Ishmae1's Posts

Ishmae1 (59026893)

Final boss in the first The Surge game. I fought it a bunch and just couldn't put it all together to beat it and didn't really care to at that point. I gave myself a mental medal for winning and just stopped at that point.

Ishmae1 (58774557)

Wow, do I love the new Cosmodrome battleground - internal battles, tight mob spawns, tons of enemies - had a blast at lunch with that. The new exotic bow just creates hotboxes of explosions with internal spaces. So good. Can't wait to start the new exotic quest. I love these new exotic / narrative approaches to weapons and that they become weekly content after first completion.

Ishmae1 (58531452)

That's actually not a bug. You unlock lenses this season by actually doing stuff, so for example, if you want more powerful snipers and bow recast options, you kill more things with snipers and bows to unlock those lenses. You can see the unlock thresholds on the lenses in the recaster menu.

Ishmae1 (58532034)

Since you can only get 3 upgrades this week, general suggestion was to up charge capacity and cabal gold carrying quantity. I opted for charge (as you can unlock some tier 3 lenses already that need 5 charges) and chance for item from final cabal chest. YMMV. I don't think there's many wrong answers at this point.

Ishmae1 (57613617)

In no order... and leaving off so, so many... Infocom text adventures - My first true gaming crush. All of them, every one. Back to the Atari 800. Street Fighter series - back to SFI with the two big "punch me" buttons in the arcade Virtua Fighter series - VF1 at lunchtimes at Sunnyvale Golfland. Bliss. Dragon Quest series - Played them all since the NES. I think I missed X only Final Fantasy series - mainlines only. Started getting bored with them after X. XII and IX were my favorites. Castlevania - LoSII is the only one I've not played / finished. This series is generally an "instant buy" one for me. Secret of Monkey Island - every one. LEGO games - I think at this point I've missed only two that were sequels. I still love the TT games XCOM - Welcome back, commander Far Cry - The only one I didn't finish was 2, because malaria and breaking weapons. Assassin's Creed - I've at least played them all. Odyssey was the last one I finished. Might & Magic - Since the Mac. Really wish they were making more of these. I think 6 was my favorite. So silly / awesome. Wizardry - Since the Apple ][ Ultima - Also since the Apple ][. I hated 4. 5 is my favorite. Elder Scrolls - Skyrim was the best, IMO Fallout series - both tactics and the RPG series. 2 (RPG) is still my favorite. Killer Instinct - but of course! Tomb Raider - Since the PS. The original is still the best. Sierra Online adventure games - going back to Apple ][ with Wizard & the Princess, Cranston Manor, etc. Every King's Quest, Space Quest, etc. Resident Evil - Have finished them all across all the different platforms, including 4th survivor and Tofu in 2 on the PS FROM series - NG++ed all of them at least, except Sekiro - I don't care for its gameplay mechanics as much as the others. Metal Gear series - From the NES onwards. Honestly I'm burned out on them now. Likely won't play another... if that ever happened. Battlefield series - Bad Company 2 is still the best that MP ever was in that series. Silent Hill - 2 is likely the best, although 1 is still creeeeeeepy Panzer Dragoon series - RPG is still amazing. Brilliant world creation. Incredible music. I love this series so, so much. Nintendo staples: Zelda, Mario, Metroid - played all of the mainline games Sony staples: God of War, Uncharted - all the main ones. Missed the PSP GoW MS staples: Halo, Gears, Forza, Fable - all and all spinoffs That's all I got time for. Many more over the years.

Ishmae1 (57623772)

Vanquisouls? I'm intrigued.

Ishmae1 (51354361)

Walmart, PS5 in cart. Checkout -> Crash F5 -> checkout -> crash F5 -> checkout -> crash F5 -> checkout -> crash F5 -> checkout -> crash F5 -> error Site crash F5 -> che- SOLD OUT yay.

Ishmae1 (57105764)

I'm voting paralysis, but it depends on what sleep's benefits are. If sleep = guaranteed crit on wakeup hit, then that can be great. If you have complete targeting control on enemies so you can avoid early wakeup and max your crit, it gets even better. If the duration isn't random (or at least has a guaranteed minimum >1) that's super good. If paralysis = full inaction, that's > than sleep, because you can beat on the enemies without any attacks back. However, if it's "occasional" paralysis then it's just OK. If it's also just non-physical attacks (such that spells still work) then again, just OK. Really comes down to targeting ability, duration / break state / bonuses and if paralysis is just the physical actions (where silence is for spells).

Ishmae1 (56797667)

Love me some Puzzle Quest Now Peggle 3 needs to materialize and the circle will be complete.

Ishmae1 (56314000)

I used Scott to beat the first stage. Try that and see if it unlocks her.

Ishmae1 (56306332)

Knives was unlocked for me once I beat the first boss on Xbox.

Ishmae1 (56322736)

World was my first MH, and the Rise demo is fun, but I can't stand the framerate of it. I guess I'd get used to it, but I prefer more frames. Also lance is my current MHW weapon and in Rise it's... OK? I miss the counter / mount from the claw in Iceborn a lot. Maybe there's a wirefly version of it I've just not discovered with lance. I also love hammers, but haven't tried them yet in Rise. I don't think I'll be able to play this undocked though - the UI is atrociously small for older folk like me, and I have big hands, so getting the button combos when controls are attached feels really awkward, especially the 4 button "D-pad but not really" on the Switch. Minor (but not) peeve - why can't I navigate the UI with anything else besides the faux d-pad buttons? No option I could find to change that. I may just wait for PC on this one.

Ishmae1 (55749694)

My son just got into MH:W, so now I'm back into MH:W. I was hammers 24/7 my first character but have now discovered lance with grapple claw block and... oooohhhhh I dont know if I can go back. We're both waiting to d/l the demo and see how our weapons fare.

Ishmae1 (55523734)

Written as a meek, subservient character to some guy barking orders, hell no. As a catchphrase spouting badass, no either. ...but this is based on my personal impression of her character, which everyone over the past 20 years has their own version of. I'd personally want her more in the spirit of Kassandra from AC: Odyssey, but not Greek. Nintendo has no character like this in their core roster though. I have no idea how they'd handle it. Finding her a unique voice that gives her character, agency, and personal power would be no easy matter. Would be a fun creative challenge, certainly.

Ishmae1 (54754177)

Tie between the Atari 2600 and years later, a NES with Castlevania

Ishmae1 (53514148)

Ishmae1 (52909497)

One of the games I played through completely as we were testing the Series X was Control. Ran beautifully. My personal GOTY for last year. Don't sleep on it. Damn, what a (half) month!

Ishmae1 (52824876)

Came here to post just this.

Ishmae1 (46352450)

FWIW, I was able to finally grab an S by going through microsoft.com and that storefront rather than the one on xbox.com

Ishmae1 (52028123)

Is there any upgrade to regain energy faster in board meetings? That's my biggest weakness as I get higher into the ranking game (~22 atm) - while I tend to have some low cost characters in there, it still can drain quickly at times and I've had two sessions that I didn't end at 100% because I couldn't attack enough. Also... Persona on Xbox!? -- at least some of the music! =)

Ishmae1 (51794801)

Just hit chapter 11, 30 hours in, and this game is just so much darn fun. Totally wordy at times, but the writing is great and the character loyalty stories are all engaging and enlightening. Where's blackjack / poker? I can't find that anywhere on the map - unlocks in a later chapter?

Ishmae1 (51795329)

Ahhhh great. thanks for the info, everyone. I need to up my stats!

Ishmae1 (52036868)

I've been fortunate enough to have been testing the X for over 6 months before release, and even with earlier hardware revs, where you expect things aren't final, it never, made any noise during operation. spooky-good engineering

Ishmae1 (52035389)

Back when the Colecovision was new and consoles were put in boxes on unsecured shelves in department stores, a classmate got a Colecovision as a gift, got it home, and inside the box and packaging were two bricks wrapped in a dirty undershirt. I have to applaud someone lugging the bricks around. I mean that's some dedication to the cause right there.

Ishmae1 (51720995)

I worked in an arcade around high school times, and the guy that owned the arcade imported a ton of boards from Japan. Over half the games in the arcade had that disclaimer come up when all the machines were turned on in the morning. =P

Ishmae1 (51729020)

Nice. I remember things like Heavy Barrel, Ikari Warriors 2, Gladiator... What's interesting is how much harder the Japanese versions of things like R-Type were compared to the US version when they came out later - more enemies, harder patterns, etc.

Ishmae1 (51569534)

Early adoption is great, but you pay a premium for it. Patience rewards much better deals, especially if you don't have to be on the cutting edge of tech. You won't miss anything by waiting, especially in an age of back-compat and digital.

Ishmae1 (51111778)

Updated on the console, now just waiting for Steam to finish up... c'mon...This is truth.

Ishmae1 (51111538)

Yakuza: LAD loads so fast I can't read the tip screens. lol.

Ishmae1 (50998375)

A delightful series with some great dialogue and quirky weapons & gadgets. It's too bad no one has re-released 'em. I had a great time with them on PC years ago... I don't think I kept the discs though. =(

Ishmae1 (51011635)

One of the best areas / levels in all of the Soulsborne series. Absolutely great in every way.

Ishmae1 (50998867)

I got my Wayfarer title , so I'm done with everything I personally wanted to do before tomorrow!

Ishmae1 (50717716)

As someone that trolled the KI community for over a year with "We're not going to do Eyedol", when we had every intention to put them in, I don't see how this conclusion was reached (that they "gave in" to toxicity) - they saved a popular character for later to drive news / interest back up in the title. Mission accomplished, it seems?

Ishmae1 (50095489)

Costco had the CX for $50 cheaper and cheaper on tax (because our costco is riiiiight outside of our county where tax is higher), so 65" on the way. The oldest TV in the house is getting an upgrade, and a series X to go with it (if amazon comes through). woot. We rationalized it as "early family Christmas gift".

Ishmae1 (49594879)

One and done. Love it.

Ishmae1 (48819754)

As I'm generally a non-invading kind of player, I have zero problem using the scraping spear on invaders. The best fight I ever had in that regard was on the cliffs near the flying manta boss - a guy with huge 2h and that super-heavy and impervious armor invades, and I just scrape, scrape, scrape until he's completely broken... and then kicked him off the cliff.

Ishmae1 (48830371)

/shameless plug - We tried really, really hard to make a great fighting game tutorial in KI. I think it turned out pretty darn good. We also have a combo assist system that makes combos easier as you're learning the ropes. I'd also recommend Skullgirls for its tutorial (it's 360 back-compat) Capcom has never been great at explaining how fighting games work, they're more about getting you to memorize inputs.

Ishmae1 (45073598)

Congrats! I got through the core game, but the DLC critters were brutalizing me even after beating everything else to the point it felt like a slog to make any progress. That plus vial grinding did me in. I never finished it. Maybe I'll take another stab at it, although I'll likely have to start over and check out some tips. I went Threaded cane for pretty much the entire run. Maybe STR next time will help with progress...

