Bombin' the A.M. With Scoops and the Wolf: 11/14/2014

So happy Valkyria Chronicles came to PC. Always wanted to play it, never had a PS3. Picking it up this weekend. I AM EXCITE!

Finally someone mentioning Valkyria Chronicles on this site.

It's a wonderful game. Hard but a joy to play. Also very long. I never quite finished it, spent 5 hrs working on a late game mission. Failed. Realized I needed to start over. Took a break but never came back.

Wonder if there is any way to migrate the save file...

Shenmue Endurance Run!

Sad that Patrick didn't really say anything about Valkyria Chronicles itself, instead he only mentioned that he played it and that it's a good port. Hoping for a Quick Look Solo so he actually shows some of it off.

Yeah, the old quick look is from before they had started doing HD videos, so seeing the new port in all it's high res glory could be useful.

Valkyria Chronicles - great game, absolutely love it - has some FUCKING WEIRD tone problems. Like, it's definitely not enough to dampen the experience by any stretch, but god damn. I think @video_game_king mentioned a few of these in his write-up about his time with the game, if anyone wants in-detail notes on it. But god damn, what a great game.

I really enjoyed playing through Valkyria Chronicles... but its story and cast of characters were bad enough to really sour the overall package for me. Just complete and utter shit, and it wouldn't have been too bad if there weren't so much it, but the split between gameplay and bad, emotionally manipulative wankery is on par with each other throughout. Definitely the sort of game that would have benefited from an XCOM approach that strictly keeps things stuck on the gameplay with minimal storytelling.

Totally agree with Patrick on Unity. The historical aspect is what keeps me coming back to AC, but it's really starting to feel like a half assed job. Also they should really drop the present day stuff, because they're not even trying anymore.

Resonance of Fate on Steam. I want it.

@hammondoftexas: It's a wonderful game.

Valkyria 2 was downloadable for PSP and I sure wish Sega would make it available for Vita. I really enjoy these games.

@smokyexe: For sure. Give us a Solo QL Patrick ;)

Valkyria Chronicles 3 was a Japan only release, which there is a English translation patch that fans wrote.

I heard from a source that no one was asking for Valkyria Chronicles PC port, but we got one anyway.

I think he said on twitter yesterday that he would try to record something today that would go up this weekend.

Was so cool to see Valkyria Chronicles selling more than both AC: Unity and COD:AW on Steam.

Also it'd be nice if people talked about Patrice Désilets more often and how bad Ubisoft treated that guy after creating a franchise that has made SOOOOOO much money for that company.

Yesssssssssssssssssssss.

Hell, Square Enix is realizing there's money to be made in PC ports. Why not Sega? Give me Vanquish, too.

I'm very much in agreement over the sheer waste of potential of the AC series. AC1 and AC2 were building up to something so grand and beyond our comprehension.. and then AC3 just sort of.. ended it in the most Mass Effect 3 "this is clearly not what we had originally intended" sort of way.

I still like the concept of visiting these historical worlds that we don't ever see in videogames, but there is no way they can salvage the modern day stuff at this point.

Assassin's Creed: Unity has some really cool ideas, but I can't believe the game launched with so many bugs. Even the uPlay app has problems (and also lags)...

If only Valkyria Chronicles was more popular when first released on PS3. The later games would not have been tossed onto the PSP.

Yeah, I'd love Panzer Dragoon Saga, but I think the original code is missing for that game or something, and that's why we've never seen it rereleased in any form outside of the Saturn.

Valkyria chronicles is easily one of my favourie games of last gen. Its been great to see it getting so much love.

Valkyria Chronicles is superb and my favorite game of last gen. did Patrick play it prior to the steam release?

When Alex was like, "What critics are saying about this game, what I'm saying about this game doesn't really matter if people are still buying it." That was a really honest thing for a critic to say. I loved that.

I think it does matter though. Maybe it won't effect it immediately, but I think that critics do push innovation forward. It just takes much longer for the crowd, for fans to start seeing it, and to stop forgiving the shoddy products so easily, to stop buying them. I think critics are heard, but they are ignored when it comes to huge franchises like Assassin's Creed because people love them so much.

Keep advocating for innovation though, Alex. I think that's awesome.

ACU is definitely the shortest AC game I have played, its a decent game, but I don't know what people were expecting, it was exactly what they showed for me, and the framerate was never even remotely a problem. And AC was always easy, at least this doesnt have hilarious chain kills.

