What Games are you Playing 2017?

[LordDirtyBrit]

Honestly, I've felt most dungeons in a Zelda game are dull, since they all follow the exact same formula since OoT and it's really just masking the same damn thing every-time.   It's one of the reasons LBW dungeons stand out.  They're much smaller, but because you get the item BEFORE going in, they don't follow the formula, and thus offer way more flexibility in terms of the dungeon design and progression.  It's not just a key or switch hunt until you get the dungeon item, which then acts as a glorified key, and then the boss is just "we need to justify using that new toy you got to beat this guy, no matter how impractical!"

Your analysis on why 3D Zelda dungeons kinda suck is reminding me to view Arin's Zelda sequelitis. That video sums up all my problems with 3D Zelda. The bashing he gives to Skyward Sword near the end of the video also helps.

[Sierra]

If BotW is similar to SotC, then that gives me enough of an incentive to play the latter and get a feel of what I would be getting myself into.

Everyone should play SotC. It's pretty short anyway.

Cosign and also Cid you should try the Last Guardian, I'm curious what you'll think.

I totally will (I mean, I already have it), but at the very least after finishing Horizon: Zero Dawn and probably after Nier: Automata (though it's entirely possible that I will want a break between two games about a post-apocalypse Earth run by robots--seriously, these two came out within a week of each other). Speaking of:

HZD: I finally got the big plot dump, and it's a doozy.

Earth was never actually saved. Everything died. IT. ATE. EVERYBODY. Sobeck's historical distinction was just in being enough of a brutal realist* to accept the inevitability of extinction and make a plan for the aftermath: building an A.I. capable of re-terraforming the planet after all organic life was extinguished.

(*Which attitude is mostly reflected in our cloned protagonist's fluency in sarcasm.)

Data logs indicate that the writers put a lot of thought into assessing the psychological impact that working with this kind of personality in these conditions would have on people, some of which specialists opted for medical euthanasia instead (because of course that was an option Sobeck realized would be necessary and had prepared in advance before asking anyone). The writing here is the best in the game, and I'm genuinely impressed.

Our adversary, Hades, was evidently a subcomponent of the terraforming A.I., and its sole function was to take control of the system and wipe out life anew for a fresh start should the system happen to produce a biosphere that was incapable of supporting human life, because Sobeck was enough of a pragmatic hardass to recognize that her creation might not get it right the first time and need a global reset button. The one key point that we still don't know is what the hell Hades is doing lodged in one of the Faro robots that ended life in the first place. My best guess is that it did have to perform the global reset at least once and decided that the best way to accomplish this was through the same way it happened the first time.

And it probably doesn't think its job is done yet since the human civilization we've got here is not what was envisioned--the first humans reintroduced on Earth were supposed to be gifted with an archive of knowledge on history, art, science, etc. That part of the plan clearly didn't work. The prevailing primitiveness of human belief in the present isn't the result of people forgetting everything, it's due to them starting with a completely blank slate. When I made that comment about lategame Civ, I didn't realize how on-point it would turn out to be. Based on the number of Sun Kings I've been told there were, I'd guess we're looking at 300 years of human life being back on Earth, 400 tops.

tl;dr version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MR2nKL_qo4

Sylens is a difficult man to be friends with. "Trust is not a firm foundation for a relationship, but mutual self interest is an unbreakable bond."

I've also finished with the collectathon component of the game, and this may actually have lowered my opinion of the whole? Maybe this is a personal problem. I know grabbing all the TACOs isn't necessary, but I'm not gonna finish without clearing that whole map, am I? It plays on my OCD so hard. I went through a binge of wiping all those niggling little flags off the map over the weekend, and I've realized it turned the world from a very pretty thing to be savored into a checklist to be worked through by rote. These aren't mandatory tasks, but it does remind of me of an opinion I've had about similar games in the past, which is that more content doesn't necessarily equal good content. I've come round to supporting shorter games over the years. I just read an Onion A.V. Club article that summarized this game as "There's a great game hiding in Horizon: Zero Dawn," and though I don't agree with every assertion of the reviewer, I think the core sentiment is valid. A lean plot run or a supercut of the ruin diving and logs might be more satisfying than a 100% run. Because those really are the best parts of the game, and more engrossing than I would've expected from a dev team previously responsible for many games called Killzone (the contemporary action, by comparison, is more hit-or-miss). There's a pleasure to finding out what the hell happened a thousand years ago akin to that of, say, finally being given real historical information in Xenogears.

