Random Gaming Talk Thread

[Great Rumbler]

I might be a bit more excited about that if the last great Star Ocean game wasn't 14 years old.

[tiesto]

I might be a bit more excited about that if the last great Star Ocean game wasn't 14 years old.

Fuck, it was really that long ago... damn I'm getting old (I remember beating it the day I graduated HS)

[fistfulofmetal]

Anyone else notice how the texture work for paintings in video games seems to have suddenly gotten really good in the last year? Literally all at the same time. Two examples I can specifically remember are Dishonored and Far Cry 3.

[archnemesis]

There are plenty of older examples as well, like this for instance.

[Mr. Gundam]

Ryu ga Gotoku 5 is out for delivery!! OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG 

It's via EMS. No one is home.  :'(

[Himu]

Square Enix teasing new Star Ocean game? 

http://liftoff.square-enix.co.jp/

Tiesto.

Look at me.

You are the only who cares.

THE ONLY ONE.

[Mr. Gundam]

Square Enix teasing new Star Ocean game? 

http://liftoff.square-enix.co.jp/

Tiesto.

Look at me.

You are the only who cares.

THE ONLY ONE.

I care.

[demi]

No you don't

[Mr. Gundam]

Any chance that we might get another console JRPG is reason enough to care.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

I'm sure it's for iOs.

[close]

[tiesto]

Square Enix teasing new Star Ocean game? 

http://liftoff.square-enix.co.jp/

Tiesto.

Look at me.

You are the only who cares.

THE ONLY ONE.

So?

[ToxicAdam]

 I really hope it's an iOS announcement. Just for the tears of the three people that still care.

[Himu]

[G The Resurrected]

I bought a 3ds XL for the missus for xmas. What are some good screen protector companies?

[Madrun Badrun]

Haven't touched PS3 in a month
Go to see how much RC quest for booty is on PS store
Need update to view PS store
26MB in 25 mins

What the fuck is sony doing

[Joe Molotov]

I bought a 3ds XL for the missus for xmas. What are some good screen protector companies?

Pay extra for the ones with Poop Guard™.

[Madrun Badrun]

[Stoney Mason]

Just a PSA. Buyer beware on Turtle Beach headsets. My last two pair broke on me recently. I have switched over to Astro's which are constructed a lot better. I know a lot of people diss Turtle's because of the sound quality but I never had an issue with them on that front. I'm fine with them in that regard. They are just constructed out of the cheapest material possible from my experience. I have a couple of friends who have also gone through a number of Turtle Beach's with the exact same problems I've had.

[Stoney Mason]

Up to his usual antics.

Tom Chick's 10 Most Disappointing Games of 2012

10. Lego Lord of the Rings
9. Ridge Racer Unbounded
8. Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning
7. Far Cry 3
6. Torchlight 2
5. Secret World
4. Syndicate
3. Sleeping Dogs
2. Lollipop Chainsaw
1. Resident Evil 6

http://www.quartertothree.com/fp/2012/12/10/most-disappointing-games-of-2012/

To be honest this list is less annoying than usual outside of Sleeping Dogs and Far Cry 3.

[Great Rumbler]

Sleeping Dogs? Really?

Kingdoms of Amalur should be higher on that list. And Mass Effect 3's ending should just be there as a separate entry.

[Stoney Mason]

Sleeping Dogs? Really?

Kingdoms of Amalur should be higher on that list. And Mass Effect 3's ending should just be there as a separate entry.

He will do an over-rated list based on past history and that's where all the popular mainstream games will go.

Also stolen from a gaf post.

Tom Chick's impressions:


-Thought ME1 was OK, hated ME2 (all levels felt like space dungeons, too streamlined), really liked ME3. He said it was the best out of the three
-Really liked the gameplay and levels. only some "go from Point A to Point B" in ME3, but for the most part, they do a really good job making the levels more spectacular and less linear. Areas are also a lot wider
-RPG elements are back and much better, finally figured out a way to combine RPG/shooter and make it feel coherent.
-ME3 really feels like the most confident game Bioware has done since KotOR
-Really loved the story, they resolve a lot of of really cool, long-standing arcs from previous games. Fans will love how plot arcs are resolved.
-Really loved the ending, and loved that Bioware took a interesting bold choice. Agreed that some people might not like, but he personally, loved it and felt it tied all the knots to the Mass Effect trilogy

[Rahxephon91]

I can't say I disagree with Sleeping Dogs. I know a lot of people like it, but I thought the story was rather terrible and gameplay just kind of there. Nothing really exciting. Just kind of a standard open world GTA game to me.

Syndicate? Maybe. I can see being somewhat disappointed by the fact that it's a FPS, but at that a pretty standard FPS. Really outside of visuals and some of the camera stuff StarBrezze does, it just didn't feel like a really inspired game. The abilities for the most part didn't feel sandbox enough and the guns were rather meh. A decent game, but you heard about it for so long.....you just wanted something a bit more.