I just wish they used Paris and the French Rev more and in more interesting ways, and yes they don't set the stakes or whatever like they even did with 3. As well having no missions that are involved with Revolutionary things? Kind of nuts.

Also I wish all AC games had co-op.

plz localise yakuza/ryu ga gotoku 5 and kenzan, sega

Off top, best games this year are Bayonneta 2, Shovel Knight, Valiant Hearts, Jazz Punk, and probably Dragon Age 3. Most disappointing is Destiny, and the worst one is Sonic Boom.

What's most surprising about Unity to me is how throwaway the modern-day stuff is. I know it's pretty divisive, but I always got the sense that Ubisoft themselves were way into it. I would be interested to know what their trajectory for the franchise is at this point.

@alex@patrickklepek here's the justification from the creative director of Unity on why there's British accents http://www.techtimes.com/articles/15645/20140915/ubisoft-explains-abscence-of-french-accents-in-assassins-creed-unity.htm

Sharp dressed Patrick!

If Patrick wants to look at overlooked games he could try Revolver 360 Re:Actor. Please. Anybody. I want my validation for liking that...

Really great to hear that Alex is going to be there in person for GOTY, hope Patrick is as well. Vinny too, but I know that's unlikely.

I think it's much more a beauty in the eye of the beholder situation going on. Critics are after all just regular folk like me and you who simply voice their opinions for others to read. For instance despite everything said and shown online about Unity - the framerate, the bugs etc - I'm still kind of fighting the urge to buy it. On the flip side I see a lot of people pretty pumped about Far Cry 4 and watching the Quick Look for it I had a hard time stifling a yawn throughout. Yet Jeff and Brad seemed to be really into it, despite the entire game looking very much like a top to bottom re-skin of Far Cry 3. Innovation doesn't matter when you simply like the core gameplay.

As another example I was tearing my hair out hearing all the games press rave about Shovel Knight. To me it seemed really nuts that everyone was so impressed that we're able to accurately create a game that plays like something from 20 years ago. There was no innovation in Shovel Knight. it was a fun game I bet, but they didn't decide to put in a cool modern twist on it - like hey this plays exactly like Rygar but we added this thing that they couldn't have done all those years ago.

So in a way I'm glad that people will still do what they want despite what critics say. Ultimately the critics are there to present their opinion on a game - and it really should be up to the consumer to read that and make their own informed decision. It would be nuts to assume that a handful of people from gaming websites should dictate how the market sways through the power of their opinions alone.

I do agree that we should advocate innovation whenever possible, but at the same time that shouldn't discredit games that are doing the same things very well.

Innovation is tricky as it's the arch-enemy of comfort gaming, but a player can't stay comfy forever. It's a cyclical thing, I guess.

SHIN MEGAMI TENSEI ON PC. Blow some damn minds and wallets wide open.

Halfway thru, I don't think it's so much the characters act out of character as the vignette/scrapbook method they use for story telling make the scenes out of context so it feels like mood whiplash rather than a cohesive whole. ie, they're still believable mid-tier anime characters but we're seeing only one side of them at a time so going from freaking out at a squadmate getting blown to bits next to them to ZOMG CUTE PIG which may be 2 weeks later in-game is wierd.

I'm surprised you guys have such high expectations for any Assassins Creed game. That series was over for me when they released Brotherhood one year after AC2.

I'm surprised about the "British accents in a separate setting" talk, because movies have done that for years.

Granted, movies use American/British actors for star power, and its best for them to speak in their natural languages or else you'll get Harrison Ford with a poor Russian accent.

It is kind of weird since UbiSoft is French, though.

Wow, really great points and well expressed about Assassin's Creed by Patrick. Thanks for putting together those thoughts that I, for whatever reason, haven't been able to formulate so streamlined.

Played through Assasins creed:Unity with French language setting and english subtitles. Think that was the best way to enjoy the french athmosphere. Started with english but it felt pretty jarring.

All in all I liked the missions in the main story but the plot was a bit lacking overall. I kinda hoped that it would have done more with the setting than it actually did.

Paris was a pretty amazing environment though. Although at times it was a bit glitchy.

Valk Chronicles is really nothing like Fire Emblem. It's more akin to X-Com. Just FYI for those that might be interested.