Ishmae1 (45066224)

We have some nice perks. Shameless plug:

Ishmae1 (45031499)

Given the independent rotation from thrust they're implementing in the game, I'll be curious to see if this becomes a "I don't want to play with in MP because..." issue. Flashbacks to how dominant a flightstick with hat was in Descent for 3D shenanigans...

Ishmae1 (44972987)

Having not started Kreig's yet, every DLC so far has offered something pretty great in terms of story content or grindable areas or great weapons to hunt. I can't say I'm unhappy with our purchase at all.

Ishmae1 (44523974)

This would be a very disappointing change. Forcing players to retreat from progress to farm for healing resources because they're trying to learn encounters / make progress is a horrible system. It's the biggest flaw in Bloodborne (notice Sekiro didn't do this either) and to see it put into Souls would diminish the fun of the game as it stands, IMO. As a difficulty option / setting / mod? Sure. Do it. Go crazy. What one player finds easy, another may find insanely stressful. It's very hard to get emotional payoff of the kind you're after that would fit every player type.

Ishmae1 (44524745)

Ha! You know what, you're correct. It's been so bloody long since Demon's Souls I was thinking Dark Souls. Duh. I obviously would prefer estus!

Ishmae1 (43719092)

Lots more than just texture changes. All 3D assets were rebuilt. =) One thing I'm most happy with is that you can clearly see cliff lines now no matter what angle. No more losing a cliff in texture blending!

Ishmae1 (41938134)

Given the original title, I was just over-expecting more forward movement; my imagination ran away with me. I want answers, damnit! =)

Ishmae1 (41933808)

I found it fun, but not as lore-expanding as I was hoping. It had a few interesting moments with the Board and the Former respectively. The next one looks to push the lore a lot more... but maybe I'm just projecting here.

Ishmae1 (42449970)

Given how powerful launch is, this seems wildly OP.

Ishmae1 (42384897)

I was speaking in general terms based on what I've seen and experienced through the years IRT fighting games, not you specifically. Interesting that you took it that way though. It reinforces my point on hostility, no?

Ishmae1 (42385440)

Totally agreed. It's great to see that more and more modern fighters are being built with pads in mind rather than a stick (sometimes meaning 4 inputs vs. 6), as I agree it's not necessary... but it is a barrier to enjoyment; another excuse as to why not to get into them.

Ishmae1 (42373650)

I'd say the OP's language highlights an issue that the FGC runs into constantly: Inherent hostility towards new players Fighting games in general have a lot of challenges attracting new customers because of how unique they are. Not only do players have to learn concepts that don't really apply in any other genre (hitboxes, active / windup / recovery frames, BLOCKING, hitstun, recovery, combo system rules, character nuances, etc.), they have to learn a completely new way to control inputs, especially when it comes to special moves - no other genre requires SRK motions, fireballs, 360's, crescents, etc. Nor do many games use 6 buttons in the way that fighting games do. All of these are barriers to entry. On top of that, most people need a fightstick to play better (not everyone does), which is an expensive investment. And the online community in fighters can be... unwelcoming... at times for new players. Any of these things can cause new / potential players to bounce hard off the game, and we've not even gotten to the and of how any of the thigs they learn should / could be put into use practically. Refer to most of Capcom's tutorials as the best example of "rote memorization of something, but have no idea why it's useful or when". An ideal, well-designed fighting game should help players find the fun of fighting games via great tutorials (most don't do this), a campaign that teaches the game and eases players into fighting game concepts (none have really done this), input simplification for basic actions (some have, much to the angst of others), provides active learning / education when players fail (co-op training option is the only manifestation of this I can even think of), and online filtering / new user corralling (some try this). If things like autocombos / mashables (aka a "dumbing down") allow new players to find some fun in the complicated world of fighting games, why is that a problem? Unless the high-end skill ceiling is somehow capped (I have never seen this in any fighter that has mashable stuff, btw) this doesn't impact anyone except those in the "kiddy pool" to use a term that goes well with OP's language. If people are complaining that a game is "dumbed down" it's likely because they weren't going to play it anyway, they're in another fighter's camp (FGC can be very clannish) and want to discredit it, or they weren't that good to begin with and feel their "skillz" are now threatened. TL;DR: As long as time spent with the game and dedicated "labbing" / practice reward mastery and displays of great skill (mentally or physically) for those that want to earn that, then there's no "dumbing down" claim that holds legitimate criticism.

Ishmae1 (41723787)

Hmm... I was so ready to double-dip on this one although I platinumed it on PS4. I think I may wait a few patches before diving in now. Such a great game and world. I was ready for widescreen 144hz 100FPS+ goodness with this one for sure.

Ishmae1 (41693013)

I was holding out for the Surface Duo, although I have no idea when / if that's coming, but I think it may be time to upgrade from my Note 9.

Ishmae1 (41540220)

Kassandra was one of the best VOs this gen, IMO. Alexios... not in the running. I started with Alexios and after the first hour restarted as Kass. Zero regrets.

Ishmae1 (40407963)

What a great start to the day.

Ishmae1 (39568993)

Personal preference of wow factor in PC tech: 144hz > HDR > WS > 4K

Ishmae1 (39267082)

Hmm... Crusader should be- Oh.

Ishmae1 (38900752)

Ha! lol I only used it once and thought "why would I eat this?". I figured I'd eventually get something to throw it on enemies. See that's a fun discovery system. There may be more things like that I didn't catch, certainly. =)

Ishmae1 (38895859)

I'm positive after playing the demo, but want to see how it develops towards release. I'm a big souls' fan, so I don't mind the difficulty or the brutal nature, but there just feels like layers of mechanics that are getting in the way of really enjoying the game. Now of course, not knowing the full upgrade paths of the shells and other items / weapons / stuff you get along the way, this is all subject to "based on what I've played so far" and that's it. It could all change. As someone that primarily plays dex-based builds in these kinds of games, I find the lack of weapon choice somewhat irksome. That may just be for the demo, but having all these slow, heavy hits isn't really my cup of tea in terms of combat. Give me a spear or daggers or something a bit more hit-and-run and I'd be happy. The tap, tap/hold for rolling takes some getting used to, but it's not that bad. The parry and then riposte tied to meter is excessive, though. I guess as others have said, they really wanted the emphasis on hardening... but that seems like it's specific more to the first shell, especially with some of the upgrades you can get for it. The second shell is a lot more fun (for me) than the first, with more emphasis on dodging and much more actionable defense; the shell idea is pretty darn cool in itself, although I can already see that I'm going to ignore heavy / slow shells completely if given the chance. I can see that they push you towards actively switching shells in certain boss battles or monster encounters - hard to imagine you take the time to make that a feature of your game (inventory items to do just that) and then just completely ignore it. I don't know if I'm a fan of it or not, honestly. Sounds like an interesting idea that may get abandoned as the game develops; if the shells used different weapons however, that would be more interesting in the decision-making. And as others have said, having (essentially) blighttown as your 2nd area in a demo is not that great. Poison in this game sucks, especially as you don't have an estus equivalent - at least I've not found one if you do. Having the mobs poison on every hit is just petty, and I wouldn't mind it so much if the poison built-up over multiple hits, but it's one hit and then... well if you can't survive 40 HP of poison, you're dead no matter what. I found myself running back towards spawn in these situations just so it would be easier to collect my corpse. Also, there's no telegraphing of poison - no green effect on swipes, for example, to let you know you're going to be poisoned. Things I didn't care for -For a small team, this is an impressive outing though, and I'm curious to see more from it! =)

Ishmae1 (38901538)

Not on steam, but Phantom Dust is free on Xbox and Win 10 store - it's an arena combat game that relies on deckbuilding for your arsenal of attacks. It's completely unique. Takes a while to get going, but well worth it. On Steam, Monster Train is great.

Ishmae1 (38754631)

Absolutely worth playing if you've not before. I may double-dip to play in ultra-wide glory.

Ishmae1 (37743853)

Ishmae1 (37724596)

My kids love SpongeBob, so I picked it up for them. All the reviews that cite monotony and lack of depth feel more appropriate to an older crowd of gamers anyway. I bet they'll love it, if just for the subject matter alone.

Ishmae1 (36601294)

I'm only disappointed we didn't get a release date. HZD was my favorite PS franchise last gen. So far, looks like it will be this gen as well. Can't wait.

Ishmae1 (36303157)

I should dig up the mail if I still have it. It really was that to-the-point. =-)

Ishmae1 (36072613)

Incredible story, amazing bosses and intros, great, great game. Crazy deep and likely way too complex. I loved it all the way through. I sorely wish they'd done a sequel. It's somewhat apparent that the "sequel" was FFXII in the long run (in terms of game mechanics).

Ishmae1 (35393415)

I work at Microsoft and even that doesn't help me get the joke with this OTs title. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ But new OT woo!

Ishmae1 (34664895)

Not a section, but a choice. I found the forced sneaking frustrating in Dishonored 2 when trying to play "good". I felt there wasn't enough clear indication of hidden to work from and the resources for no-kill were always scarce and in places that could be frustrating to get to (because... you're not killing anyone). The pace of the game slowed to a crawl (ha ha) because it felt so touchy.

Ishmae1 (34563894)

Nice to see the KI love (and for every previous iteration of it) is alive and well! =)

Ishmae1 (34582953)

Re: KI booed at EVO I was sitting in the audience when this happened. It was the Microsoft logo that got booed. FGC can be... tribal? at times, so a new fighter is one thing, but an exclusive one, and for the Xbox One... yeah. Easy to hate on for the time. The good thing was that everyone that played KI (we had a booth running all weekend) loved it, and we took our licks from that and didn't wilt. One of the original goals we actually had for the KI reboot (unwritten but clearly embraced by everyone) was "Don't get laughed out of EVO". So, OK we (speaking as MS here) got booed, but the game did not. I'll take it. Also, here's a snippet from the original request doc I wrote (re: netplay)Good network play was a goal from day zero. =)

Ishmae1 (32727363)

Thanks for the info! I'm not sure of the comic's year, but based on the background story in your link, it sounds like the comic character may be a ref to Murphy in Robocop anyway. =-)

Ishmae1 (32722773)

I got a big grin on seeing that the shield cop in riot gear is named "Murphy" - nice Robocop ref. And the bartender...

Ishmae1 (33588549)

Covert Ops? That was possibly my fault then. Sorry.

Ishmae1 (31416009)

I worked with / for Woolsey for years. He's a great guy. He's got a quiet sense of humor that I think served him so well in his translations. Curaga FTW

Ishmae1 (31418316)

Odd. According to him, those came out of a hard character limit in the older games that forced the naming to change for english release.

Ishmae1 (31401027)

Instant purchase.

Ishmae1 (30326508)

Fun game, great bosses, but the soundtrack brings it down several notches for me. I was very disappointed by that aspect of it.

