curious_george

Currently on Act 4 Stronghold and I think I might have already had my fill of this game. I have not enjoyed this one half as much as the first game. As some have already mentioned the level design is often a big issue; I keep thinking maybe the next level will be better only to find myself disappointed again with another wide open design dense with mobs of gun toting dudes. I also rarely find myself hitting the fun momentum of the first game where you could rush from room to room taking out each enemy in succession. Too often it seems HM2 involves it's either waiting on patrols or camping out in corners and pulling crowds to ambush them---neither of which I find is a very thrilling way to play HM. I don't care for the length of some of these levels either. I don't remember so many 3 or 4 part stage levels in the first one. It makes it difficult to quit when you want because then you have to replay the entire long stage. Overall, I just am not feeling this one like I did the original (story included). At least the music is still enjoyable. And playing as Alex and Ash is actually kind of fun and unique when not bugged out. I just wish could pick my mask so I could play as them more often.

While the scene itself is ugly, I feel like the rape element is being overblown a bit having now seen that video. Personally, I find it more disturbing that most of us are so desensitized to violence that the five brutal murders preceding the "rape" are completely ignored. While I loved Hotline Miami, I'll admit it's a pretty gruesome experience. I'm just not sure why suddenly the game is under fire because of this short scene when previously in the series we've been witness to decapitations, gouging of eyes, and many other horrible and violent murder scenes without much real controversy at all.

What I don't get is why monthly premiums can't upgrade to yearly accounts for the discounted price (surely the point of this is to increase their annual subscriber base?). I just grabbed a monthly premium account a few months ago to watch some specific premium content. I would definitely upgrade at the discounted price, however. As it is, I'll probably just cancel my monthly and wait for the next deal.

Last segment was amazing. But I also really enjoyed listening to Phil Fish's vision of our dystopian VR future. VR is definitely a very exciting but some also potentially frightening direction for video games.

I think with the loss of Irrational I'm most bummed that we'll probably never see another Freedom Force (although we probably wouldn't have anyway). I've had my fill of Bioshock, but I absolutely loved the FF series and always wished they'd return to give it a new take.

Capsized appears to be gone (just tried out the key but no go).

Their live stream said all that needed to be said about the legitimacy of these review scores (unless they had totally different people involved in the review process).

livestream highlights

My condolences go out to his family, friends and new wife. I hoped some day to meet Ryan along with the rest of the GB crew at PAX to thank him for all the laughs he has provided me over the years. But even though that will never happen now, at least Ryan left behind a wealth of great moments for us to still enjoy. But I will sorely miss him and his infectious laughter going forward. It won't be the same without you Ryan :(

@MMann said:

Maybe this wouldn't be a problem if people would start demanding changes in the industry rather than just paying 60$ per release, letting ignorance become part of the problem, and if we'd all just stop blaming the victims in all this. Women shouldn't have to go to court, shouldn't have to stand up and get in their bosses face at the risk of their job, just to be treated with the same respect and dignity as their male coworkers.

So we should just refuse to buy any/all games until some vague changes are made to the industry (demands alone mean nothing unless there's money at stake)? Unless women or those inside the industry are outing the companies, designers, and others inside the industry that are propagating sexist attitudes there isn't much the average gamer can do except refuse to buy into obviously exploitative games or marketing. If it really bothers them maybe some of these male games journalists like Patrick should use their industry access to do some serious investigative journalism into the sexism inside the industry? If I knew that a certain company was filled with sexist asshats I'd boycott their products. But until I hear otherwise, I'll continue to purchase games as I always have.

@GenocidalKitten said:

I was going to buy this, would have been my first MMO, not anymore. I hate that they banned people for an exploit that was their own faults.

You probably don't understand how MMOs work, but they are massive in the scale of systems, items, etc., and even the best bug testing will at times miss something that players may eventually discover and try to exploit. I completely support them banning these people. This actually makes me glad I supported ANet with the purchase of this game. I'm so tired of exploiters in MMOs and other online games gaining massive advantages against those who abide by the system and then getting off with at most warnings or short bans. For people who purchased 100s or 1000s of items that were very obviously priced in error, I see nothing but a clear attempt to exploit the game as much as possible and I'm glad ANet took a stand against that.