I'd love to see Vinny dip into this. 76 isn't all bad, but it requires way too much unearned investment to reveal the good bits--which is to say most of the negative opinions, at least, aren't wrong. As someone who values exploring and looting in these games, there's a whole lot of potential for that. Eventually, as I kept paying attention to the original narrative, I got hooked, and think the explanation for why there weren't any people was pretty compelling... but it takes like 30-40 hours to get there. That's a big problem.
Now the NPCs are here. I'm finishing other games before I'm going to dive back in myself, but I think I probably will. The world is fun to explore, despite the jank.
What I don't like here: Jeff and Ben seem to continue to enter too many games with their opinions locked-in long before they start recording. Jeff has definitely gotten better about this more recently, but it pops up in this video quite a bit... please, try harder to look for things to enjoy instead of looking for opportunities to drop 'hot takes' about how 'everything' is 'still' broken. Yes, it's a shame there are still so many bugs... in the engine after so many years, and specific to the game as well... that's not new. None of us need to find that out. What would be nice to see, though, is where there's still fun to be had, especially by people we know can make extremely fun content out of 'bad' games when they're actually having fun.
But y'all didn't find it. Maybe you wouldn't have even if you put a more earnest effort into looking for it. I didn't see enough of that effort hence my disappointment. Oh well. Most of the community already decided the game was bad and people who play it are bad for doing so anyway.
I'm a $125 backer expecting to receive the game today. There is a lot of frustration over on the Kickstarter page from at least dozens in similar situations... apparently no backers who chose digital PS4 US-region keys received the key until a day after launch, and everyone who chose to order a region-version that didn't match their shipping address (my issue) had their game shipped from the region of the game instead of the closest warehouse.
Shame on me for throwing money at a Kickstarter and expecting to play the game at least at the same time as non-backers? I dunno... I'm bummed that it really seems at least one, if not multiple, companies involved have decided backers aren't as important as selling new copies as soon as possible.
Maybe I'm just an entitled millenial and I should just order some avocado toast from Dutch grub-hub?
@tr0n: The monkey hunt was the kind of stupid videogame nonsense I come here for, so I'm all for more side stuff... but also I'm only at episode 9 because it's a series I only put on for background noise.
@demonsoul: Switch wasn't even a twinkle in Nintendogs eyes when the kickstarter launched. After he finishes the promised-in-Kickstarter 3DS port he has hinted he'll look into other ports.
I backed this on Kickstarter, and am now ~8 hours in, possibly closing in on completing a first play-through. It's really solid for a very small team (my understanding is all programming + graphics were handled by one person). I'm somewhat disappointed it's not even 4:3 with black space at the top and bottom of the screen, and the maps + enemies are often a bit simplistic. However, it's genuinely scratching the itch for this kind of game... and after the first few hours feeling so much like SotN, the later parts start to feel more like that other side of Metroidvanias in a really cool way.
Hoping the true Igavania next year is even better. This one was worth backing.
NieR: Automata & Horizon: Zero Dawn both ruminate on the threat of advanced AI. One delves into the philosophy of human nature and artifice while the state of the world seems to emerge from a magic cauldron while the other builds a harrowing future-history that could, in some form, come to pass, tying most of the philosophical concerns into the backstory.
I'm still trying to discern what separates the people who consider NieR incredible and Horizon interesting but not that special or vice-versa. Count me among those who're very surprised to find ZD fell off this list, but NieR made it almost to the very top. Weird.
@humanity: I've read, watched, and played plenty of sci-fi. I found Autamata's story a lot less compelling than Zero Dawn's. I've been trying to figure out what makes for the difference in opinion.
For me, Zero Dawn felt like it was telling a story that could happen. Obviously, the tech in the backstory that led to the state of the world as experienced in the game is sci-fi stuff that seems unlikely to be developed in the near future--almost surely not as soon as suggested in the game. However, the motivations in the backstory felt not only possible but in some ways probable: if technology develops as envisioned, it is an outcome we should watch out for.
On the other hand, Automata uses androids and robots to tell its story, but it's really all fantasy. The questions it raises are interesting, but I already grappled with all of them as a philosophy student. It makes me wonder if the reason I prefer Zero Dawn while others seem to care much more deeply about Automata has to do with that background. Perhaps if you've read Sartre, Kant, etc, as well as some of the modern debates on AI and personal identity, as I have, it's nice to see the ideas appear in a videogame but it's not new. Meanwhile, if you don't have that background then these ideas might just rock your world, leading you to contemplate life in meaningful new ways.
This is videogames we're discussing. To each their own, ultimately. I enjoyed both games. I've just been curious about how my best friend called Autamata a life-changing experience much like Ben and Alex, whereas Zero Dawn proved to have the better narrative in my opinion.
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