Ishmae1 (30252927)

My quick (hot) take after playing through mission 1 is that targeting is a bit more challenging - this is due to two factors - one is that they have so much more detail overall that finding the enemies within the environments, especially on a smaller screen (and I'm old) is a bit more challenging than on the older game, where there was a lot less visual noise that competed with enemy location. Second is that the sticks just don't feel as smooth to target with as the Saturn controller did. Still a great game so far, certainly to support this amazing franchise.

Ishmae1 (30245823)

My download is at 50% and . Well, I know what I"m playing at lunchtime!

Ishmae1 (29865963)

Is there anything more awesome than the breakdance style? Because the finishers you unlock for that style just never get old. Right out of cheesy 80s films, but with more panache. I'm in chapter 11 and constantly sucked into Cabaret Club instead of progressing. I see nothing wrong with this.

Ishmae1 (29419100)

Gonna? It already is. =)

Ishmae1 (29385440)

Oh wow I forgot this was tomorrow! Playin' through it again for certain. Still the best Yakuza game, IMO.

Ishmae1 (29293526)

Xbox S, Xbox X, PS4, PS4 pro, Switch

Ishmae1 (29009177)

Yeah it felt as if most of the stuff was junk / vendor fodder that dropped. I generally shoved it into my character space then sold it all once back at the shops. The lack of material storage was a big one though, especially since they make a point of saying that you can draw from material storage without having to move things into inventory, as you had to with weapon tokens and the other materials you grind (grinders) for upgrades. And I hit the COs limit immediately. Half of my play was running around and doing the menial stuff they wanted (OCD in me wouldn't let me abandon them) just to check it off to free space for more interesting COs. You could easily double-max out your COs just in the collection quests they offered in the cafe. It seems as if access to your room is also paygated? At least I got a 3-day pass for usage that I never claimed. I had no idea if it was useful or not.OMG why is this not in the UI anywhere? Great tip. Thanks!

Ishmae1 (29007044)

I only played on Saturday, did the events and watched the concert. Hit L25 in a day of playing. Not too shabby. They just gush so many quests and tasks on you that it was pretty easy to always have something to do. It's impressive how quick you hit where the paywalls are going to be. Bloody inventory space is the worst offender (I'm not a fan of inventories that count equipped items towards your carry total), and the UI to move stuff isn't elegant at all, especially when dealing with stacked items. But I had a great time running around as a robot and blasting things at range. The auto-targeting makes using ranged weapons very easy. Although no option to auto-switch targets on target death when locked on is near criminal in a game like this.

Ishmae1 (29006647)

I think this is a great approach and I wish them the best. I enjoyed my time with Anthem, and there's an incredible amount of potential in it that was untapped. Hopefully this makes a strong comeback later this year / whenever. I'll certainly jump back in to check it out.

Ishmae1 (28898502)

There's a lot to love in all the C&C games. I'm old-school, so RA2+Yuri, TS+Firestorm, and Generals+ZH is what I would roll. Also, you've got Crusader on there, so play that again too.

Ishmae1 (28607005)

I have to say I finally spent $$ on that great solar Gunslinger finisher. Since there was no way to get that without getting additional silver, I got the knife toss idle as well. Last season, I soloed to 100, mostly on one character. This season I think I made it to 18 or so and dropped out. There weren't enough incentives for a typically solo player like myself to stick with it, and the cosmetic rewards seemed even less this season than last. Sundial was fun however and I liked the idea of linking and then unlocking levels of reward and weapon type at each planet. The sheer amount of towers and levels however became quickly overwhelming in practice (for me), to a point that I didn't think I'd be able to keep up with it plus getting to L100, as there felt as if there was a lack of great synergy between pursuing those goals due to the limited quests to level the towers and myself at the same time. As an ongoing experiment I'm happy with what Bungie is doing however. I don't think I'll be in for next season, but that's just because of my play time habits. If they keep trying and taking the good ideas forward, everything will just get better every season.

Ishmae1 (27745484)

I get your sentiment, but you're ignoring the revolution that the 2600 and other systems of the time were. Many of the games don't hold up today (Adventure does), but for the time? Hell yeah. Your post is like me saying "wow, I feel sorry for my grandparents that all they had to look forwards at the movies was Metropolis and Nosferatu."

Ishmae1 (27613043)

Sekiro's combat was too linear / specific for my tastes; memorizing specific block/parry sequences per enemy / boss wasn't what I expected. Visually amazing and great levels, but the combat was more to my tastes in the other FROM titles.

Ishmae1 (27311342)

Damnit, Bungie. You made me spend money. That hunter gun finisher was way too good to not get. Also, the new exotic scout puts off Vision of Confluence vibes bigtime.

Ishmae1 (27092794)

IMO the best PS4 game this gen. The (assumed) sequel will get me to buy a PS5. Well deserved success.

Ishmae1 (26975493)

/not a lawyer, just someone that's worked for several big game companies This is standard in large development companies I've been at, easily excepted / nulled, and as someone that's worked at both EA and Microsoft, is not nearly as draconian as it can imply. I remember when we (Westwood) were purchased by EA and a lot of us were incensed at the very idea of this as well, because we all read the contracts put in front of us. Many of us simply listed the stuff we do in our spare time and it was all excepted from our employment contracts with EA. As to MS, they have a very open "moonlighting" policy, actually. I can develop games / software on my own that isn't in competition with my work titles, write whatever novel / fiction / book, or make a TV series and it wouldn't be considered MS property. If I used or wanted to use a Microsoft owned IP for something, then it's owned by MS and I'd need to get specific permission or negotiate license the rights to it for an independent work regardless. If I'm developing on MS owned equipment (i.e. using my work PC or laptop or whatever) or with MS-owned software, then there could be issues, I suppose? I've never seen that come up nor really thought about using work resources for personal projects. If I'm directly competing with my job in terms of what I'm making, then yes, that's an issue. But that's an obvious one. Generally anyone I know that does side / other work simply says to the company "hey, I do other thing" and the company has said "OK, no problem." It simply needs to be disclosed / documented. This is just my experience, obviously. If you want to debate the morality of including or asking for things like this in a contract in the first place, that's fine. I think a lot of people don't realize that you can negotiate these things. Many just accept what's put in front of them for work contracts (or don't read them), which isn't the point of a contract - both parties should go forwards happy.

Ishmae1 (26967592)

I'm almost to the end (the wall) despite reliably frequent Vulkan crashes on PC. Spears and twin-rigged / punching seem a bit OP at this point, especially with certain rigs and mods. I love the directional parry system. It's easily my favorite addition to the game. You feel really great hitting 3 in a row on a boss and staggering them for big damage. If they do another, they really need to take the player to more environments; easily the weakest part of this game after the technical issues.

Ishmae1 (26949981)

The "Parappa the Rapper" timing stylings they enforce on you to generally for every boss and many regular enemies diminishes the normal improvisational nature of previous FROM games. Likely the only FROM game since Demon Souls that I won't ever finish; just too much work to make any relevant progress, and the cost of death, as you mentioned, is a downward spiral psychologically for me, at least.

Ishmae1 (26951026)

I'd assume the death penalties hit people differently and in different ways. All it was to me was more "work" and less fun to recover from death in that game; I had to worry about NPC well-being beyond my own setbacks. Coupled with a lot of dying when you're trying to learn an enemies' patterns, and it just becomes more burden I didn't want to deal with. Completely subjective stuff.

Ishmae1 (26900937)

My grand plan is that obvious, eh? ;)

Ishmae1 (26764303)

While the graphics don't hold up, at the time Vagrant Story had some great boss intros. I always thought they did a great job with selling attitude, like Dullahan "drawing the line" for you to cross. No More Heroes had some great personality in its bosses, the Castlevania series can deliver, and of course the Souls' series games just ooze cool with almost all of 'em.

Ishmae1 (26734739)

Great game. I bought it and played a bit when it first came out, but put it down for some reason. I went back to it recently, started over, and had a blast playing through from beginning to end. That last mission towards the end... Good stuff.

Ishmae1 (26548453)

Hey, I'm excited.

Ishmae1 (26505326)

I enjoyed my time with PoE but the inventory management tetris game (manually, across multiple tabs) was a large factor in killing my desire to continue to play... well that and a cliff wall of difficulty increase as I hit what was "endgame" for the time. Certainly the most creative skill build system out there, and I love the move away from armor sockets. That's a great change. I'll try it again once this update lands!

Ishmae1 (26463628)

You win the internet. Also glad you like what you saw of Age IV!

Ishmae1 (25747139)

Esports with a laugh track Sign me up!

Ishmae1 (25729160)

Incredible OT! Can't wait for the weekend!

Ishmae1 (25521892)

Killer Instinct baby. (no bias or anything!)

Ishmae1 (25440199)

Soloing the Shattered Throne for Izanagi is some serious frustration because of the one-death you're out modifier. Ugh. So easy to just forget about a mob and BAM! back. Although Darkness in the Light is even more frustrating somehow - obviously LL is being clamped because the 750 recommended LL for my 931 hunter is proving to make no difference in how fast everything melts you.

Ishmae1 (25295758)

I bought Shadowkeep on PC because of xbox cross-save and 144hz / 60+ fps on my pc. For a game like this, I don't think I can go back.

Ishmae1 (25261382)

Corsair K70 at home and a Strafe MK2 at work. I love Corsair's build quality and the audio controls (volume roller FTW). I've tried Razer KBs but they just didn't jive with me. Previously, I was using the Microsoft Sidewinder for years and years. It was fantastic. I think MS was ahead of their time with their gaming keyboards. And for a mouse... Perfection would be this exact mouse with 2 more buttons. Unfortunately, no one makes one as good as this is but with that added.

Ishmae1 (25265400)

The 2600 was my first game console, so there's a whole bunch of childhood tied up in it. ...and all I wanted from this new one was one of the retro-ish joysticks to keep in my office. Sigh.

Ishmae1 (25175434)

I got the gun a long time ago and had banked it almost immediately. The 2nd enemy I killed on the moon dropped the catalyst, so I thought what the heck - I'll use it. Had a blast with it. Great run n' gun weapon for lost sectors, and surprisingly good on yellows.

Ishmae1 (25174924)

There's armor mods for finishers that make them more interesting. I have one that drops 3 bricks of primary and reloads all weapons (costs 1/10th of your super bar). I have another as well, but can't remember what it does - buffs the party but costs 1/5th of your super bar. Hunters also get a helmet that heals you and cloaks you on finisher use, which makes for fun shotty / finisher loops.

Ishmae1 (25111864)

This is an absolutely great game and well worth it if you didn't get to it on PC. Careful observation can get you through a lot of what can be more obtuse identity solves.

Ishmae1 (25040745)

This would have been better if you'd asked how to solo molten core. On topic, are others on steam having an issue where every 5 mins the preorder tries to update and fails? I'm assuming that's launch entitlements.

