The Video Game Thread

[RandomGuy]

It does have a well crafted story. It has a lot of lore. The difference is it's not spoon fed to you like a movie. You're dropped in and you're surrounded by it. You must pay attention and look around, like you would if you were actually dropped into such a place.

You also have a great deal of choice on the level of most other RPGs. I'm wondering how far you made it before you moved on.

Well, I was still comparing it to Witcher as both of those elements are more prevalent/superior in it, for me of course. At the end of the day it can hardly be objective when our minds simply enjoy different things.

Oh and I believe I've made it halfway into the game, the combat mechanics became too repetitive for me personally.

[Apollo]

Fair enough but you have 19 different weapon classes with like five to twelve weapons in each class, all with their own move sets. Then you have three forms of magic with probably a dozen or so spells in each form. Then you have dozens of accessories that create different buffs. What you get is a blank canvas that supports pretty much any play style and offers a great variety within those play styles. I think you suffered from the game's poor attempt in explaining anything. I had to read online guides to understand fully what I was dealing with. Its a niche game for sure.

Witcher 3 is a game for everyone and it leads you through holding your hand the whole way. I like those too.

My main thing is (I think) online will die on DS1 and so time is a factor for anyone wanting to enjoy it in full glory.

[RandomGuy]

Yes, the thing is that all combat in every game becomes too repetitive to me as it ends up being slash and parry with some spice (magic). Customization is surely the best part about DS (for me). Witcher however offers you additional things to dive in and I would argue that you're led by your hand in DS as much as in Witcher as it's basically one massive level. No side quests, no various ways of getting to exact location etc. Games like Witcher, Skyrim offers you an option to show middle finger to the main story and do something else and your experience will be as good as playing the main thing. Yeah and you mentioned the lore is pretty vague.

Have you ever played Kenshi? Would be interesting to know if you would like that game.

[Apollo]

The first bit of the game offers you two different ways to trigger a certain event and you can get there through alternate routes. After that event, which I'd wager most never reach who don't see the game through, the other 75% of the game opens up and there are nine or so other areas which you can do in whatever order you wish. Plus then you have the DLC which is a tonne of extra game play but offers really only one path.

And there are side quests. They're not abundant and they're hidden for only those who explore the world and pay attention. Not a huge fan because you can miss things.

Everything in the game (excluding DLC) does eventually funnel into the ending (that has two outcomes) but how you get there is totally up to you and things you do opens or closes paths.

Then there are like nine covenants as well. Your actions in the game in helping or hurting other players (through summons and invasions) have real consequences: you can have other real players come after you for bounties. The PVP and PVE piece to the game is very entertaining. I know there are fight clubs in places like Discord that meet regularly and this is something you cannot do in Skyrim or Witcher: test your skills against other real people.

Also, the lore isn't vague. You need to pay attention though. It's not spoon fed but it's a good but very dark story.

Never played Kenshi. Any good?

[RandomGuy]

The first bit of the game offers you two different ways to trigger a certain event and you can get there through alternate routes. After that event, which I'd wager most never reach who don't see the game through, the other 75% of the game opens up and there are nine or so other areas which you can do in whatever order you wish. Plus then you have the DLC which is a tonne of extra game play but offers really only one path.

And there are side quests. They're not abundant and they're hidden for only those who explore the world and pay attention. Not a huge fan because you can miss things.

Everything in the game (excluding DLC) does eventually funnel into the ending (that has two outcomes) but how you get there is totally up to you and things you do opens or closes paths.

Then there are like nine covenants as well. Your actions in the game in helping or hurting other players (through summons and invasions) have real consequences: you can have other real players come after you for bounties. The PVP and PVE piece to the game is very entertaining. I know there are fight clubs in places like Discord that meet regularly and this is something you cannot do in Skyrim or Witcher: test your skills against other real people.

Also, the lore isn't vague. You need to pay attention though. It's not spoon fed but it's a good but very dark story.

Never played Kenshi. Any good?

A good summary will give it another try someday. Yeah, I would say it's basically Fallout + Dark Souls + The Sims, sounds pretty random right? Has 93% positive reviews rating on Steam, that says a lot. You start as nobody with nothing in a desolate land with no story directing you, you're not a hero, you're weak and worthless, much weaker than every other NPC on the game. After getting beaten down you improve and get better trying to become average, of course, you can try to be the best at combat, but that will take time. First, you'll try to survive, then look for what you want to do. Be a trader, slave trader, assassin for bounties, bandit band, boss of your town or a mercenary just to list a few, there are quite a few options. The official trailer doesn't do justice to this game so I'm not sharing it but you're free to check out gameplay videos.

[Joey]

Been playing the new Ghost Recon: Breakpoint game ... loving it. Basically sequel to GR: Wildlands. Solid mix of Tactical Shooter and Stealth/Splinter Cell type action, with a MASSIVE open world to explore and do whatever you want, and bases to infiltrate and take down.


Also, Outer Worlds comes out on the 25th, and that's the Space looking game from Obsidian who did Fallout: New Vegas, so it's basically Fallout in space ... and then Red Dead 2 comes out for PC on November 5th ... too many games to play!!

[Apollo]

So I played Witcher 3 on Switch for an hour last night. It plays smooth and looks good enough; as good as most other games like it on the system.

