OK, so I gather that this is supposed to be some kind of bit. Could someone explain to me exactly what that bit is supposed to be, 'cause I sure don't see it?
Anyone coming to a game at the 6th main installment, expecting a completely different experience is deluded. Then when it does differ, that's also referred to negatively.
The whole argument around story mood vs gameplay is also so trite at this point.
Its a violent FPS, open world game with characterful antagonists. What were you expecting?
I think "deluded" is a bit unfair. Assassins Creed more or less reinvented itself as an open-world RPG in Origins (a shift you could really argue started in 3), and that was 7 or 8 mainline games into the series, so it isn't like these things are set in stone.
As far as the story stuff goes, it's really more a question of focus and execution. There are some series, like Yakuza or Hitman, that manage to nail the mix of very serious with extremely goofy. But you get the sense that those games knew exactly what they wanted to be and were designed accordingly. Far Cry never seems designed with that sort of care. I don't necessarily have a problem with an alligator in a leather jacket following you around, but the fact that characters in the game acknowledge it is an issue.
For example, Hitman always assumes for story purposes that the Agent 47 completed his jobs in a professional and discreet manner, even if as a player I killed my target by throwing an explosive rubber duck into a race track while dressed as a pink flamingo energy drink mascot while at the same time being pursued by dozens of security guards.
I wonder if jeff will be so busy for the next few months that he wont play deathloop as much and come GOTY talk just kinda fall on the Meh side and be surprised when people fight for it. I heard its very dishonored and he didnt like that game.
I don't want to put words into Jeff's mouth, but honestly? If that's the way he does end up feeling about it, I'd kinda be with him. I don't know that I've ever turned on a game as hard or as fast as I've turned on Deathloop.
If you'd asked me after the first 5-7 hours of that game what I thought, I'd've been sure it would have been near the top of my GotY list. But after spending another 5-7 hours finishing it, I'd be surprised if it makes the list at all, unless it's for Most Disappointing. It's one of the most maddeningly frustrating wastes of a cool concept I've seen in some time.
@gtxforza: I think that video would be about 5 seconds long. On XSX it's literally just a card you plug into a port on the back of the console.
Strangely, this actually made me think of Sony's press conference for the PS4 where they had the "how to share games on PS4", but in reverse.
Part of me wishes that on the day Sony came out with like a 5 page instruction manual for installing a larger SSD, that Microsoft had released a video that said "How to increase storage on the Series X" and it was literally just someone plugging the card in. It would have been epically petty.
EDIT: Also, this whole process is dumb. It manages to somehow be bad on both ends in that (a) it's not actually that hard to do, but the instructions make it seem more intimidating than it is, but (b) it's still way harder than it needs to be, particularly in comparison to the XSX.
Was that Halo cinematic just the Overwatch cinematic.
"The world could always use more Spartans!"
Also, I'd really like someone to put together a feature of "Video game industry fashion faux-pas" because good gravy, what the fuck was Keighley wearing? Tuck in your shirt man! And wear actual shoes rather than whatever the hell those overly shiny off-brand Reebok Pumps were.
My advice on moving is to do only enough work to pack the stuff you actually care about and/or is super-delicate. Let the moving company handle the rest. You're going to pay through the nose anyway and trying to package everything up yourself isn't worth the hassle.
My parents tried to do the packing the last time they moved and it was pretty awful. They were getting things into boxes almost to the moment the moving van showed up. They nearly ran out of boxes and didn't have enough packing tape which resulted in my mom was having a pretty serious meltdown.
That how I ended up having to drive over to a Walgreens at 2:00 am for supplies. I got up to the register with like 10 rolls of packing tape, some plastic zip ties, a box cutter, and an energy drink. I distinctly remember the look the clerk gave me that said she couldn't decide whether she should congratulate me on a good time or just call the cops.
With Jeff organizing his garage now talking about potentially moving, all I can think of is the Whittleton Creek level from Hitman 2.
"Your standard garage. Spacious enough for someone to set up a gym or training area. With some added soundproofing, an enterprising individual could use this for many things."
Woof. If the point of a remaster is at least in part to capture the feeling of the original, then this is a bit of a face plant. It honestly makes me wonder whether the people at BioWare even understand what made Mass Effect great in the first place.
The graphical changes (I definitely wouldn't call them improvements), show a near total lack of consideration for tone or cohesion. Take the Eden Prime mission for example. In the original, Sovereign was surrounding by billowing clouds and red lightning. It looked appropriately apocalyptic. Now it's just kind of floating there in front of a nice sunset. The scene went from "the end is coming" to "honey, the Reaper is back in the garden again."
Plus, some of the additions are just so . . . odd. Like, there are cushions on the benches in Noveria now. Maybe that seems like a minor thing, but they weren't there in the original, so it was a deliberate choice to insert them. And just like so much of the remaster, it's feels like it was added without putting any thought into what was around it.
Noveria is supposed to be a frozen corporate hellscape. It's not supposed to be welcoming or show consideration for employee comfort. That's why everything is concrete and the architecture is decidedly brutalist. That's why almost the entire color palette of the level is made up of grays and cool blues. So of course Bioware's "improvement" was to add leather cushions in warm earthen tones.
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