[Ranmilia]

After 7 years, Iji gets a surprise update, moving the platform to Game Maker 7 for current OS/hardware compatibility and making *major* overhauls to the game.

2 new endings, more plot, totally revamped stat upgrade interface with an entirely new "nonlethal/passive nanoweapons" tree, overhauled graphics and text, faster walkspeed, more/better cracking options, better interaction tracking for just about everything.  (Players of old versions will remember that one generic soldier in sector 3 that changed things if you killed her?  Now *every enemy* is tracked in the same way, and many logs and events in future sectors have branching options depending on what you did earlier.)

If you've never played Iji before, it's free, go do so.  It's a sidescrolling sci-fi ARPG with a ton of secrets and flexibility in play, and massive amounts of polish and design thought.  Absolutely fantastic game.  Also did the pacifism/violence plot split before Undertale and did it better, if you're into that sort of thing (and this update only improves it further!)

[OblivionKnight]

!!!!!

Well shit, time to spend all weekend when my wife is at work playing that now.  Surprise update indeed.  Excellent game. 

[Hunter Sopko]

Pokémon Moon: 4th Island and Otherworld down. Villains were Pokémon villains. Team Skull and the main villain were fun, but overall I didn't care much about it. It really drives home that Lillie should've been the protagonist. Period. MC's fucking dumbface through the entire plot was just groanworthy. They're making baby-steps, but they need to try harder...

Vast Poni Canyon was a good dungeon. Lots of counters for my team made it challenging, and Hapu's Flygon nearly put me in the ground. By comparison, I steamrolled villain's team in Otherworld. While some mechanics draw things out in a negative way (SOS in wild pokemon battles making catching annoying. Srs, just make it so they can either attack or call, not BOTH), the overall challenge upgrade of this title has been positive. I never even turned off Exp Share! Makes me look forward to the E4 battles upcoming. 

Current Team:


Just felt like it for Sandslash. It's a fun turn on the design, and Ice/Steel will cover spots I was missing once it catches up to my team. Not that Toucannon was bad. Lunala gets Palossand's slot, though with Hypnosis it might come back to catch legendaries later.

[Sierra]

HZD: Goddammit, Ted, everything wrong in this setting is your fault.

[Fenrir]

Nier 2: how did something so insane get such a budget
I love it

[Cmdr_King]

The Watchers laugh.  La la la la la

[Sierra]

HZD: Finished. Blue light > red light. The ending scene was nice.

I don't think I have a lot left to add by this point? It's a cool game. It suffers from some of the bloat typical of overstuffed, open world, AAA games, but has enough personality to recommend it, does a lot of things right with its lead character, and gives her a fine foil in your main ally being a profoundly cynical Faust figure (though I have to wonder--does Aloy make sure to turn off her Pip-Boy when she has to pee?) I recommend this if you appreciate striking vistas, assembling narratives of buried histories, and shooting robot dinosaurs in the glowy bits to make them explode. There is a degree of satisfaction to the latter comparable to shattering enemies in VP2.

If there's one mark against it that I haven't mentioned, it's the load times. These can be astonishingly lengthy when you're booting up anew lategame. You don't commonly need to actually see loading screens for a long time, because seamlessly connected open world, but once you start having actual reason to fast travel everywhere, get ready to hurry up and wait. Also some minor interface quibbles re: item management, like why can I sell in bulk but not buy in bulk? Ultimately minor stuff, I think, but it's there.

Of course, they had to leave at least one significant question unanswered for sequel bait: who gave Hades sentience in the first place. It wasn't a consequence of Faro zapping the historical database, because that happened a thousand years ago and the terraforming A.I. said the problems started within the past couple decades. Oh, sequelitis.

[NotMiki]

There is a degree of satisfaction to the latter comparable to shattering enemies in VP2.

That is some high praise, there.

[MasterLemon]

Pokémon Moon: 4th Island and Otherworld down. Villains were Pokémon villains. Team Skull and the main villain were fun, but overall I didn't care much about it. It really drives home that Lillie should've been the protagonist. Period. MC's fucking dumbface through the entire plot was just groanworthy. They're making baby-steps, but they need to try harder...

Vast Poni Canyon was a good dungeon. Lots of counters for my team made it challenging, and Hapu's Flygon nearly put me in the ground. By comparison, I steamrolled villain's team in Otherworld. While some mechanics draw things out in a negative way (SOS in wild pokemon battles making catching annoying. Srs, just make it so they can either attack or call, not BOTH), the overall challenge upgrade of this title has been positive. I never even turned off Exp Share! Makes me look forward to the E4 battles upcoming. 