However, the cut scenes... Look like crap. I'm not a fps snob but you can tell it's chugging along in the 20's during the cutscenes. You also notice some artifacts on the screen at times during cut scenes. Nothing game breaking but this is not the PC or even PS4 version. It will take a bit to get used to that. Maybe they clean it up a little with a patch but it had me wondering why they didn't just take care of these areas with video files in place of the console having to chug through the code.

Anyway, Switcher is amazing to hold despite the cutscenes. This is the coolest thing I've ever seen on a handheld.
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[Machine]

If any RPG or fallout fan hasn't played The Outer Worlds it is a must buy. If you're on xbox or PC it is included in gamepass. Amazing game so far and no bugs (not kidding lol). 10x more polished than fallout games with better fps mechanics. The writing, choice and consequence is fantastic as you would expect from Obsidian. Got another huge franchise on our hands.

[RandomGuy]

If any RPG or fallout fan hasn't played The Outer Worlds it is a must buy. If you're on xbox or PC it is included in gamepass. Amazing game so far and no bugs (not kidding lol). 10x more polished than fallout games with better fps mechanics. The writing, choice and consequence is fantastic as you would expect from Obsidian. Got another huge franchise on our hands.

Yeah, true Fallout 3 experience (will soon be known as Outer Worlds experience) with beautiful graphics and awesome script. Nothing revolutionary just very well polished and complete. A bit repetitive yeah, but they make those quests fun or interesting with great story 8/10 from me.

[Miekenstien]

the two of your recommendations have sold me. i am waiting on an install now. was really tired of the fallout beginning. no matter how many times i tell myself not to just build i always just build now, and the cities almost always end the same, as the time i built them before.

thank you

[Joey]

For me it was choosing between Red Dead Redemption 2, Outer Worlds, and Jedi Knight: Fallen Order (crazy slate of games in just a few weeks time). I went with RDD, but may just have to get Outer Worlds now too ... have read nothing but great things about it. My one concern is the world size (or multiple worlds size... Lol) ... is it Fallout comparable? One of my favourite things to do in Bethesda RPGs is just explore and roam around.

[RandomGuy]

For me it was choosing between Red Dead Redemption 2, Outer Worlds, and Jedi Knight: Fallen Order (crazy slate of games in just a few weeks time). I went with RDD, but may just have to get Outer Worlds now too ... have read nothing but great things about it. My one concern is the world size (or multiple worlds size... Lol) ... is it Fallout comparable? One of my favourite things to do in Bethesda RPGs is just explore and roam around.

You are blocked by loading screens, so it's not technically open world and yeah, it's pretty small. However, it's pretty dense with lots of NPC's in those areas and the fact that you can explore different biomes (planets, space ships interiors) is pretty cool as well. It genuinely feels like Fallout 3 in all areas, the art style is like modernized western, which s a dope take in terms of design. The game focuses on quests and story though, so you may not be able to enjoy it as much as Fallout NV or Fallout 4 for instance if world exploration is the main aspect you're looking for.

[Machine]

For me it was choosing between Red Dead Redemption 2, Outer Worlds, and Jedi Knight: Fallen Order (crazy slate of games in just a few weeks time). I went with RDD, but may just have to get Outer Worlds now too ... have read nothing but great things about it. My one concern is the world size (or multiple worlds size... Lol) ... is it Fallout comparable? One of my favourite things to do in Bethesda RPGs is just explore and roam around.

So it has multiple large hubs that you can explore. It is not one large open world like fallout but honestly after playing the outer worlds I actually prefer this. There are still a lot of corners to explore and the benefit of having hubs is they are multiple different planets or ships you get to explore so they are all quite different. And some of these hubs are pretty big. Different communities, corporations etc, diff threats, diff atmosphere. It just freshens up the gameplay.

Also the world doesn't feel so overwhelming. You can focus on the planet you are on and then when you feel like you've gotten the most out of it you are excited to move on to the next planet to see what awaits. And you can move back and forth between planets as you wish.

Another benefit to the large hubs as opposed to large open world is the graphics quality and gameplay polish. There are no bugs in this game.

It might be a turn off to some to not have just one giant open world and I was concerned as well but I think benefits outweighed the negatives for me.

[RandomGuy]

So it has multiple large hubs that you can explore. It is not one large open world like fallout but honestly after playing the outer worlds I actually prefer this. There are still a lot of corners to explore and the benefit of having hubs is they are multiple different planets or ships you get to explore so they are all quite different. And some of these hubs are pretty big. Different communities, corporations etc, diff threats, diff atmosphere. It just freshens up the gameplay.

Also the world doesn't feel so overwhelming. You can focus on the planet you are on and then when you feel like you've gotten the most out of it you are excited to move on to the next planet to see what awaits. And you can move back and forth between planets as you wish.

Another benefit to the large hubs as opposed to large open world is the graphics quality and gameplay polish. There are no bugs in this game.

It might be a turn off to some to not have just one giant open world and I was concerned as well but I think benefits outweighed the negatives for me.

We should be working on the same PR/Marketing team.

[Miekenstien]

I'm enjoying outer worlds. It has a borderlands 1 type combat feel. It isn't as free flowing a game as fallout, feels more high paced, than at your leisure.
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I should be able to change a setting on Xbox console that makes an inverted up down automatic. God.