Lollipop Chainsaw surprises me. The popular opinion  seems to be surprise its actually funny and a fun game despite it's subject material and developer. Don't know what he was expecting. Whatever I enjoyed it, but I'm not highbrow like he is.

Far Cry 3, I can't agree. Tom's entire review was "well this is more conventional game and not the over ambitious game of Far Cry 2". It's true, but whats here is a pretty great game. Far Cry 2 had some good ideas mixed with terrible execution and yeah well they didn't exactly rebound and fix them, they kind of sidelined them. But you know what? That sums up this gen in a nutshell. Assassin's Creed, Mass Effect, Resident Evil and so on. These games did'nt really fix there problems after their first current gen game. Neither did FC3, but it sure delivered a good game.

As for KoA, it always looked pretty generic. So I'm not surprised here. The combat was better then a lot of wrpgs though.

[Himu]

I see nothing wrong with that list stoney. You mad because Chick disagrees with you?

[Stoney Mason]

I see nothing wrong with that list stoney. You mad because Chick disagrees with you?

I've made my opinion abundantly clear over the years here on Chick. I think he's a phony contrarion who does a poor job of backing up his views and his utterly inconsistent opinions. Whether other people like him or his opinions is immaterial to me. I post this stuff for the lulz and strictly for my amusement.

[Himu]

i just think more often than not, he has a lot of good points

[Stoney Mason]

i just think more often than not, he has a lot of good points

Something Something broken clock...

[Great Rumbler]

Tom Chick is the Armond White of video game reviews.

[Stoney Mason]

Tom Chick is the Armond White of video game reviews.

Yeah the problem with some of these people is their inability to explain their contradictions or even acknowledge a contradiction and why its a special case when one is present. Their writing is rarely strong enough to back up these issues. Especially in such an opinion based business where the quality of the writing and logic is the only thing you have to stand on.

Here are his top ten over-rated games of the year.

Here are his top 10 most overrated games of 2012:

10. Black Ops II
9. Endless Space
8. Dishonored
7. Crusader Kings II
6. Forza Horizon
5. Sleeping Dogs
4. Max Payne 3
3. Journey
2. Diablo III
1. Halo 4

http://www.quartertothree.com/fp/2012/12/11/most-overrated-games-of-2012/#more-18635

[cool breeze]

I just like that every year there's a gaf thread of detesters.  It is funny that the lists this year aren't wildly controversial.

Sleeping Dogs is the only one that sticks out.  Game had a shaky development history and most were surprised when it turned out great.  I guess even something like Xmen Destiny could be disappointing if you had high expectations going in.  And it had largely middling/B ratings, iirc.

[Rahxephon91]

See, I think that list is pretty spot on. Except, I don't think Blops should be there. Not for whatever his reason is anyway. And well maybe not Dishonored.

[Don Flamenco]

I hate the big guys, they just cater to the masses and play it safe

I hate the little guys, they don't have the same opinions as me

[Stoney Mason]

See, I think that list is pretty spot on. Except, I don't think Blops should be there. Not for whatever his reason is anyway. And well maybe not Dishonored.

It's never the list per se that bothers me. I'm always a defender of a person having whatever opinion. It's when the little blurb or the review doesn't make sense especially in context of his other reviews and such. Whenever he talks about over-rated or disappointed, I'm often left confused as to what groups he is referencing and must just assume he is referencing his small circle of friends or the people on his forum.

Here's a random example.

In 2009 he gave Demon's Soul one of his most over-rated slots with this blurb.

I love this game, and I am astonished that so many other people do as well. It's dark, oppressive, unglamorous, and often an exercise in fear and frustration. It is nearly the exact opposite of what most people look for in videogames. There aren't many people to whom I would recommend Demon's Souls.

So basically he says he loves the game. Thinks its brilliant. But its inaccessible. So therefore that makes it over-rated. So is that Tom Chick Speaking or Tom Chick speaking for his casual friends. I don't really understand how it makes the list in this regard.

And I hate Demon's Soul and Dark Soul's but his reasoning there is confusing to me.

Now let's take Far 3 this year which makes his disappointing list. I think one of the problems with Far Cry 2 was that it was also inaccessible and confusing. Not to the level of Demon's Soul of course but for the casual gamer that game was a turnoff. It's inaccessibility was the turn on for a core group of gamers who championed it.

Now Far Cry 3 makes the list for being too accessible.

Far Cry 3 distances itself from many of the decisions that made the previous game unique. While some folks heaved a sigh of relief — Far Cry 2 boldly defied a lot conventional game design wisdom — I was disappointed that Ubisoft made such a safe and ultimately forgettable open-world shooter.

So Far Cry 3 seems to do what he thinks is potentially good as a general concept for inaccessible material but now its disappointing because it did that.