Ishmae1 (25008978)

The challenge that fighting games have is unique use of controller. Outside of some platformers, you don't use buttons and the sticks in the same way for a fighting game than you do in most other genres. This adds to the mental hurdles new players have to make in that they can't input like they do in most other games. Leaving terminology aside, the player not only has to learn the ins and outs of a fighting game's rules on how the game goes back and forth between players, they have to learn a completely new way to input that they've not had to deal with before; a fireball motion, SRK's and 360's aren't something you ever input in that manner in other genres*. (*I'm aware some platformers like SOTN use these - I can't think of a platformer pre-SF I that did more than "up+button" for some specials on that level however)

Ishmae1 (24817283)

Mayhem 3 was a bit much for bounty hunting for me solo, turned down to Mayhem 2 and got this to drop... (L46 version - 1609 dmg) Jacobs damage and fire rate, crit ricochets... plus every shot is a timed AE explosive... even on the crit ricochets. Oh .

Ishmae1 (24781911)

I ran into the negative badge thing. How it happened to me is that I was playing my high-level character, who had gained 7 badges. I then switched to a new character (wanted to see what Moze was about) and lo! -7 badges! =( I've not gone back to Zane to see if I'm still at -7 (would be -5 now based on playing lower level chars), but... sigh.

Ishmae1 (24707563)

SF arcade games were notorious cheaters, especially if you'd perfected everyone up to Bison. Bison could literally one-hit-kill you if you'd perfected the game up to that point on every round.

Ishmae1 (24647268)

I was going to shoot out the last camera, but my son weighed in and I went with his recommendation. No regrets... well OK it's foul-mouthed enough I had to kick my son out of the room once I got it. Win/lose I guess.

Ishmae1 (24645394)

I'm really surprised that Jakobs (likely my least favorite manufacturer in BL2 aside from snipers) has become my go-to manufacturer for standard combat firearms snipers. Their multi-shot pistols and tight pellet shotguns are just devastating with Zane in what's become first-shot "oh, you're frozen already?" combat. Because of my build with emphasis on movement, their high-damage snipers are also great, as I don't have to be accurate over more than a shot or two for most things to be dead. ...although I just found a Torgue rocket shotgun that took apart killavolt's red bar (on equal level) in about 4 reloads with sticky shots while co-opping with my wife. So good. I had a Maliwan charge shotty that fired 3 rapid bursts that I loved until I outleveled it. I've not found one I like as much since from them. However the (mid-game weapon / quest spoiler)

Ishmae1 (24613511)

Back in the day when I played it when it first came out, I didn't use a guide. I will admit there were times that the inventory system totally got in the way of an obtuse puzzle (I think the ship was the worst culprit area here) and I'd have to sit there and try to combine every item with every other item to get things moving forwards. In those situations, I likely would have looked to a guide. Every game needs InvisiClues, BTW.

Ishmae1 (24613827)

A gun you shoot at loot that cash converts it? Love the idea. Likely not as good of a return as vending machines, but I'd always carry it. Sounds like a Tediore thing. "The trash collector"

Ishmae1 (24609851)

You can also snipe the direct center eye when it glows brightly which will knock the ball out of any of its large attacks - only the all direction tiny missile attack is uninterruptible, but that's easy to dodge.

Ishmae1 (24593980)

Killavolt was a pain with Zane at around equal level - the electric floor instantly destroys your deployable shield, and his electric shield is resistant to electricity (at least my weaps)... sigh.

Ishmae1 (24582840)

is in no way optimal, but it works well for my playstyle and my skill booster. There's a few wasted points but I've not gone back yet - going to do that once I'm done with the campaign. Generally, you have to be moving when shooting, but when you have drone + shield and you're using a multi-projectile gun or fast firing one and can land headshots through the shield, everything is frozen or dead... or both frozen and dead. =)

Ishmae1 (24579381)

Thanks for the info. I'll try a respec and see if I'm more effective until I get higher levels with her.AH OK - so there's a skill unlock for using the different elements with any given power? I'll dig deeper.

Ishmae1 (24578905)

I'm playing co-op with my wife (she's FL4K and I'm Amara) and also playing Zane solo and... yeah I'm not feeling Amara's skills, especially the blue "punchy" tree - I think it's just that we're still early (~L12) and I'm ~31 with Zane and have a lot more points to play around with. While Amara's rush skills seem like they'll eventually make that super more effective, right now it hits like a wet paper towel that's only good at stripping shields from enemies that don't have good shields in the first place. And when it gets blocked by cover objects, I cry. It may be the wording on her trees, but it seems as if you can change the element of any tree? Or is that just UI flair? There's also skills that talk about fast state switching and I'm boggled as to what that means. Zane on the other hand, with the shield +damage and drone +damage and kill skills active and movement +damage and cryo stacking and and... wow can you wreck stuff solo. He pairs really well with a Jakobs shotgun-pistol in full cowboy mode. I'm even wearing the hat. =)This would be my biggest peeve on the maps - just not enough vending machines to sell at. I think they thought you'd want to fast-travel back to sanctuary more often?

Ishmae1 (24561015)

My wife and I had a similar setup for years for WoW and other games before we had kids. Many couples we know that game have similar setups. Sometimes things are genuine. Shocking, I know.

Ishmae1 (24503887)

Anyone who says gunplay hasn't been improved this time around is playing a different game. Doing skeet shooting with shotguns and launched enemies is just not getting old. While the shotguns themselves don't have the oomph sound and heavy recoil of say Destiny, the resulting physics imparted to targets is very, very satisfying and fun to play around with. What I'm really enjoying is the kinetics of combat; rarely do I camp and sit in one place while fighting. I'm constantly running and gunning, switching weapons, and using a lot more of the combat spaces than I ever did in the previous BL games. Feels good.

Ishmae1 (24471183)

I switched to NZ this morning before work just to the game running on X1X. The jump in quality is substantial from BL2. Yeah. This is going to be a long-time jam for me. Groovy.

Ishmae1 (24365872)

>cry

Ishmae1 (24364692)

Finally succeeded in soloing Whisper (yay me!) and... wow is it just me or is the only good thing about the gun the ammo return? Jotunn hits so much harder in terms of shield break + damage (and is better on ammo) that I did a double-take when doing a heroic run with Whisper as my solar weapon. I'm guessing the catalyst makes it that much better? I missed killing the last boss by ~2 sec. on my 2nd heroic run through. Ugh. At least I don't need to wait for the PE, hunt the boss, and open the portal now.

Ishmae1 (24366897)

I adored this game. It's the best interpretation of a film IP into a game I've ever seen. The world is perfect. While it's a bit too long, it's still a great experience. One of my favorite moments...

Ishmae1 (24284091)

I have ether doctors coming out of my ears, but not a single HC or Sniper to finish that badge... and the ascendant chest banner, which will not drop no matter how many I open. >cry<

Ishmae1 (24257853)

Hisako from Killer Instinct I'm biased.

Ishmae1 (24103012)

I remember our first MC clear. Got Perd and CHT in that same run. Woot! Our guild leader and his GF had a meltdown during the first attempt and ejected, then an ex-member came into vent ranting and disrupting the run. I talked the guy down, we regrouped and despite losing our timers for adds, pulled it off and downed Rags. Epic. I'll always remember it. I never want to do it again. There are mechanics in the fights, but really the largest one is herding 40 cats. =)

Ishmae1 (24007339)

I don't agree the game can't be turned around. It's just a matter of commitment and focus, and perhaps some hard changes that the community may initially not be happy about - for example if they overhauled weapons and skills and essentially threw out your progress completely. Personally I'd be OK with a complete reset. Maybe my optimism is misplaced, but I liked flying and stomping around as a colossus and I'd love to do that with more meaningful rewards and better combat / skill choices that give me more vectors to play each class. I'm hoping EA stands by the title and they turn it around; that would be the better story at the end of the day, anyway.

Ishmae1 (23895634)

Yep. While FF XII is kinda a spiritual successor in some ways, I'd love to see a true sequel to this fantastic game. Also, that intro - SO GOOD.

Ishmae1 (23793205)

Publishing already existed but is now headed up by Peter and has a new name - that wasn't announced as a new studio AFAIK, but was part of the overall change in gaming at Microsoft. Age however is now a studio. What that means specifically is just like 343, Minecraft, Coalition, Rare, and others, there is now an independent team that is responsible for creating and supporting Age specifically and running that business. Make sense?

Ishmae1 (23791478)

Uh, no.

Ishmae1 (23695230)

Would not recommend. Horrible class skill balance, bad enemy design and pacing. Looks like a souls game, but learned nothing from why or how souls games do what they do. Play The Surge instead

Ishmae1 (23690201)

I got my solstice armor to purple 30 mins before I had to leave for a flight. You can masterwork later, right? I'm going to have no play time for the next week. I was dreading gambit, but it wasn't that bad - won more than I lost, finally killed the meatball, made lots of bow progress for hush, and got 16 void kills over the 10 games. It's nice that team void kills count towards the total you need - made it easy to finish off in crucible.

Ishmae1 (23540570)

I just got to blue armor for the seasonal event, and now I see I need to play Gambit exclusively for one piece's upgrades. Sigh. While I get the "hey you might have fun!" push, I still fight against it. The random drop of Le Monarque yesterday from Forge 3 (while working on a Hand Cannon frame) makes up for it. That's a fun bow - is it any good in Gambit?

Ishmae1 (23498075)

This is a hard call because of different aspects of the games.Since they're not from the same year, it's kinda OK to say they're both great... IMO.

Ishmae1 (23449901)

All the trailers were odd in that the humor was not present as much as I'd expect from Borderlands, but I get it if they're shifting the direction a bit. I'm still 100% in on the game. But wow FL4K's skill trees are pretty boss. He's Zer0 + Mordecai + Pet. I'll likely end up trying all the classes out - BL always took a while to get to that fun point with classes where you felt you had interesting choices - but yeah FL4K to start seems up my alley. My "play" history for BL fun chars (to max level) went Moredecai -> Lilith -> Maya -> Gage -> Salvador

Ishmae1 (23420188)

Horizon Zero Dawn has a compelling lead character and a great world that just gets better the more you learn about it. Combat is quite fun and it looks gorgeous on the pro. There's a good amount of visual storytelling as well. While sub quests aren't all amazing, the main story was fun to follow and the collectable aspects actually flesh the world out even more. If you enjoy peeling the onion on why a world is what it is, I think it's one of the best examples of a game that does it well.

Ishmae1 (23248712)

Tonally, the Moze trailer is pretty far off from what I'd expect from Borderlands. I'm hoping fl4k's is more comedic.

Ishmae1 (22915232)

As a spear / dex player in Souls games, there were a few fun weapon setups that I liked in the Surge. I didn't care for the boss fight towards the end (the security guy?) that pretty much forced you into heavy weapon use to beat them. I got to the final boss, fought it a few times, and just stopped without finishing it. It wasn't a bad game, but I had no desire to NG+ it the way I've done in every souls game, which is likely why I just gave up at the final boss. They get major props for the 60FPS or resolution option on the X however. I'm hoping that returns if they can't keep 60 with graphics. As someone else said earlier, The Surge is better than Lords of the Fallen, so if Surge 2 follows the same improvement trend, it should be a pretty good game. I'm going to play it, certainly.