Current Team:


Just felt like it for Sandslash. It's a fun turn on the design, and Ice/Steel will cover spots I was missing once it catches up to my team. Not that Toucannon was bad. Lunala gets Palossand's slot, though with Hypnosis it might come back to catch legendaries later.

I remember ranting about how bad of a choice keeping the player a faceless mute (who should be played by Orlando Bloom) was when I got to a similar point in Pokemon S/M. I actually like Lillie and it would have been a neat idea if they made her the main. Heck, she even has a connection with the game's mascot. Pity the internet seems to have made her a living meme and ruined the word "bag" as a result.

Speaking of Pokemon, I decided to reserve a slot on a backlog to binge on a specific game series. I decided to test run this idea with what could be classed as my signature, which might be Pokemon. I decided to play Red out of it Blue and Yellow because it was the one of the three which I hadn't played in a while. I got from Pallet Town to the Pokemon Tower in one sitting due to how easy the game is. None of the Gym Leaders have provided a challenge yet due to the fact that the AI likes to spam X items. Then again, why am I expecting challenge from a game which is "when in doubt, use a Psychic-type!"

Current team:


I used Fearow before I got Doduo and Clefable before I got Jolteon.

[LordDirtyBrit]

Pokemon Red: Beaten the Elite Four and caught Mewtwo. I think anyone who has played past generation 2 will agree with me that RBY hasn't aged well. The only other Pokemon games which are worse than RBY in my opinion are GSC and DP. The latter in particular is a beta which Game Freak released as a final product.

Final team:


Temporary members:


If you are wondering about how I got an Alakazam, I have an emulator which can allow me to trade Pokemon in the Game Boy titles. Yeah I use emulators for older games instead of the Virtual Console, sue me.

Xenoblade Chronicles X: Completed all the affinity missions. I have yet to find a character in this game who has arc that isn't quickly resolved through a sappy scene. In the case of some characters like Irina, it gets to a point where their only contribution is being in the scene. I'll have a break from the game for now. I'm not sure if I'll come back to finish the rest of the normal missions or if I'll replay the main story.

[Fenrir]

Nier 2 is great but so far it's been nothing like Drakengard really - Yako Taro has changed a lot.
A lot of Nier elements are there - finishing sidequests seem to make the world worse, you move like a fucking cheetah around the world, combat is a wash (even with Platinum) and there's a lot of variety. But the atmosphere is so different! This also means I won't possibly be as disappointed with the endgame in this one.

It's weird to see obscure guys I liked for a long time, mostly for being obtuse, confusing and inexplicable (Kawazu, Taro, Souls guy) get so much traction lately

[SnowFire]

I do want to believe that before we start World War 3 and usher in the apocalypse, that we first create radiation-resistant robot dinosaurs to roam the plains.  It's a stretch goal, but we can do it.

[Sierra]

Which one's Kawazu again?

[Captain K]

Iji - this is great.

[Fenrir]

Kawazu is the SaGa guy
Why did his games keep selling

[Meeplelard]

I remember ranting about how bad of a choice keeping the player a faceless mute (who should be played by Orlando Bloom) was when I got to a similar point in Pokemon S/M. I actually like Lillie and it would have been a neat idea if they made her the main. Heck, she even has a connection with the game's mascot. Pity the internet seems to have made her a living meme and ruined the word "bag" as a result.

Piggybacking off this, this is the first time I feel in a Pokemon game where the protagonist actually felt like a detriment to the game.  No matter what the scene is, the character always has that empty "=)" on his/her face and it's jarring at times.  There's moments where Lillie is pouring herself emotionally, and your character just stands there smiling like "wait, why are we happy about this?"  Now a silent Pokemon protagonist is a given, but they could at least bother to let the character show some emotion, if at least just showing facial expressions to match the scene.

I know lolPokemon plot!!!, but the only reason other games got away with it is because their plot was so minor (Black/White 1 aside, and being a sprite based game, obviously expectations in presentation are different) but Sun/Moon actually makes an attempt at a serious jRPG style plot, with actual characters, so when we have Lillie, Hau or Gladion all showing varying expressions, development, personality, etc., and then you just have the character going "=)" regardless, it's painful.  A parallel this would be Suikoden 5 where you have all these colorful, well written characters...talking to someone who can't respond if there isn't a text prompt, and it stands out a lot.
It also stands out when playing games like FF14 or XBCX alongside Sun/Moon which also have Avatar protagonists (well...XBCX, you're not really the protagonist, just the PoV character), but they let your character at least show visual reactions.  Nothing major, just stuff like a surprise face, a head shake, etc. 

