The Video Game Thread

[Famous Mortimer]

Re: microtransactions, they'll only stop when it stops being a viable business model. Or we ban them. I feel bad for new gamers, never really having the luxury of finding / unlocking weird things, as all that is just paid DLC now. It makes me not want to play those sorts of games, too, and I'm bummed out that everyone is doing it (even the Saints Row people, who I hoped for better from, apparently have it in Agents Of Mayhem).

[Michael]

I'm around 375 moons now in Mario O. I want to at least get 500 for the "complete ending". I've just started going through metro again... so good.

[tlombard]

I'm around 375 moons now in Mario O. I want to at least get 500 for the "complete ending". I've just started going through metro again... so good.

Metro is my favorite level so far once it is no longer dark and raining. I am not a fan of the luncheon level. I'll be very happy to get the one last moon I need to get out of there. I should have knocked a bunch out this weekend but I didn't play at all. I dedicated the weekend to reading instead.

[Jocephus]

you guys are making me jealous for some mario. that really does look like a great game.

i'm playing thru sleeping dogs: the definitive edition (it was a free xbox gold game but its the xbox 1 version). it's pretty good actually. it's open world and has a similarities to GTA/open world formula but its also a bit more arcadey and has more melee/martial arts (like the batman games) combat to it...it's a fun mix. there are definitely some minor buggy things and graphical things but nothing breaking. i doubt i will 100% it but i am definitely doing a lot of the side missions and extra stuff along with it. it's set in hong kong and looks great, nice change of scenery from what i've usually played in an open world.

that wolfenstein 2 pack (new order and old blood) arrives today though so i'll have plenty of options with my 5 day break.

[tlombard]

For some reason I started messing around with Fallout Shelter for the iPad over the weekend after not touching it for well over a year. Why am I doing this to myself? I spent a bunch of time with it while watching or doing other things Saturday and Sunday only to open it back up on my way home from work and have Deathclaws wipe out nearly half of my people. I had just sent somebody out to scavenge with all of my Stimpaks and they immediately hit. Went from 82 dwellers to 46 and there was nothing I could do about it. That's what I get for concentrating on building numbers ahead of leveling them up and such. My dwellers had been multiplying like rabbits and were all weak.

[Jocephus]

that was a problem i had with fallout shelter. i'd be making progress then bam i'd get an attack i felt i just couldn't defend well enough. it was too hard to keep up. i didn't play it for all that long and i had one or two high end people/items but it became a chore. i liked it conceptually.

[Jocephus]

i beat wolfenstein the new order over the break. holy cow that was a lot of fun. you have to make a choice early on so i'm playing thru it again having made the other choice and picking up collectables, items and completing as much as i can but i can't wait to play wolfenstein the old blood (which i believe is a prequel to W:TNO) and i can't wait to play W2...I hope its on sale over the holiday break.

i really loved the interpretation of BJ Blazkowicz, it felt natural and appropriate from what i remember of wolfenstein 3d, etc. he's a killing machine brute but there's a tenderness there. there were many times when i got chills thinking of the storyline, having the nazi's win WW2 and takeover the world and how creepy it was. they'd have newspaper clippings of things that had happened, like the nazis dropping a bomb on NYC, america surrendering, italian editorial saying the nazis betrayed them and to fight back against the nazis, etc. some fun/cool resistance members that you learn about, etc. good levels, varying play styles, fun weapons, crazy/brutal enemies.

the other thought i had, and after the discussion of the star wars battlefront kerfuffle...i really just love these old titles. i loved the 2016 doom, i'm totally digging this Wolfenstein reboot. and they are basically just single player games but they are "simple" and to the point and just a lot of fun. if i have to do all this grinding and buying microtransactions, gaming doesn't seem as appealing anymore.

[ghostrunner]

Hey Michael - what difficulty did you play Witcher on and how was it?

[Michael]

Hey Michael - what difficulty did you play Witcher on and how was it?

Normal. It's not a difficult game. The combat is serviceable but not the reason to play W3. I'd skim the primer I linked in the other thread to get the most out of the game.

The key to witcher is to slow down and really focus on the stories in each quest and get lost in the world. It's great stuff. The world starts out with a reasonable size then it opens up to a huge open world. What's amazing despite its scope everything feels meaningful. Other open world games pale in comparison with their copy and paste fetch/kill quests.

[Jocephus]

don't forget sex on a stuffed unicorn