Ishmae1 (22858161)

I'm finally ready for the 3rd big island, just doing the resource charting islands first. As for the part right before that...

Ishmae1 (22857564)

I found this game repetitive (as in all 8 chars' stories are structured exactly the same and with similar plot timing), the dialogue way overwritten, and while the break combat mechanic was a cool one, it wasn't enough to get the game over the fact you were essentially playing 8 solo stories rather than one cohesive one. It also gives you an illusion of choice with skill upgrades that can set you up for failure (i.e. lots of grinding) if you happen to choose incorrectly for what they expected.

Ishmae1 (22826831)

Holy moly. That's an amazing bundle of proven talent on one OST. That'll be a purchase.

Ishmae1 (22804997)

Mass Effect 3's MP : ~$300 Warframe : ~$200 over many years This may have changed in Warframe, but at one point you did the math, it worked out that the prime frame packages because of 90-day booster inclusions make the most sense if you're going to play the game regularly for the next 3 months - you can't get better boosters or match the length for less credits any other way, and the cost ends up being like $1 / day if that's your main game over that time period.

Ishmae1 (22802160)

Preach. This is the reason I went PS4 instead of Switch for the game (well, framerate too). I'm at the age where small fonts are just not cutting it, and I've already been seeing a not-great pattern of games using sub-optimal fonts for small screens on Switch titles; undocked, I don't know if I could play this, and I didn't want to be tempted. Still a really fun game despite its quirks.

Ishmae1 (22804686)

Interesting / Cool. I guess RA includes the two expansions, because Tesla Tanks weren't in the original game.100% correct answer

Ishmae1 (22802260)

Well hey, at least you don't have the "forever hobo" look that most Hunters have to deal with.

Ishmae1 (22802825)

Yeah the "most" is the important part in my comment. =) Basic armor sets for the non-raiding Hunter are... lacking. Some great options at the high end, but generally Titans / Warlocks look better in the scrub gear, especially with shaders. Most (not all) shaders on Hunters put them into jester territory of clashing colors as well. And almost none of the exotics match to a set (arms especially) in a good way... maybe Galanor is the exception. I agree it should get a lot better once you can just have the look you want and then tweak the armor behind it - for all classes!

Ishmae1 (22785611)

Nice writeup. I'm 3/4th through the metal island and yeah, I'm feeling all of this already. (Also Island #2's sexism is way up there, agreed) In some ways this game is better than the first (mainly removing breakable gear) and yet in others it's completely backwards and weird. How scarce blueprints got is just baffling to me. And the lack of a quest log. And being unable to pull up an object list for a room type you want (yet you'll get a handy mark of ! in the crafting menu). And no dodge. And no visible town boundary. And. And. And. (not going to rewrite all of what you did already - you covered a lot of it). Offhand someone mentioned how to corral livestock and I can't find it again. It's stuff like that. Fully agreed that if this was a game that would get regular updates (like Terraria, say) then wow there's an amazing game for this to grow into. Sadly, I think the "shipped, done" mentality is still in play here, which is a huge bummer.

Ishmae1 (22580356)

As someone that recently jumped back into D2 after taking a hiatus from the game right after Black Armory dropped (when I found myself unable to do any of the content), I suddenly find myself at 702 LL (from ~580) after ~8 hours of play. They weren't kidding about pushing people up in level. Question on chalice runes - I've unlocked three purple ones and purchased the red rune upgrade - is it just completely random if I get new ones or not? I've done a treasure map since and still get one of the same three purple runes. Same from all the barge chests I opened - just the same three purple runes over and over again. Do you have to do something to unlock each first before you can then collect them?

Ishmae1 (22391685)

There's a conversation with another character in a different case in which you can call him out on his racist views and if you don't back down when challenged on it can hammer it home in a way that makes the character backpedal on their perspective. While they don't admit to being wrong, they at least admit that they need to consider alternatives. It's a victory, especially given that character's arrogance and elitism up to that point.

Ishmae1 (22307180)

To this day, I keep a working Saturn just for the Panzer Dragoon series. Saga I still consider one of the best RPG battle system designs ever - and there's a lot of great ones out there.

Ishmae1 (22272629)

This game is absolutely bonkers. I'm having a great time with it. Congrats to the team!

Ishmae1 (22269155)

Glad it's not just me. Performance is lagged now when it wasn't before on X1. Funky.

Ishmae1 (22207769)

I'm in anyway. Rarely do we get adventure / exploration focused games on this scale in Lovecraft mythos. I have to support the effort and the dev - jank or no.

Ishmae1 (22206801)

It doesn't because it's another hat.

Ishmae1 (22158346)

Question on the sword familiar:

Ishmae1 (22129757)

Ishmae1 (22123005)

Ok I think I've gone almost as far as I can with the Xbox version until the patch hits... 100% map revealed Every achievement but one possible to get so far (until patch) All monsters possible (until patch) All weapons but the ones you need ingredients for that won't drop (until patch) Most items acquired (a few lingering) Game completed (normal) with all endings and extra bosses I know people are upset about the patch rebalancing weapons and crafting, but there's a shard that breaks the economy and allows you essentially unlimited resources and money through just using it. All said, I enjoyed the game, found it a bit too easy on normal, and am looking forwards to a harder playthrough once the patch hits, and new characters / DLC down the line. I may not NG+ however, as I have almost every shard at L9 and even on hard the difficulty is trivial at this point when I tried it after my finished run.

Ishmae1 (22100218)

Is it weird that one of the best music tracks (IMO) is the 8-bit nightmare one? Also, are chests the only source of gold?

Ishmae1 (22006987)

I lived in Vegas for years. 10000% this is the place you want to go.

Ishmae1 (22006583)

~6 hours in, several bosses down, ~33% map explored... This is heaven for fans (like me) of Igavanias. Tons of stuff to grind / craft / collect, areas to explore, secrets... yeah it's the real deal. Upgraded bats and grinder blade FTW.

Ishmae1 (21996471)

Loved the Sherlock Holmes games, so I'm absolutely interested. And I'm a huge Lovecraft fan, so that's doubled my interest. If it's on par with Devil's Daughter I'd be happy and if it's on par with Crimes and Punishments I'd be in heaven.

Ishmae1 (21983579)

Ha! Thanks, I forgot about that - last time I did that was to get Dark Souls III a week or so early from Japan. And lo, that does work - must be something with the region itself. Based on that, I'm assuming that the codes would normally go active at 9PM PT tonight (the store page says it's available then).

Ishmae1 (21982656)

Xbox code input - "Contact who you got this game from. We can't redeem it." I am cry.

Ishmae1 (21976650)

Weird. The Xbox store says it unlocks at 9PM tonight, not 12 midnight. Still no code tho. =(

Ishmae1 (21969109)

And yes, I did demand click/drag scrolling in every Age game. It's not in Age IV just yet, and I cry inside a bit every time I can't use it.

Ishmae1 (21964503)

When I say that, I mean that controls and combat are where I see a lot of streamlining. How you use combat powers and how they're grouped make it much easier to "play" than how it was done in Origins. Equipment management also got a pass and it's better as a result, IMO.

Ishmae1 (21964091)

Truth. I was in the google streaming test for this game, didn't expect anything, loved it to death, especially Kassandra's voice actress, and once I finished everthing, I bought it anyway because Ubi deserved the money for making such a great game.IMO, no. Play Odyssey and then go back and play Origins. It's not nearly the same. Odyssey essentially improved and streamlined everything Origins did.

Ishmae1 (21936432)

There's a bit of confusion in here -- Forgotten Empires, the developer working on Age II DE has members of Ensemble working there, not at the new MS Age studio There's no change to the relationships with FE, Relic, etc. - the Age studio isn't taking over any projects from our development partners Carry on!

Ishmae1 (21910102)

We do, it just hasn't cleared legal yet. Once that's done and the logo is in place, we'll show it off.

Ishmae1 (21910252)

Nope! But we did consider that one... and over a hundred others. You'd be amazed (or really, not, in this day and age) how hard it is to find a name that some LLC or side business doesn't already use.

Ishmae1 (21615526)

Broke down and ordered a 128gb one. Me to colleagues: Hey talk me out of spending money on this. Colleagues: Why would we? Me: sigh.

Ishmae1 (21578510)

already said more than I was going to say, but I'll just add a bit, speaking for myself here - Leaks typically deny any and all context and framing from happening around a product reveal. Sometimes, that context is very important so customers understand the vision / idea behind the product. This is when teams feel it the most - when there's no context around a leaked piece, because it's not the full picture, and the interpretations of it go every which way other than the way you wanted to talk about it; the term "narrative" is frequently used because a reveal should be a story, and no one really wants the ending (or just the middle sometimes) first.

Ishmae1 (21577945)

Looks great. Given Respawn's pedigree, I'm going to stay on the side of positive optimism for it. I'm hoping combat on higher difficulties (or later in the game) gets very souls-ish in terms of fights requiring more strategy. The power toolkit looks like as it expands it'll be fun to find ways to really use it in combat.

Ishmae1 (21542702)

Sigh.

Ishmae1 (21542805)

There's a pretty good chance I'd still be at Westwood if they still existed (and they didn't finally get sick of me). It was a good crew.

Ishmae1 (21473984)

I'm joking, but I'm also not. I'd totally get that in there if they were up for it. WOOLOLO for the cheat code =) If there's a trainer with one in Sword & Shield that has a red shirt when you first meet them, then blue the next time, then red again...

Ishmae1 (21455599)

Portal was what? 3-4 hours, 5 with breaks and do-overs... ...and it was worth the entire $60 that Orange Box cost at release. For me personally, it's the quality of the gameplay experience, not simply the hours it lasted.

Ishmae1 (21436102)

Good game, but I didn't enjoy it as much as I was hoping. The playstyle was so specific that I felt it was more about memorization than improvisation, which isn't the emotional reward vector I was used to based on other FROM titles. I preferred the other titles in how I felt about getting good at them and the diversity of ways to play them.

Ishmae1 (21413598)

Yes, two - for run and jump or jump and duck, depending on the game.

Ishmae1 (21248343)

What a charming game! I had no idea what I was in for, but an exploration / adventure game with some fun narrative / clue connecting is a breath of fresh air. I love the short-session loop and stumbling onto a new story thread, rushing around trying to get it completed and connected before the reset, maybe succeeding, then taking mental notes for the next loop and heading out immediately for wherever you didn't get to finish at. There's some pretty time-sensitive stuff I've found so far. I'm curious if there's ways to actually stop some of it from occurring during a loop permanently, or if you'll eventually have to do all of it in one go perfectly. I'm glad they're pretty forgiving on landing and shuttle damage. If that was more realistic this game would be nearly impossible to enjoy. My favorite death so far: sliding on ice uncontrollably, gaining speed as I go, hitting a tiny rock and getting launched so far off an asteroid that I have no hope of return, only to be pulled into the sun anyway as I'm trying to figure out how to unscrew myself from drifting through the void. Reminds me a bit of The Return of the Obra Dinn, which was great as well.