Actually I give props to FF14 for this further since while it doesn't avoid the "Silent Protagonist Avatar IS PERFECT!!!" syndrome, it at least does it with a sense of self awareness, having occasional nods to the fact that the writers realize they wrote you that way and are just going with it.  Heck, in 3.5, Thancred has a line that is essentially "I mean, we could put the Warrior of Light as the leader...but s/he's too busy being ABSOLUTELY PERFECT AT EVERYTHING S/HE DOES that they won't have time to be leader."  Or even earlier, Cid says something like "So...we need someone to save the world?  Well how about it, Warrior of Light?  You're basically an expert at this!"  Hey, if you can't actually make a silent protagonist flawed, you can at least acknowledge that you know you accidentally made them perfect and play to that.

[Shale]

Zelda: Two Divine Beasts down. The Goron quest was really simple compared to the build-up for the Zora beast, but also really neat to play through. The dungeon was smaller than the elephant but also had a better gimmick, so still good. Currently exploring the tropical regions in the southeast, which is nice -- big change from the usual mainland terrain, a bunch of rare cooking ingredients (SO MANY BANANAS), good puzzles in and out of shrines.

[NotMiki]

Yakuza 0: I lost a dance battle to not!Michael Jackson. who has some fuckin' moves, man.

[LordDirtyBrit]

I remember ranting about how bad of a choice keeping the player a faceless mute (who should be played by Orlando Bloom) was when I got to a similar point in Pokemon S/M. I actually like Lillie and it would have been a neat idea if they made her the main. Heck, she even has a connection with the game's mascot. Pity the internet seems to have made her a living meme and ruined the word "bag" as a result.

Piggybacking off this, this is the first time I feel in a Pokemon game where the protagonist actually felt like a detriment to the game.  No matter what the scene is, the character always has that empty "=)" on his/her face and it's jarring at times.  There's moments where Lillie is pouring herself emotionally, and your character just stands there smiling like "wait, why are we happy about this?"  Now a silent Pokemon protagonist is a given, but they could at least bother to let the character show some emotion, if at least just showing facial expressions to match the scene.

I know lolPokemon plot!!!, but the only reason other games got away with it is because their plot was so minor (Black/White 1 aside, and being a sprite based game, obviously expectations in presentation are different) but Sun/Moon actually makes an attempt at a serious jRPG style plot, with actual characters, so when we have Lillie, Hau or Gladion all showing varying expressions, development, personality, etc., and then you just have the character going "=)" regardless, it's painful. 

This is why I couldn't get invested into the Exeggutor Island scene during the late-game. Lillie provides some genuinely heartwarming backstory between her and Lusamine; but the player, like you said, just gives the same =) face. I'm pretty sure the only time they bothered to give the player a different face is when Nihilego first appears at the Aether Foundation.

[MasterLemon]

Well it's not everyday I have Meeple piggyback off my forum post. Even though you do raise some good points with the player and how games like Xenoblade X do the job much better. I wish they could have gone the route they went with in that game and gave the player face reactions to some of the events or conversations; as well as making them a PoV character to view Lillie's story like how "Cross" was one to view Elma's story. Now if only the initial male design wasn't trying way too hard to be Shulk.

[Meeplelard]

Honestly, a few facial expressions is all you need.  Sure, it wouldn't fix the whole "you're a personalitiless nobody who everyone loves" problem, but at least it wouldn't ruin the moment.  The way the Sun/Moon Protagonist is demonstrated, it's like they're basically a robot with a preset face, and so it doesn't matter what is said when, they're just always blankly happy.

Even better, give us prompts that dictate our facial expression after it, if you really want to sell the "YOU'RE THE TRAINER!" thing.  At least something to show a reaction.

[Sierra]

Iji - this is great.

Welcome to the party, pal.

My problem with replaying Iji would be that after running it pacifist, that's the only way I can replay it.

[Captain K]

I tried doing a pacifist run first, then I found out kicks kill enemies and so do flying turret heads.  So I just did a standard run.  Then I did a pacifist run next.  Had to FAQ how to avoid the 1 unavoidable kill, but did the rest legit.  Now I'm trying to kill as many enemies as possible but I'll probably have to FAQ that also because I keep seeing enemies I can't reach.