dark souls 2 as it looks. After all, it doesn't look worse then dark souls 1 and like everyone else I am playing the game for the challenge, exploration and strange art direction. However, that does not excuse the practice of using a clearly different version of the game to promote and demonstrate it. In my opinion, this sort of thing is blatant false advertising and it has become all to common in this industry. Recently, they have done this with not only ds2 but also watch dogs, which looks like garbage in the new trailer compared to what the game used to look like.

I am holding out hope that maybe some of the old footage was from the forthcoming pc version. If that's the case then Its not really an issue. But if all the versions have been downgraded then I think it has definitely breached a line of professional ethics. I realize that things change in development including graphics but why go through the trouble of creating all these better looking assets and putting them in engine with a superb lighting engine only to take all that out before release? They would have known that that level of fidelity was impossible to run on consoles so then why bother to show it?

If we cant trust any of the pre-release footage from trade shows to actually represent the product then what is the damned point of even covering it in the first place? In conclusion, I agree that the graphics are not a huge deal for me personally but I think showing the game in one state and delivering it in another needs to stop in the game industry.

How quickly you guys forget "arcania: gothic 4", command and conquer 4 and space siege. All followups to genre classics that were abysmal failures. Don't know of anyone who is willing to defend any of these bad games.

I think CS is pretty much the gold standard of team based fps. The game is really more about map knowledge and coordination than pure twitch skill. Because damage is permanent and you only have one life, the game is played a lot slower and carefully than COD or BF. CS:GO is a great modern version of CS. The game has nothing to do with "twitch" skills its more about accurate shot placement and not getting flanked and knowing where the enemy is. The skill ceiling is basically infinite.

Look I've been playing multiplayer shooters since before COD1 and I still think that series is total garbage as a competitive game. I like BF as a casual fun game but I hate how in BF4 they took out most of the recoil on all the guns and made them all basically the same. The COD and BF series seem to be targeting mostly kids and adult morons as their player base and building their games around the idea that the average player can't aim, cant control recoil, cant work as a team etc. F that.

In the meantime, while the big budget multiplayer shooters continue to get worse over time, I will playing insurgency.