Ishmae1 (21092506)

Oh that SUCKS. At least there's save states in the new collection.

Ishmae1 (21089901)

If a game is built with hitbox type input in mind, I think it's fine. I know Capcom has had a spotty history with hitbox type controllers - I believe it was one of the Marvels that you could block both directions simultaneously because they never accounted for both L/R inputs being pushed at the same time. It could be that SFV just can't handle the inputs well (e.g. in a fair / non-advantaged way) and I get why they wouldn't allow it at that point. Also, since it's a custom controller, there's no knowing what's in the circuitry in terms of input honing that could be considered cheating without a full analysis of the input board and the SOCD's logic. While Daigo has no reason to cheat, they can't allow this for the knock-on effect it could have. Personally, I love hitbox controllers, but I can see the issue easily. It would behoove a company like Hitbox to get "certified" or whatever with every fighting game dev they can so that they're not shut out of competitions, which of course could affect their sales.

Ishmae1 (21060721)

Ignoring the accusations... KS projects have no guarantee of success. "Valuing your money backing games" is a contradiction. Backing a game is a total risk on KS. You don't value that money at all if you back a game there. There's no completion bonds, no investment security, if the project doesn't work out, you get . If value is truly your principal, it would mean you should wait for the game to be done (if that happens at all) and on sale, and buy it if you're that price-sensitive for something that was a risk in the first place., it's a (most times risky) funding opportunity to put money towards a dream idea you'd like to see manifest. The text being wrong or misleading or just false is bad on them, yes 100% agreed. Using KS to find cheap game deals is bad on you, however.

Ishmae1 (21056983)

Wow. I backed the game well beyond $60 not for any extra rewards but because of my love for Iga's previous games and my desire to see this succeed. I must have my priorities out of wack.

Ishmae1 (21055151)

The biggest issue with this boss was the crashes that the scythes could cause on the original NES version. Nothing more frustrating than a game with no saves crashing on the 2nd to last boss. Generally I beat him with boomerang and whip. It was a very learnable fight.

Ishmae1 (21028525)

Came here to say this as well. One of the most interesting, interactive combat systems ever. No fight was ever just mashing a button, and timing and technique both mattered in fun ways.

Ishmae1 (6869621)

First boss, and you can see little soldiers running around on the decks as you're destroying the airship. So cool. I never noticed that before.

Ishmae1 (20961333)

There's an implication of narrative, because many early games when I was a kid didn't really "end", so I'd have to say Adventure on the Atari 2600 would be the first.

Ishmae1 (20859414)

Respect, TC. I remember the programmers working through the controls for those. I was always impressed with how much input fidelity they squeezed out of the ps1 controller.

Ishmae1 (20415651)

I only consider the physical if I think my kids may eventually want to play the game on a box that's not the family home one. If there's a super-deluxe edition that has all the goodies plus a digital code and I love the series, I'd probably jump on it. If it's all physical, I'll generally pass (lookin' at you, Borderlands 3!) and get the next highest-tier digital one instead. Nintendo having horrible / non-existent family sharing options relegates me to cartridge for any games I think my kids will want to play in the future, as that's the most likely system that the kids would have personal access to beyond iPads and our home Xbox.

Ishmae1 (20106726)

I've got over 500 hours in Terraria on PC alone (Steam says 538!) and console has to be another 100 at least. My son and I have played through almost all the major mods together on PC, and co-oped all the way through the Xbox version. I'd love to see a true sequel simply because I'd like to give the devs some more money, really. Talk about gaming value!

Ishmae1 (19807659)

Kane is in the RA universe, but Einstein's little adventure split the timeline. Originally (RA 1 time) we set it up that it could have been prequel to C&C mainline if we wanted to go that way. Kane is eternal, so there's only a few possible realities he doesn't exist in.

Ishmae1 (19577905)

I think the crux of the issue here is that Sekiro demands you play (down to almost a per-encounter manner) in a very specific way, more than Souls or even BB asked of players. That way of play is not for everyone and seems to be for less players than any previous FROM game has been, based on the ongoing debate. Unlike previous games, there's also no way to make the encounters easier by "grinding" for levels so you can buffer your mistakes or brute-force things - you either figure out each puzzle as laid out, or you don't progress. Early skills aren't great boons to help here either. This puts the grind completely on "training" and mastering the combat exactly as they want you to play it; it's more fighting game and less action game at this point. Also, fighting mostly humanoids of my player's size makes the read area of the screen (the pixel area that gives me information that I need to respond to) a lot smaller than any previous FROM game, where monsters had more unique and grander tells far beyond the subtle stuff we see with human opponents here. I think this is why the General on the horse is the best / most fun fight early in the game - it's big and readable. It's also why I bet the special attack indicator (grabs, etc.) was added as an attempt to make things easier on players. Personally, I like Souls / BB better because I have room to play differently than my friends, and that makes for interesting conversation; Sekiro isn't a game I'll ever NG+ because the experience is so focused on only one way to play, and it's not my personal favorite. Really, if they wanted easier difficulty, all they'd need to do is increase the times on attack windups, so you have more frames to react and know what the correct rock/paper/scissors counter is to the moves that are coming at you. You'd still have to learn the combat and tells and not get hit, but at least you could react better to what was coming your way for a limited time window. A slow time prosthetic that just lets you see a read here and there would do it. IMO, of course.

Ishmae1 (19565393)

Agree with everyone saying creative mode here. Sandbox experience: No death, non-aggressive monsters, flying, unlimited blocks to work with, and console & mobile versions have all the recipes exposed, so you don't have to memorize anything, just gather the resources to make stuff. My son at 3 learned 3d navigation via Minecraft on iPad, and then 360 controller with Minecraft on that. He couldn't read words yet, and that didn't get in his way. If your kid is like mine, they'll have the icons memorized and doing everything in a week or so, even if they can't read yet. It may be frustrating or a lot of "what's this do?" until it clicks. =)

Ishmae1 (19546076)

No regrets on the $100 version. I've played so much BL2 that if all I get is essentially new content, I'm good. If I get DLC as good as Dragon Keep? Oh yeah. If the collector's edition was all that good stuff with a digital code, I'd have taken that route, but discs aren't my jam any longer. Given the hours (days) of time I've spent with BL2, I feel like in part I'm paying Gearbox back for all the time I've gotten from the game well beyond the $60 price point I paid for it originally.

Ishmae1 (19349577)

I thought the teaser was great. The trailer was OK, but it didn't diminish my joy at finally having the game officially announced. We don't (aside from leaks) know anything about the weapon system, the classes and ways to play them, the bosses, the environments, the game mechanics... or all the stuff that makes the game... a game. Which is what I'd like to know before making hard judgement. Note I don't think Ben is making hard judgement by the way, but he's got a powerful platform to speak from, which can lead people to assume just that. I'm cutting the trailer slack because I love BL and really I just want more adventures in that world, I realize that. I also realize that it's totally fine for someone to judge the game off that first video impression, as the article did. They didn't say anything (feature-wise), highlight any dialogue, or show anything beyond the running gun (PLEASE tell me it trash talks while attacking!) as a new dynamic for the game. Although I do hope that Brick actually has a saxophone solo now in the middle of a huge battle. I do agree with others here that I'm curious what that "new thing" needs to be for some critics for Borderlands though... because outside of great writing, I don't know what BL needs at its core to somehow be suddenly more appropriate and deserving of existing in 2019 that design iteration (which seems is what they're doing) and great content couldn't solve. I think had the trailer ended with "Learn more: April 3rd" or whatever it would have nicely capped it as "this is part I" which I think is what they were trying to do here.

Ishmae1 (19279023)

BL2 just had a 1GB update on Steam... Hmm... Great tease. I can't wait to see the panel tomorrow.

Ishmae1 (19280553)

One year, we made this amazing Guardian Clippy for KI announce. We ended up tweeting it, but there was a larger version planned at first. "Boy, you really drop your combos!" "You seem to suck at breaking lights! Want me to school you more on it?" "Do you know blocking can be done by holding back? Doesn't seem like you do!" They all get out eventually, maybe just not on that day. =)

Ishmae1 (19054278)

48. I love my big TV with a big couch. I also love my PC. I go back and forth on if I focus on console or PC for my gaming time. Sometimes I won't touch the PC for a week as I tear through a game on console, then I'll shift back to PC and vise-versa, depending on game. For shooters, I tend to use PC because of a 144hz monitor. For anything I care about visually, I go to consoles for HDR and higher resolution. However, if it's a game I'll be playing with friends more often than solo, I typically get it on console rather than PC (e.g. Anthem, Division 2, Destiny 2, etc.) just because I have more regular friends there. PC gets games I'll typically play solo, like Prey, Far Cry New Dawn, Metro: Exodus, BL2 (for mods), etc.

Ishmae1 (18994207)

I picked this up based on this thread. I just got the frog form. It's been OK so far - I personally don't care for the music, especially in the early areas. The map can be a bit obtuse when it comes to doors you didn't go through, which makes remembering where they were a bit frustrating. I'm expecting as I open up all the forms' repertoire it'll get more interesting. I'll certainly finish it.

Ishmae1 (18931425)

I'm trying to enjoy this, but I'm having constant crashes on PC since I reached the baby / sulfur pools raid mission. Since that point, no matter where I go and what I do, the game crashes every few minutes with no indication of what could be causing it. Super frustrating.

Ishmae1 (18877958)

Wow, that reddit post explains a lot of what I've been feeling and how I've gravitated to playing. Colossus = prime with flamethrower or fire, then jump melee (jump is important) into the enemies for massive combo damage. Repeat. Weapons are completely useless.

Ishmae1 (18820135)

Borderlands is at its best when it stays silly. So above all, stay silly. Crazy-ass weapons Crazy-ass bosses and dialogue More enemies that manipulate the encounter space (like the badasses from BL2) Fun classes with multiple build paths that are equally compelling DLC on par with Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep Make melee more interesting to use if it's kept Keep split-screen co-op (please!) Steve 60FPS on console - hard to think about 30 again after Handsome collection and PC play on a 144hz I am ready to throw money at this thing. All hail the king of Looter Shooters!

Ishmae1 (18735104)

Anthem, armed with a big display easy-read clock plus calendar for seniors

Ishmae1 (18742800)

As someone that mains a colossus, and just got the challenge done for that particular weapon, I'd say it's in the "OK" category. It doesn't hit as hard as other MWs you could take and the explosion radius isn't great. I have it as a secondary right now, but the DPS it puts out vs non-yellows doesn't match the utility I could have for taking say, the MW scout rifle that has lightning 30% proc (which tears through shields), or the assault rifle that does fire explosions on crits. However, against yellow bars it does good damage (turrets) - there's just not enough yellow bars across the strikes to really have it feel like it has a place it can shine. It really comes down to your build. Do you have a good solution for blue bars? I run flamewall and flamethrower (both MW versions) and then charge and combo via melee hits / jumps, and play super aggressively. I rarely fall back to weapons, and if I do it's the MW minigun that increases damage as you hit multiple enemies. Having a secondary to deal with shields helps a lot in more circumstances than having a good yellow-bar weapon. I could swear mine is also +150% damage - that may be a fixed stat for that weapon? My biggest peeve on GLs - they don't give you a grenade launcher sight with any of them, so it's hard to lob shots correctly, especially as you can lob a shot further than it'll show the trail / shot.