Here would have been a great time to actually do a nice piece of writing. I'm not saying a person can't hold those two opinions. I would like to see writing that compares and contrasts things instead of hacking out a top 10 list with a little blurb that doesn't mean anything. That's the difference between good writing and just writing stuff just to write stuff and make end of the year lists. He doesn't tend to get very specific when he makes comparisons. It's not about liking or disliking something. Anybody can do that. You can tweet and do that in just a tweet. Good writing should aspire to do more than that. Now you can argue that's what long form reviews are for. But I've often read his long form reviews and wondered the exact same thing.

[pilonv1]

People misunderstand what he means for his disappointing games. It's not necessarily a negative thing. Some of the over-rated ones are a bit weird though but I can see where he's coming from with most of them.

[Don Flamenco]

See, I think that list is pretty spot on. Except, I don't think Blops should be there. Not for whatever his reason is anyway. And well maybe not Dishonored.

It's never the list per se that bothers me. I'm always a defender of a person having whatever opinion. It's when the little blurb or the review doesn't make sense especially in context of his other reviews and such. Whenever he talks about over-rated or disappointed, I'm often left confused as to what groups he is referencing and must just assume he is referencing his small circle of friends or the people on his forum.

Here's a random example.

In 2009 he gave Demon's Soul one of his most over-rated slots with this blurb.

I love this game, and I am astonished that so many other people do as well. It's dark, oppressive, unglamorous, and often an exercise in fear and frustration. It is nearly the exact opposite of what most people look for in videogames. There aren't many people to whom I would recommend Demon's Souls.

So basically he says he loves the game. Thinks its brilliant. But its inaccessible. So therefore that makes it over-rated. So is that Tom Chick Speaking or Tom Chick speaking for his casual friends. I don't really understand how it makes the list in this regard.

And I hate Demon's Soul and Dark Soul's but his reasoning there is confusing to me.

Now let's take Far 3 this year which makes his disappointing list. I think one of the problems with Far Cry 2 was that it was also inaccessible and confusing. Not to the level of Demon's Soul of course but for the casual gamer that game was a turnoff. It's inaccessibility was the turn on for a core group of gamers who championed it.

Now Far Cry 3 makes the list for being too accessible.

Far Cry 3 distances itself from many of the decisions that made the previous game unique. While some folks heaved a sigh of relief — Far Cry 2 boldly defied a lot conventional game design wisdom — I was disappointed that Ubisoft made such a safe and ultimately forgettable open-world shooter.

So Far Cry 3 seems to do what he thinks is potentially good as a general concept for inaccessible material but now its disappointing because it did that.

Here would have been a great time to actually do a nice piece of writing. I'm not saying a person can't hold those two opinions. I would like to see writing that compares and contrasts things instead of hacking out a top 10 list with a little blurb that doesn't mean anything. That's the difference between good writing and just writing stuff just to write stuff and make end of the year lists. He doesn't tend to get very specific when he makes comparisons. It's not about liking or disliking something. Anybody can do that. You can tweet and do that in just a tweet. Good writing should aspire to do more than that. Now you can argue that's what long form reviews are for. But I've often read his long form reviews and wondered the exact same thing.

Demon's Souls - he likes it but feels it's inaccessible, so he's wondering why people recommended it and praised it so much, I guess.   Apparently he felt that it was inaccessible enough to detract from a lot of praise.  If he just played it on his own and didn't get deep into the community and looking up how a lot of stuff worked in the game, it's pretty understandable...though a bit naive.  Sounds like he's judging it up against what average joe would usually want in a recommendation, not a niche hardcore player.

Far Cry 3 -- he's saying that it got rid of many of Far Cry 2's unique qualities.  He acknowledges that some people like that fact and he acknowledges that Far Cry 2's unique qualities are against the grain (which isn't saying they're good or bad.) But then he said he's disappointed that Far Cry 3 got rid of those qualities, implying that he felt the unique qualities contributed to his enjoyment.   It's a diplomatic way of saying he liked what  Far Cry 2 was doing, while acknowledging that he can understand why people would like Far Cry 3 better. 

[Great Rumbler]

'overrated' is kind of a shitty word to use in any proper article

it's so subjective that it's rare to find an actual case of it applying.  how do we determine how it's being rated?  who's rating it?  how do we compare the reality to that?  what the fuck is the reality?

[Mr. Gundam]

FUCK YEAH. TIME TO PUNCH PEOPLE IN THE FACE.

[Don Flamenco]

'overrated' is kind of a shitty word to use in any proper article

it's so subjective that it's rare to find an actual case of it applying.  how do we determine how it's being rated?  who's rating it?  how do we compare the reality to that?  what the fuck is the reality?

i use 'overrated' pretty much only when i'm trying to shit in the punchbowl.  i suspect mr. chick is the same.  he doesn't seem like an idiot, after all.