Ishmae1 (18732123)

I comment on this game regularly because I really do love the moment-to-moment of it. I'm as equally frustrated on the meta however. The return on time as you move up the GM levels is off. I'm at the point that I need MWs or Legendaries to move my numbers at all on any character, which means I can have complete runs on GM1 that yield nothing of value, and since XP is rather worthless post 30, the runs are time wasters. Yet GM2 and above is kinda punishing for time / effort vs. return. Unlike D3, which had the clearly defined torment levels, plus rifts with the "earn base gems in this mode, upgrade them in this (more challenging) one" - Anthem doesn't seem to have any of that mentality in it, which is... weird. I really wish the game had been scaled somewhat like (assume game difficulty is tuned to accommodate these ranges): GM1: Limited masterwork set can drop! All random stats and perks. You should be using blue buffs by now regularly. Blueprints for purple buffs can drop. GM2: Full MW list with possible higher point values and better rolls. Legendaries start dropping (limited set). Materials for forging are plentiful. You're expected to be using purple-tier buffs unless you're getting close to fully geared / tuned. MW level buff blueprints can drop. GM3: Put your tuned build to the test and go for legendary drops (and sets). Oh and I finally got my first legendary: Victor's Resolve (meh)... for the Ranger... while playing a Colossus. =P Shades of Barb set drops while playing WD in D3. Sigh.

Ishmae1 (18679704)

I had this happen yesterday. Full run of Tyrant, and I couldn't pick up any loot, but could get ammo and health. Loot would just stay on the floor. I figured I'd just get it at the end. Nope. No loot screen appeared. It's been a day and multiple other runs since of Tyrant and others. The loot just vanished, as if that run never happened. No mail in my inbox either. So, if you ever have a run that you can't pick up loot, just quit it and don't rejoin.

Ishmae1 (18650328)

If they're going for a well-balanced game at launch, I'd suspect the roster will be smaller (~16-18 chars) - this gets around tyranny of choice and eases onramping / learning for incoming new to the series players. Have they announced DLC / seasons plans? I've not been following the title close enough to know if they communicated how new characters will roll out and on what cadence. It sucks when your fave doesn't get in there at launch though. If Tam Tam is in, I'm in.

Ishmae1 (18651451)

The Grand Tour developed by Avalanche I guess they finally get tired of Clarkson and things get .

Ishmae1 (18615514)

Nicodemus is the true source of the Anthem

Ishmae1 (18560336)

Duke Nukem 3D had an amazing shotgun. No armor? Bye. Doom's shotgun was heavenly. Destiny has good shotguns, but they're kinda twitchy.

Ishmae1 (18548109)

I'll throw my old-timer hat in here. Dungeon Master on PC Didn't happen for 5 years after its release on Atari ST ('87) and Amiga ('88). Of course, that opened the door for Eye of the Beholder to come in, but the delay in porting that one over kept FTL from taking the PC RPG crown at that point. To this day, it's still boggling that they waited so long. Brett Sperry (co-founder of Westwood) and I had a chat once about that game specifically, and Westwood was so that FTL would bring DM over to PC ASAP they delayed starting up their game (which became Eye of the Beholder)... but eventually they got tired of waiting, so EoB beat DM out by a year on PC in the end of it all.

Ishmae1 (18208047)

It does not. It's a huge flaw in player onboarding. In my personal reality, you would have been playing alongside an NPC that set up primers and let you detonate (and then vise-versa) to train people on how it works. Also, the different element types vs. bar colors hasn't been explained... if that still matters from the ME MP influence this game has (and needed more following of, IMO). This plus inconsistent tool tips across a wide number of items - maybe even outright bugs on some - makes it hard to know what does what or what's better than what. It's pretty messy right now.

Ishmae1 (18207815)

Playing casually, doing side quests that were available, by the time I reached the trials, I was one objective away from completing each of them. I think they expected more people to be enamored with free roam, as you tick all of them off rather quickly just flying about and fighting / doing events as you run across them. Opening chests turned out to be one of the longer ones, but world chests and events, or entering a dungeon solo made that relatively easy. If you turn right once you get into freeroam and fly along the city, you can find a group of friendly soldiers overlooking the fields that get attacked by enemies frequently. Picking them up as they drop counts as reviving javelins.Combo trigger is the number of times you see "COMBO!" on your screen from using primers and detonators Note: I don't think this is a great thing to drop into mainline quest progress, but I also think the time it takes to do these things is being overblown by a large degree.

Ishmae1 (18167208)

Fulgore. KI needs to represent! =)

Ishmae1 (18124993)

Curious if anyone's had this happen on PC - I'm using a Corsair K70 LUX keyboard, and the lighting integration is neat for the game (the keyboard colors / responds to input choices and ambient light / environment) but my volume control stopped working while in the game. Anyone found a way around this?

Ishmae1 (17956682)

The Queen's Tower is still one of my favorite areas end-to-end in any 'souls game.

Ishmae1 (17896102)

Nice OT! I'm looking forwards to stomping around as a Colossus! This is going to be a busy weekend!

Ishmae1 (17804870)

.

Ishmae1 (17768562)

But-but-but I thought that a lock-on game couldn't have any skill to it? That's what the internet told me. =P /s

Ishmae1 (897260)

Feels like the studio learned a few things after Lords of the Fallen, but they didn't apply enough learnings. Bosses are still janky and lack a lot of grace in telegraphing their attacks, making learning their patterns more frustrating than it should be. The environments are mazy and repetitive, making figuring out where to go a real chore, and the typical enemies are you with a different weapon over and over again. As said before, the weapons having no unique attacks / animations also makes them lack character and feel. It's also hard to pin down where you can get certain resources to upgrade your kit. However it's certainly nice playing it in performance mode on the X.

Ishmae1 (17565520)

So... a BR that you shift reality in? Because that's what I'm expecting at this point. /thatscool

Ishmae1 (17437418)

I feel like this is a series that never hit mainstream, but this entry sure looks like it's the one poised to take it there. I hope the story is as epic as it's made out to be. I'm a sucker for "road" stories.

Ishmae1 (17437691)

I was thinking that, but didn't want to say it for fear of jinxing it. =) /highhopes

Ishmae1 (17366575)

AH! I didn't realize it was play anywhere. Woot! Looks like I'm getting all the platforms I'd play it on then! =)

Ishmae1 (17366352)

Very nice OT! I'm just torn on platform. I'll likely double-dip Xbox and Switch... but PC... arrrggh.

Ishmae1 (17370574)

I've been a big player / supporter of Destiny 1 / 2, but after the Black Armory LL requirements and me being a relatively filthy casual (~570LL), I think I'm out on supporting early content until I can get a sense of what I can do as a non-hardcore player. I purchased the season pass and updates blindly, and feel that I've been very stung by it because I get nothing out of it. Since they seem to have a pattern of fixing flow at a later time and pulling up the casual players when it's required, it's personally no longer worth my time to ride along with the game as it develops. I would like to see them continue to support 2 rather than completely reset with 3 and start this all over again, however. If that means subbing, I think I'd still wait until there's a good deal of (non PvP) content ahead of me before subbing however; I don't have time to keep up with the bleeding edge in order to experience anything new.

Ishmae1 (17332323)

*650 LL required to complete any activity (yes, I'm exaggerating - it'll be 625)

Ishmae1 (17278985)

I'm enjoying the game, but the Colossus javelin needs some tweaks. I can see it being painful to level with if you decide to pick it. At high-end there's potentially lots of avenues to make it really awesome with mods and augments I can imagine they'll do, but as of right now, it's got all the "big guy" weaknesses with not a lot of benefits for being that big guy. Things that peeve me:All that said, there's some great stuff too. Shield charges into melee combos is satisfying. Grenade launchers are fun and effective (although I have no idea how to manually detonate the mine types). The Flamethrower melts red bars and it lasts forever. The electric cannon can be used with shield up, auto-fires, and detonates burning enemies. Yeah. And you can cause havoc with your shield up in flight and slam into guys while low-strafing the ground. Really all they need are augments that do things like let you prime combos with shield charges as you barrel through a bunch of enemies and there's some amazing teamwork you could pull off with a detonating class. Reflect a % of shots, turn any damage taken in charge into additional shield slam damage, etc. - lots of room to make him super fun. Oh and a random tip on controls that I found on accident (yay Bioware for having it): Clicking the Left Stick after jumping puts you into flight... but .

Ishmae1 (16964240)

I'm not going to turn this into an interview, so don't ask but: Age IV is in development (keep the faith, TC!), as most of you in this thread know. It's a PC RTS through and through. It upholds Age's approach to RTS games. Interpret that as you will. =)

Ishmae1 (16930074)

That's a triple-dip for me (PC, Switch, and now Xbox). Great game if you enjoy soulslikes. Also don't forget it has couch co-op.

Ishmae1 (16931340)

What I like most is that I'm totally torn on what class to play first.

Ishmae1 (16449022)

You only leave the past four (?) times in Odyssey and one of them is for actual gameplay, not just a walking simulator. Also, the other times are 1-5 minutes tops depending on how much you want to read. It's bliss.

Ishmae1 (16409154)

Absolutely fun as a single player experience, and cherry on top if you find people to play MP with. Soloing raid bosses was always fun. Don't forget you can play split-screen as well if there's people in your household you can play with.

Ishmae1 (15889086)

While I don't think EDF needed a tutorial either, your handler's indifferent attitude to the growing chaos around you and the soldiers commentary in the first mission was amusing enough to warrant the inclusion. I could only play the first two missions, as my son wants to co-op the entire game. He was already asleep when it released, and he'd kill me if I got more than a few levels in without him. I did like the ranger squad you ended up with - I kinda hope they're the same squad you're with for the rest of the game, just to keep the humor consistent.

Ishmae1 (15853176)

I'm frustrated with this game because it's great, IMO. The combat is fun, the UI is incredibly helpful in planning movement (X-COM could learn some things from this game), most skills can be VERY useful, the world is interesting, and the focus on ambush and thinning the enemy herd are good, but it's got issues. Here's my personal peeves:Despite all of this, I still really like the game a lot and recommend it to any X-COM / TBS fan, especially those that like more merciless game play. I'd suggest that normal difficulty is the more spontaneous (you can mess up your setups and still pull out a clean win) and less frustrating way to experience it for most players.

Ishmae1 (15779441)

Day 1 for me because my son and I will play co-op to death, but I'm not sold on the deluxe edition either. There were only a few great missions for 2025/4.1's DLCs, and the additional pre-order weapons have always been kinda weak. Now that weapons level, maybe they get great? No idea.

Ishmae1 (14974603)

I'd also suggest - it's 2D, so you're not messing with 3D space, has a nice set of built-in tools for everything from drag and drop coding to tileset editors and animated sprite drawing. My son and I make small games in it all the time... well OK I make the game and he feeds me ideas / concepts for 18 stage bosses and such. =) The coding language is unique (kinda java / C-ish hybrid), but the fundamentals you learn in structure and syntax are applicable to any other engine and follow C conventions. You don't have pointers, but they give you all kinds of ways to abstractly reference structures and objects. Like the other two engines, there's tons of youtube tutorials on game maker so you can learn how to make whatever it is you're trying to make. Of the Unity / Unreal choice, in my experience I find Unity easier for new people to pick up. Blueprints in Unreal are a great addition, but sometimes you have to work backwards in your thinking of code in order to build what you want, especially as you're learning; feels like a tool that was primarily built for artists to animate states with rather than designers to build logic with.

Ishmae1 (14977467)

I'm baffled that anyone would even think that there'd be micro-trans in these. ...the world we live in... Regarding the announce: WOOT!

Ishmae1 (1085099)

Considering how bad the "pickle rick" monsters look, and how staged their appearances were, you're missing nothing by turning them off. The environments and the story were what made it a great experience.

Ishmae1 (6139544)

I'm saddened to hear this. I love the game, but the puzzle aspects were likely not for everyone (and they were necessary to finish it). Played it to completion in co-op with my son and went back for more.

Ishmae1 (13933519)

Thanks! I'm keepin' busy for sure! Also Age IV (and all the DE versions) are under MSGP, as others have called out already.

Ishmae1 (13932538)

Nice OT! Just for clarity, Battletoads is being handled by Rare directly - not through MSGP =)

Ishmae1 (13305507)

I've been gaming since I could put quarters in a Pong machine. I'm 47 and I still play video games daily. What's changed: Long game sessions make my hands ache. We're talking 5+ hours uninterrupted for two days in a row and I'll need a break. I'm lucky if I can get that much game time to myself, but it happens on occasion. I had 20/20 vision until ~45, and now my close-up vision is fuzzier. Fine for gaming on a couch, however - I'm not even that close to a monitor, so that's not really impacted my abilities. Am I as fast or as reflexive? No idea. Likely not - yet I can still suck and I can still be good in PvP from game to game - maybe that's matchmaking and maybe that's me - likely somewhere in between. The real change is being much more aware of my time and what I spend it on. I'm less patient with games that ramp difficulty extremely quickly or throw something down then force you to overcome it before progression can be made - as others have said, I'm just not willing to beat my head on a pattern over and over again for hours if I can't get through something (unless it's a Souls' game). I'll just drop the game for good or come back to it much later. Same goes for achievements - I'll go as far towards 1000 as I think is obtainable within a reasonable time investment then move on. The more actively demanding and stingy games I tend to not even try for them nowadays. Like any skills, I think it depends on how much focus / time you put on them to how fast / far they degrade or maintain.

Ishmae1 (12557506)

...and that's a triple-dip (PC, Switch, Xbox) with no regrets.

Ishmae1 (12415337)

Saturn for Panzer Dragoon I, II, and Saga

Ishmae1 (12107466)

I've written manuals for the games I've also developed, as well as written trailers and marketing copy. Your statement is a bit too blankety for the many hats we can wear in game development. It's not nearly as cut and dry, especially in smaller studios.

Ishmae1 (11758716)

I tweet Sega about it several times a year, and if I ever get the opportunity to interact with Sega execs via Relic, I'll be sure to bring it up. =) Such a great game. It's really tragic that it wasn't enjoyed by more people.

Ishmae1 (11507068)

The game itself was OK, but I use it as an example of one of the worst UI systems in a modern game. When I have to take photos of my screen in order to know what character has what skills so that I can equip rings and skill buffs accurately, or make weapons (and enchant them) that are actually beneficial to them, you know something isn't ideal, especially in an RPG where that's the point of it all.

Ishmae1 (3204461)

Alien : Isolation is likely the best non-game IP to game translation I've ever experienced in capturing the atmosphere and mood of its source material. The artbook from the game is amazing and well worth the purchase. The research the team did and the level of detail they went to in order to capture the world of Alien is applause worthy. Incredible game that was likely a few hours too long by the end of it all, but what a great ride. Amazing use of audio and incredible tension throughout. Average Joes still make me shudder. Hearing all the negative comments about the alien never giving you a respite are amusing because I felt that way at first until

Ishmae1 (10852467)

Hmm... I supposedly said what about what, exactly?

Ishmae1 (7536897)

Crossed Swords? Check. (Where's II?) That's a purchase.

Ishmae1 (1344952)

I disliked much of the first EW game and many of the mechanics it used. EW2 is better in almost every way for me personally. The loss of the match mechanic, while it was novel, is not missed.

Ishmae1 (10353684)

sees title, thinks "Oh, I know the director of Dead Space (1&2) this should be a good read... oh." Hmm. Personally, DS3 was a huge letdown after the first two. The make-your-own weapons "system" ruined the game's pace and clearly hampered the team from making good decisions about what kinds of enemies to create / populate the world with and what kind of encounters to craft; it's a horror game - craft and pace is important. I remember having a conversation with a friend at EA on that subject before it launched (I was no longer at EA then). When she told me what they were doing in DS3 my first (blunt) response was: "Why would you do that? That's a really bad idea." Who liked the idea? Focus groups, apparently. >sigh<

Ishmae1 (7140508)

Rebooting Steam fixed that for me.

Ishmae1 (1438371)

Console controls could use some serious tuning. I still finished it and plan on doing the alternate timeline (on easier difficulty) just to see what changes if anything. I was dreading the officer grind, so I think I'll take the easy advice to heart, as I only have 3 more to unlock.

Ishmae1 (561424)

I picked this up on Xbox after reading through multiple threads on it. I'm ~7 hours in at the moment, half way through level 8, playing on normal difficulty. I'm playing on an X so aside from the occasional stutter due to streaming / loading as I'm moving, the game performs well as-is. It's a weird game in that movement is rough, combat is really basic and kind of annoying (I'll circle back to that), stat allocation is pointless on its own instead acting as a restriction for weapon use and allowing purchase of skills and abilities, inventory management is mediocre at best, and there's a lot that is never explained, e.g. I have the potions skill, but I can't see anywhere that I can actually craft a potion in the UI -- I assume there's a crafting table somewhere that I have to find, much like campfires for cooking. So all that out of the way, the world is cool and fun to explore (I'm a sucker for post-disaster worlds), the factions are interesting so far (haven't dealt with the outlaws a lot yet), the interconnected nature of your actions and responses does matter in quests, the mix of easy and deadly creatures is (semi-)fun to feel out as you travel, and the jetpack is great to use. All these factors make the game a lot more compelling and interesting than I thought it would be. I recently was playing Fallout 3 again (IMO better than New Vegas and 4), and Elex has that same "yeah, it's not perfect, but does it really matter?" vibe that I love so much about Fallout 3. So back to combat - the basic timing system isn't bad, nor is the idea of stamina management, but the penalty of losing stamina on being hit along with health, means that you're doubly penalized for mistiming, which slows combat dramatically. Combat ends up not as a nice ebb and flow but this really conservative 2-3 attacks, pause to refill stamina, 2-3 attacks, pause, maybe special attack, repeat loop. On top of this you've got stunlock / juggling in the game, so when you have to fight more than one enemy at a time, if they leap and their timing is offset, you're juggled to death by multiple hits or knocked completely out of stamina, limiting your options for combat extremely. Same with grenades or any explosive - hit, knockdown, hit again, bounce, hit again, bounce, death. I'd say that PB nailed the role playing (i.e. playing a character and making meaningful decisions as that character) and world building part of Elex, but the mechanical aspects of what RPG means (to me at least) aren't great in any way shape or form. I can see why reviewers would harshly criticize it when it goes up against games with much more understandable and explainable skill systems and deeper (more varied) combat mechanics. For a small team, it's still one hell of an accomplishment to create a world this rich. Hopefully success drives more investment in refined skills and combat in the future.

Ishmae1 (2005678)

Finally unlocked the IQA for the Specialist. Wow. I cracked top 5 without using a hero. That weapon is a whole lot of fun.

Ishmae1 (3762491)

Showing my age here, but I'd love to see a pin based on "The Prisoner" I mean c'mon escaping the island missions, a white rover ball, messing up #2's constant plans to get the info in #6's head... it's all right there. Heh. Noted.

Ishmae1 (3719772)

I had the option to purchase both a Theater of Magic and Twilight Zone pins (both in kept up state) for good prices many years ago. I still regret not doing it. I eye good condition Dr. Dude pins from time to time as well. Sigh. As a game designer, I'm jealous of good Pinball machines, honestly. The blend of mechanical and game logic / system design is masterful in a well crafted table.

Ishmae1 (3726308)

Totally agreed! Bad (underpowered) flippers or an unwaxed table can make pinball a very, bad experience. I'm fortunate that I worked in an arcade for a while during college years. It was a small operation where we serviced the games ourselves, including waxing tables and replacing worn components, so I got really familiar with pinball mechanics, wiring custom harnesses and JAMMA adaptors, CRT degaussing and servicing, etc. I think a lot of people that buy a pin underestimate the work that goes into upkeep, especially any of them with complicated mechanical parts - the Addam's Family Thing hand, and Chuckie's face in Funhouse were big headaches when they started acting up. Things like High Speed - both a good table (crazy when newly waxed!) and relatively simple mechanically - are always nice to find.

Ishmae1 (992946)

Sniper rifle is soooooo handy to have in the Plains. Capping Grineer from a distance is so enjoyable.

Ishmae1 (9488664)

Panzer Dragoon game is worth playing, but yes, Orta is worth it.

Ishmae1 (992582)

Finished the main DLC story last night and have most of the side quests completed. This is the only PS game I've earned the platinum in and likely will be the only PS game I ever platinum, until an eventual sequel. Overall, it was a great side-adventure for Aloy and added in some nice reaffirmation of what happened in the main story - now I really just want the story to move forwards instead of sideways. Only bugs I encountered were a few T-pose blinks in conversations, Aloy's fascination with selling bluegleam even in the middle of raiding the bandit camp, and weird day / night transition pops during battles. The snow (plus long nights) could make it hard to see, especially at night, even in HDR / 4K. Great game, great DLC.

Ishmae1 (8369360)

After a string of poor RNG and repeats galore, I decided to hit Xur for the weekly engram and run my 3rd character through the IO public events. Expecting armor, I get Tractor Cannon from Xur, and Crimson from Cayde. After 5 Skybuner's Oaths and 3 Wardiff Coils, I was almost in tears. Now to hope the masterworks drop.