As opposed to all those objective top 10 list categories that aren't tough to objectively define and are not meant to attract attention by shitting in the punch bowl. 

[Fifstar]

Fun housefly simulator game if you have 5 minutes to kill:

http://dacap.com.ar/games/housefly/

[Himu]

top lists have value so long as they're subjective in their approach and have a full disclosure on why they feel that about that particular product. Top lists are a fantastic way to gain fast knowledge on a particular type of thing, whether it's an entire decade of music (pithfork decade lists) or the most influential films of all time (BFI's Sight and Sound list). Want to become knowledgeable about a subject? Go down a list made of a group of peers like the aforementioned BFI best films of all time list. You will become more learned because of it.

But most top game lists are just wankery.

[Great Rumbler]

Fun housefly simulator game if you have 5 minutes to kill:

http://dacap.com.ar/games/housefly/

Beat it.

[Himu]

That was awesome and made me miss Mister Mosquito. PS2 era sony Better than Nintendo any day. Sony as a first party is really, really, REALLY under praised (not rated, for the sake of Oscar-san's sanity).

[fistfulofmetal]

oh look another flash thing with annoying music that doesnt give you a toggle to turn it off.

[Don Flamenco]

[redacted!]

[The Sceneman]

I'm exactly 3.5k away from 100k gamerscore. Gotta get thurr

[cool breeze]

Konami released a Metal Gear Rising demo on the Japanese PSN.  3.5 gigs to download it.  Ends up being the first region locked demo.  Brilliant!

Gotta buy that ZoE HD Collection if you want to try our promotional material 

[fistfulofmetal]

dont demos get released on different region stores all the time? i could just log into my japanese psn account to download it.

[fistfulofmetal]

doing so now.

[fistfulofmetal]

oh so it is actually region locked and won't play on non-jap PS3s. whatevs.

[archie4208]

http://pastebin.com/Q4E3HDCE

Bastion announcer pack for Dota 2. 

[Mr. Gundam]

oh so it is actually region locked and won't play on non-jap PS3s. whatevs.

That's a first.

Oh well, I can just play the demo that came with ZOE HD.

[D3RANG3D]

http://www.locomalito.com/maldita_castilla.php

This game is out now homos.

[fistfulofmetal]

I've been watching the Persona 4 Endurance Run on Giantbomb recently and it's kinda making me want to play it.

[fistfulofmetal]

I've been watching the Persona 4 Endurance Run on Giantbomb recently and it's kinda making me want to play it.

Well. that just happened.

[Joe Molotov]

I've been watching the Persona 4 Endurance Run on Giantbomb recently and it's kinda making me want to play it.

Well. that just happened.

I've been playing it on my Vita, getting my uguu on, game is awesome. I've played it for about 12 hours, but I'm not very far into it story-wise because I've been grinding a bit on the first dungeon. I've beaten the 1st dungeon normal boss and secret boss and that's as far as I've gotten on that.

[fistfulofmetal]

i'm gonna get my ps2 copy tomorrow. the thing is i've already seen over 50 hours of the game lol so hopefully i should be able to get through it quickly.

i just wanna wife chie 

[Joe Molotov]

Serve her up your steak skewer.

[ferrarimanf355]

Oh god, what did I do, I just spent $90 on the GOG sale. I just wanted Carmageddon to see if it was better on PC, but I ended up buying that plus Myst, Riven, Syndicate, the complete Wing Commander collection, the first eight Ultima games, The Witcher 2, Postal 1, Decent 1 and 2, Freespace, both Blood titles, both Crusader titles, both Bloodrayne titles, Painkiller: Black Edition, oh, and also picked up Duke Nukem 3D for free.

I have no self control sometimes. 

Tom Chick is the Armond White of video game reviews.

He's like a second-rate Jim Sterling wannabe, that guy.

He shat over Forza Horizon, but I like that game.

[ferrarimanf355]

Spent another $15 at the GOG sale to add Sid Meier's Alpha Centuari, FTL and Populous 1 and 2 to my collection. My god, my wallet screams for mercy...

[Momo]

I beat up the big boss in PSO2 a bunch of times yesterday

[tiesto]

i'm gonna get my ps2 copy tomorrow. the thing is i've already seen over 50 hours of the game lol so hopefully i should be able to get through it quickly.

i just wanna wife chie 

Yeah I'm gonna start this next week when I'm on Christmas break. I played through P3FES last year. Can't wait!

http://www.locomalito.com/maldita_castilla.php

This game is out now homos.

Nice, they really nailed the mid 80's arcade style with the graphics. Will definitely check it out.

[ferrarimanf355]

Contemplating two more purchases during the GOG sale (Shadow Warrior and the Duke Nukem sidescrollers). Then I'll be done. I think.